Implementation Projects provide support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to design, implement, study, and assess comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the number of students receiving undergraduate degrees in STEM and enhance the quality of their preparation by strengthening STEM education and research. The project at Central State University seeks to build on previous successful efforts to increase participation of African-American students in STEM disciplines. The institution seeks to address low first year retention and persistence in the STEM areas. Central State University recognizes that the need to improve learning practices must be addressed. To address the issue of high unemployment levels for veterans in the state of Ohio, Central State University will increase educational opportunities for veterans in STEM fields.
The goal of the project is to improve retention and persistence rates by adopting evidence-based strategies to include: enhancement of the university's cyber-infrastructure for "anytime, anywhere, anyone learning"; development and assessment of innovative teaching and learning techniques in STEM curricula; enhancement of undergraduate student research experiences; faculty professional development in effective STEM teaching pedagogy and research; and the creation of new approaches to recruitment and retention of undergraduate STEM students. Through the evaluation plan, the impact of infusion of cyber-pedagogy and integration of experiential learning on traditional students and veterans will be studied and disseminated.
