Baccalaureate institutions need to improve recruitment of underrepresented minorities from two-year colleges and develop ways to ensure the retention of these students throughout their academic careers. The administration of the University of Kentucky is ideally suited to attack this problem because of the unique organizational structure of being a baccalaureate and graduate institution with 14 regional two-year schools. The goal of the University of Kentucky Bridges Project is to create an environment that will attract and nurture minority students transferring from the community colleges and enable them to continue their education in the biomedical sciences. The specific objectives of the project are to: 1) Establish positive images of the Lexington Campus and Medical Center as minority-friendly. 2) Increase the number of community college minorities interested in pursuing careers in the biological or health sciences. 3) Impact the biological sciences curriculum at the community college to ensure parity of course offerings and collaboration. 4) Develop faculty/student and student/student shepherding programs to reduce the failure rate of transitional students. We propose to achieve these objectives through a series of activities which focus on recruitment, transition, and retention initiatives. Programs include: Academic Award Advising and Career Counseling, Employment Opportunities Program, Come See For Yourself Program, UK Faculty Teaching Workshop, Community College Research Enrichment Program, Minority Enhancement Summer Laboratory Course, and Tutorial Program. The UK Bridges Project has assembled a team which has the qualifications, experience, and commitment to design and administer these programs. We are confident that these initiatives will not only increase the number of minorities who transfer but will impact significantly on our ability to retain them in baccalaureate programs.
