The University of Kentucky Appalachian and Minority Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Majors (UK AMSTEMM) program recruits, retains, and graduates STEM majors through a number of related activities. The recruitment phase includes providing and coordinating high school mathematics support, summer science camps on-campus, visits to schools, teacher support, programs for parents, and Saturday events, such as career advising. UK AMSTEMM provides fellowships for participating in mentored research experiences and serving as peer mentors, to allow students to afford UK. There is a concerted effort to persuade first-year students, especially women, enrolled in special sections of pre-calculus courses to redirect their choices of majors to STEM disciplines. The retention phase includes dedicated professional advising; faculty mentoring; intensive summer mathematics courses; increased support for the Math Excel program for pre-calculus students; special first year, place-based, Discovery Seminars; mentored research experiences; a peer mentoring program; and bi-weekly research colloquia. The graduation phase, intended to ensure that majors make regular progress toward their degrees and graduate "on time," includes participation in biweekly research colloquia; professional advising; peer mentoring; mentored research experiences; and place-based courses in the various STEM disciplines - courses that are interesting, challenging, and relevant to the students' lives and home communities. The success of such innovative techniques as involving parents extensively in pre-college recruiting and orientation; offering intensive pre-college mathematics testing, counseling, and courses; and providing place-based Discovery Seminars, enrichment seminars, and STEM courses provides a model for other efforts to increase STEM enrollments.
