Norfolk State University (NSU) and Tidewater Community College (TCC) propose a three-year bridge program to serve students in science- related degree programs who receive deferred admission to NSU, under the consortial PASSport program, and TCC Associate in Science degree students, who indicate that they intend to transfer to NSU to complete degrees. NSU is a comprehensive, historically Black, 7,000-student university located in Norfolk, Virginia. TCC is a four-campus, comprehensive, 31,000-student community college with campuses in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Chesapeake. About one-third of the region they serve is African-American; Norfolk and Portsmouth are 43 and 49 percent minority. The project addresses the critical need to increase underrepresented minorities trained in science. In the region, while 15 percent of all adults hold college degrees, only six percent of African-Americans do so. Bridges to the Future is solidly grounded in the educational literature about success of minority college-transfer students and in strategies proven at TCC. The project has five measurable objectives related to its overall goals: 1) enrolling and providing """"""""bridge"""""""" services to at least 50 students (at least 40 minority) intending to transfer to NSU and at least 90 students (at least 75 minority) attending TCC under the PASSport program, 2) maintaining high retention rates for all students in both groups, 3) demonstrating success for at least 70 percent of students in the PASSport program, defined as either continuing in the prescribed program at TCC with a grade point average of 2.5 or better or being deemed eligible for enrollment at NSU, 4) increasing by at least 30 percent the number of TCC students transferring to NSU, and 5) demonstrating successful transfer for 85 percent of students as measured by either graduation or a 2.5 grade point average. Accomplishment of each of the above objectives will be evaluated by an outside evaluator, as will the outcomes of each individual strategy. Bridges to the Future will be under the direction of Dr. Valarie Evans, interim dean of student services at TCC and coordinator of the PASSport project, and Dr. Hollie Baker, professor of mathematics and director of the Dozoretz National Institute for Minorities in Applied Sciences at NSU.
