This award will facilitate the organization of a workshop aimed at developing and implementing strategic initiatives to strengthen the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills of students, particularly underrepresented minorities. A collaborative group of faculty and staff from three organizations will engage in student development activities with the workshop as the starting event for the year-long project. The three organizations that would lead this project's activities are: (1) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) jurisdictions, (2) Campus Compact (a network of college and university presidents who focus on civic purposes of higher education), and (3) SENCER (Science Engagement for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities - an organization that committed to connecting science learning to critical civic questions). Hawaii, Montana, Iowa, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maine, and New Hampshire are the initial cohort of EPSCoR jurisdictions that will participate in this initiative.
Intellectual Merit: Developing sustainable support systems for students requires a strategic approach that takes synergistic advantage of capital - financial, social, and intellectual. This workshop and associated year-long activities will pair representatives from EPSCoR jurisdictions and Campus Compact offices in collaboration with SENCER Fellows to develop college student leadership, service, and research models (social capital) and employ civically engaged pedagogies (intellectual capital) to create sustainable Grade 6 through college sophomore STEM success pathways for underrepresented minority students.
Broader Impacts: The project will address and provide possible solutions to issues inhibiting the full engagement of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. The systemic approach, starting with Grade 6, is based upon proven success strategies implemented in HI. The adaption and adoption of analogous initiatives in seven other EPSCoR jurisdictions could have significant impacts by increasing the cadre of underrepresented minorities engaged in STEM nation-wide. Additional broader impacts of the proposed work lie in the use of outcomes from the assessment of the impact of the group's efforts and the dissemination of that information to other EPSCoR jurisdictions for their use in initiating similar partnerships.
The Strategic Synergies project brought together EPSCoR Outreach and Campus Compact programs in eight states, Hawaii (HI), Montana (MT), Oklahoma (OK), Kentucky (KY), Tennessee (TN), West Virginia (WV), New Hampshire (NH), and Maine (ME). Campus Compact and EPSCoR share a similar programmatic "ecology" with both national and statewide offices usually situated at major universities. These Synergies developed and implemented specific strategies across the grade 6-16 spectrum. These strategies strengthened STEM enrichment for students underrepresented in STEM majors and careers, and for all students. Campus Compact is a national organization representing more than 1100 colleges and universities and supports these institutions through 34 state offices. Campus Compact advances service, course-embedded community service (service-learning), civic engagement, and strong campus-community partnerships. The underlying premise of the project is that service-learning and strong community partnerships can support deeper and more sustained STEM outreach and education efforts in EPSCoR states. These combined efforts are needed to better engage students from underrepresented groups and underserved communities. Campus Compact also provides a strong "convening function" for college and university presidents, and annual, cyclical state and regional workshops and conferences. Campus Compact also deploys VISTA positions from the Corporation for National and Community Service. This project leveraged another NSF-funded initiative entitled, "Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities" or SENCER. All eight states sent a total of 40 faculty and staff to SENCER Summer Institutes in 2012 and 2013. At these institutes faculty and staff explored how advances in the science of learning are driving new curricula and pedagogies for the learning of science for underrepresented and all students. The SENCER program has a strong focus on first and second year undergraduate science education reform to prepare both "citizen" and "expert" scientists. SENCER robustly connects science and civic engagement by teaching "through" complex, contested, capacious, current, and unresolved public issues "to" basic science" (see principles and course models at sencer.net). Four states (HI, ME, NH, OK) took tactical advantage of training and technical assistance resources available at the SENCER West, Southwest, and Northeast Regional Centers. Hawaii also leveraged SENCER West-Keck Foundation funding for training for six faculty in environmental science at the SENCER Summer Institute in 2013. Maine Strategic Synergies hosted two workshops on "SENCER-IZING" Your Curriculum on October 7 at University of Southern Maine and on October 8 at the University of Maine at Orono. Eighty-four Maine college faculty and high school teachers and informal STEM educators participated in these two workshops. New Hampshire Strategic Synergies convened STEM and Environmental Science faculty for a workshop facilitated by a SENCER Leadership Fellow experienced in community based research and service learning. The workshop assisted faculty in incorporating community engagement and service learning into teaching and learning goals. Of the 48 participants, 25 identified themselves as faculty and 13 identified themselves as being affiliated with community colleges. Oklahoma Campus Compact supported a SENCER Leadership Fellow to provide training and technical assistance for 30 faculty and staff, and is working with the SENCER Southwest Regional Center to increase faculty development opportunities. Four state synergies (HI, MT, TN, OK) strengthened STEM Enrichment Pipelines for students underrepresented in STEM majors and careers. Hawaii further developed its Palolo STEM pipeline model to support low income, limited English proficient Hawaiian, Samoan, and Micronesian students living in Palolo public housing. Since 2003, math proficiency scores for these students at Palolo Elementary School have increased from 2 to 78 percent. These students at Kaimuki High School developed a video entitled "Waves of Change" which focuses on sea-level rise in Oceania. Montana Strategic Synergy dialogs are resulting in the deploying of VISTA positions at tribal colleges. The Montana Campus Compact director also developed a "Report Aligning Strategic Synergies with the New Campus Compact Strategic Plan." In Tennessee, EPSCoR Outreach is focusing on increasing the engagement of women in science through service-learning efforts at Middle Tennessee State University. The MTSU Expand Your Horizons initiative hosted over 300 middle and high school students. In Oklahoma discussions are underway to connect Campus Compact with efforts at the University of Oklahoma to better support students underrepresented in STEM majors and careers. Tulsa, Eastern Maine, and Kapiolani Community Colleges as well as community colleges in New Hampshire and Kentucky are playing more central roles in university STEM transfer dialogs, specifically for students underrepresented in STEM. Seven states (HI, MT, OK, KY, NH, TN, and ME) leveraged their own funds to support their Strategic Synergies and these states are continuing their synergistic work through the 2013-2014 academic year. Three states (HI, OK, and MT) are beginning discussions on stronger STEM enrichment for indigenous students and communities.
