Within a new engineering degree approved in 2005, this project is building on the college's successful record of serving the needs of disadvantaged students. It is ensuring that all engineering students who transfer succeed at the four-year institution's engineering program and continue on to successful careers in research and industry. With the overarching goal of increasing the number of STEM students who earn credits toward transfer, graduate with an associate degree, and/or transfer to a four-year institution, the program is increasing the enrollment of entering engineering students by 10% each year and ensuring that 50% of students who enter the engineering degree program transfer to a four-year institution within the grant period. During the grant period, the project intends for at least 54 students to receive an A.S. in Engineering, 38 of whom transfer to a four-year institution; 54 to transfer before graduation; and 139 to be in the pipeline and earning credits toward a degree or transfer.
Intellectual Merit: The project is raising the visibility of the new engineering degree through established community events that are heavily promoted in the media, supported by area industries, and well-attended by high school students, parents, and industry representatives. The college is recruiting high achieving high school students through a coordinated series of events each spring and students who have been denied admission to four-year engineering programs. The college is also initiating a new pre-engineering curriculum for students arriving unprepared for the rigorous engineering program. This curriculum is being designed to reduce the number of semesters students spend in developmental education courses by instituting a Summer Academy to accelerate students' skills acquisition, so they are prepared for the engineering degree program in the fall. A dedicated STEM Student Liaison shepherds engineering students through the degree program, implements and maintains a new E-mentoring initiative, and connects students to industry.
Broader Impacts: A comprehensive evaluation is being conducted, and results are being broadly disseminated. Students are participating in optional faculty-guided discovery projects that allow community college students to experience the excitement of investigation and to learn research methods. The college is negotiating new articulation or guaranteed admission agreements with several four-year institutions, continually refining current agreements, and continuing to update syllabi to maximize the number of credits that transfer.
Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) was awarded a NSF STEP grant in summer 2006. The overarching goal of the grant project was to increase the number of students in PVCC’s engineering program and to increase the success of engineering students, which was defined as transferring to a four-year school. To achieve this goal, the College established and accomplished the following three objectives: 1. Increase the number of students enrolled in the engineering program by 10 percent per year during the grant period. 2. Increase the retention rate of engineering students from 53 percent to 63 percent by the end of the grant period. 3. Increase the transfer rate to four-year schools in a STEM program to 50 percent or higher for students who entered the engineering program during the grant period. PVCC developed and implemented several strategies to achieve its goals and objectives. Three major ones are presented in this summary: Program Liaison In October 2006, a full-time Program Liaison (PL) was hired to serve as an academic advisor for engineering students and to plan engineering outreach activities. The PL maintained regular office hours for engineering students and met with them regularly to discuss their academic progress, class scheduling, and transfer plans. Throughout the grant period, the PL visited a number of community events and all the high schools in the PVCC service region to promote the engineering program at PVCC. Several thousand high school students and their families received information in this manner about PVCC’s engineering program. The PL coordinated a number of engineering events at the college for both current and prospective students. Through a partnership with Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering and the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, the PL planned annual events at which engineering students could learn the specifics of transfer articulation agreements and get answers to their questions about transferring to a four-year institution. Also, the PL invited PVCC engineering graduates to speak to current engineering students and prospective students about their transfer experiences during PVCC Engineering Saturday events that were held each semester. The success of this project was in large part due to the full-time position of the Program Liaison funded by the NSF STEP grant. PVCC was able to maintain this position on a part-time basis after the grant expired. Summer Bridge Academy In summer 2012, PVCC held its 6th annual Engineering Summer Academy (SA). The SA was designed to provide additional support to students interested in studying engineering. The SA serves as a bridge program for new PVCC engineering students, and promotes the field of engineering to prospective students. For two weeks, academy participants engaged in daily lessons and hands-on projects related to various fields of engineering. The lessons and projects highlighted the importance of engineering concepts, including mathematics, and their application to real world problem-solving. During the academy, participants completed the Student Development 101 (student orientation) class that was taught by the PL, which gave participants an opportunity to earn free college credit while fulfilling a PVCC graduation requirement. Additionally, participants received two mini-lessons per week in the areas of technical and research writing by a PVCC English faculty member. The NSF STEP grant was instrumental in helping establish the Summer Academy as a successful bridge program that is now recognized by local school divisions, students and parents, and other stakeholders. PVCC is pleased that it will be able to continue the Engineering Summer Academy in the future for prospective engineering students, even without the incentives made possible by the grant. E-Mentoring Program The intent of the E-mentoring initiative was to allow PVCC engineering students to learn more about the engineering discipline of their choice and the functions or work performed by engineers in the workplace. E-mentoring was implemented in fall 2007 using both locally recruited mentors and MentorNet organization. The program provided PVCC’s engineering students with mentors who were engineers in various fields of engineering, both from industry and academia. Engineering students had the opportunity to learn more about their field of interest and the career options available to them. Participation in the E-mentoring activity was included in the first engineering course, EGR 120 (Introduction to Engineering). At the end, students completed a survey about the effectiveness of the program. It is on the agenda at PVCC to renew its membership in the MentorNet organization within the context of expanding the service to all STEM students at the College. The Expanding Engineering Opportunities project, funded by an NSF STEP grant, is now considered one of the most successful projects in the College’s history. Not only has it benefitted students over the past six years, but the programs begun during the grant period will continue to positively impact the entire PVCC community into the future. These initiatives will bolster the pipeline of engineering and STEM students in this community and beyond.
