The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) proposes a second extension to the STARS (Students & Technology in Academia, Research, and Service) Alliance. STARS is a national community that uses regional partnerships to broaden the participation of women, under-represented minorities, and persons with disabilities in computing. Its signature and catalyzing program is the STARS Leadership Corps, which provides students with mentoring, professional development and opportunities for research and service, resulting in higher computing student diversity, enrollments, and graduation rates. The extension will scale the Alliance from its current size of 20 universities and colleges to 50, each the center of their own regional alliance of K-12 schools, community colleges, industries, and community organizations. The scaled alliance will focus on
- Institutionalizing the STARS Leadership Corps (SLC) as a multi-year curricular program that catalyzes regional partnerships through the tiered participation of students, professionals, and educators in research and civic engagement. - Enhancing the STARS Celebration, a national forum to connect regional communities for collaboration on the SLC, STARS demonstration projects, and other BPC initiatives. - Creating the STARS Social Network with pioneering technology to support a vibrant community of practice integrated with mobile games and CONNECT technology. - Demonstrating a new Tiered Research Experiences for Undergraduates (TREU) program - Scaling the STARS Mentoring and Pair Programming demonstration projects - Creating an SLC Practices Collection within the BPC Digital Library at BPCPortal.org
Finally, the extension will spawn the STARS Institute, a nonprofit that will sustain the annual STARS Celebration and Community Meeting.
