Implementation Projects in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate program provide support to design, implement, study and assess comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the numbers of students and the quality of their preparation by strengthening science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and research. This implementation project at Livingston College, a small, private undergraduate institution, provides a strategic approach to recruit students into STEM degree programs and to provide a support system so that they are retained and persist toward graduation in a STEM major. Livingston College serves a majority of first-generation, low-income students. The project is guided and informed by an on-going evaluation, as well as by internal and external advisory committees.
This project seeks prepare students in their selected STEM major using curricula-based and extra-curricular-based methodologies that engage students, enhance learning, and develop skills. Learning opportunities will include project based learning and process skills laboratories, pedagogically sound instruction and content delivery, seminars and workshops for student scientific and professional development, and exploration of industry careers and graduate school. Additional mathematics, science, and computer information systems courses will be developed with emphasis on active and inquiry-based learning. A STEM summer bridge program will foster academic and social integration to facilitate students' adjustment to college and accelerate academic performance in gatekeeper courses. A freshman STEM learning community will be formed by clustering core mathematics and science courses. This project can serve as a model for small, predominantly undergraduate institutions with an open enrollment policy committed to providing educational opportunities to students and their families.
