The implementation project at Jackson State University entitled - Institutional Change through Faculty Advancement in Instruction and Mentoring - builds on two successful previous implementation projects and aims to increase the retention of undergraduate students in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology by helping the faculty and graduate students to improve teaching and mentoring. The project focuses its initial efforts on the Department of Physics, Atmospheric Sciences and Geoscience (PASGS) by piloting faculty development workshops in student-centered pedagogy and delivering professional mentoring. The project also supports the department's efforts to revise the content of entry-level physics courses and their respective labs.
To examine the efficacy of faculty development in mentoring and the development of a research methods course, the project supports students and faculty to increase the number of research opportunities on campus during the academic year and with partner institutions year round. This will increase overall undergraduate research participation. The project will expand from one primarily targeting PASGS to one that is institutionalized within the departments in the college. It offers an opportunity to collect data that will guide the faculty on how to successfully address the particular learning and mentoring needs of African American science,technology, engineering and mathematics undergraduate students.
This project has the potential to become a successful model which will be shared with the broader community of colleges and universities that are working to increase the number of minorities entering the scientific and technological workforce.
