9450292 Deutschman The Greater Newark Alliance for Minority Participation consists of eleven colleges including four community/county colleges and seven 4 year colleges and universities. The lead institutions are the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University-Newark, with the partner colleges including Montclair State College, Kean College of New Jersey, William Paterson College, Jersey City State College, Bloomfield College, Essex County College, Union County College, Passaic County Community College, and Hudson County Community College. The Alliance will be a partnership of these colleges along with industry, science centers, school boards, and interested members of the scientific, civic, and governmental communities. The principal goal is to dramatically increase the opportunities for minorities towards successful inclusion in science, engineering and mathematics disciplines, as measured by undergraduate and graduate degrees in these fields. In collaboration, the Greater Newark Alliance provides educationally, economically, and socially disadvantaged minority students with a support system and learning environment structured to: o encourage the pursuit of a higher education in science, engineering or other math-based fields of study, particularly in the alliance colleges and universities, o improve students' academic performance while in high school; o ease the transition from high school to college; o provide the support services needed to retain students once they are enrolled in college, o build self-esteem and self-confidence and raise aspirations; o increase students' awareness of science, engineering and mathematics related careers; o stimulate students' interest in research and in continuing for graduate studies, o ease the transition from college into the workforce. The objective of the Alliance is to double the number of minority students successfully completing unde rgraduate degrees in science, engineering and mathematics in the Alliance Colleges, and entering professional career or graduate studies by the year 2000. The target population focuses on Newark and its metropolitan area. Newark lies within 25 miles of nine counties in northeastern New Jersey with a total population of over 5 million. While the state of New Jersey has a 23% minority population (African American and Latinos), Essex County (where four of the alliance colleges are located) is comprised of a minority population of 54%. The 11 alliance colleges are all located within 10 miles of Newark and are within four adjacent counties: Essex, Hudson, Union and Passaic. The counties of Essex, Hudson and Union make up a total population of 1,825,000 with 47% of all African Americans and 66% of all Latinos in the state. Evaluation of student's academic performance will include: a) number of minority students selecting math, science, computer science, engineering majors b) minority student grades in selected math and science courses at freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior levels. c) minority GPAs within the overall major programs at the sophomore and junior level's and at graduation d) attrition/retention rates of minority students in the AMPS-related majors e) entry of minority graduates into AMPS-related graduate programs or careers The goals of the Alliance will be achieved by adopting an inter-university/regional sharing of ideas, programs and resources to facilitate the maximum use of physical, financial, and human resources for the common goal of attraction and retention of minority students in the science, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Fifteen programs are planned comprising a comprehensive plan for the Alliance including mentoring, tutoring, undergraduate research experience, academic and financial support, a guarantee of "no cost" tuition, establishing a minority scholars program and providing diversi ty training for all students, faculty and staffing the program. Dissemination plans include an Alliance Newsletter, published four times a year, distributed to the Alliance partner colleges for faculty and staff, interested mathematics and science teachers in the greater Newark area, scientists, and others in industry, government, science education facilities, foundations, and persons interested in the project and its outcomes.
