Tennessee State University is a culturally and racially diverse HBCU, located in Nashville. Through the HBCU-UP funding, Tennessee State will embark on a comprehensive reform of faculty teaching practices, curriculum and programmatic elements. The goal is to increase the recruitment, retention and graduation rate of STEM majors through a developmental process that implements research-based teaching and learning techniques and practices, integrates student research based experiences into the STEM curriculum, and develops a mentoring embedded tutoring program.
The activities that will be implemented as Tennessee State works toward their goal are: (i) Rising Freshman STEM Summer Institute to address the critical high school to college transition; (ii) Tutoring/mentoring program; (iii) STEM faculty development aimed at strengthening the pedagogical knowledge and research-based reform techniques in mathematics, chemistry, physics, computer science and engineering; (iv) Reform of Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Statics, Dynamics, Circuits and Thermodynamics, traditionally gate-keeping courses; (v) Rising Sophomore Research Skills Institute, giving integrated undergraduate research practica; and (vi) Providing for STEM Faculty Undergraduate Research Mentors.
HBCU-UP Project: Securing Sucess by Scafflding Undergraduate STEM Ressearch Development through Collabroative Institutional Reforms for STudents and Faculty at Tennessee State University (TSU). OVERVIEW The objective of this project is to develop a sustainable model for increasing the success of underrepresented groups in STEM majors, and enhance the academic curriculum for student learning and academic achievement. The project had five (5) components for this initiative: 1. STEM Rising Freshment Summer Institute - five-week summer pre-college program (boot camp) for entering freshmen to better prepare for the selected major or discipline; 2. STEM Peer-led Mentoring/Tutoring Program - structured program for freshmen-sophmore interaction for mentoring and tutoring activities; 3. Interdepartmental & Multi-college Reform of Gate-Keeping Courses - assessment and reform of key courses that affect retention...and implement innovative strategies (eg. pedagogy of concept mapping) to enhance learning in the classroom; 4. STEM Rising Sophmore Research Skills Institute - structured and formal program for developing skills to conduct research for sophmore students that are advised and mentored by STEM faculty; 5. Undergraduate Research Experience - formal program to engage sophmore-junior students in appled research under the advisement and coordination of STEM faculty. OUTCOMES This project developed an academic pipeline experience for incoming students that prepared them for gate-keeping courses and participate in a formal mentoring and tutoring program. The pre-college resulted in more than 75% of the students enrolling in TSU, and more than 90% declaring STEM majors. The average grade point average was 0.5 higher than non-participants of the program, and the initial co-hort had a graduation rate of 70% compared to 36% for non-participants. The broader impact of this project directly affected almost 250 underrepresented students in STEM majors, and more than 1000 student indirectly through mentoring, scholarships, research experiences, and the enhancement of the academic curriculum through faculty development. The research experiences resulted in publications and conferences for three co-horts with almost 33% of the initial co-hort attending graduate school. SUSTAINABILITY The College of Engineering obtained and leverage support to continue the pre-college program, instituted a formalized tutorial center, implemented an undergraduate research program for engineering students, and engaged in faculty development projects to impact learning in the classroom via different teaching methods. The university has also created an Academic Student Success Center to support students during the term of this project, and enhanced the advising process for Freshmen-Sophmore students. The completion of the project recognized the critical value of "advising" and tutorial services are essential to academic achievement for the student population served by this institution, and the academic intervention strategies.