Rising Above the Gathering Storm by Building Bridges for STEM Transfers from Community Colleges to Baccalaureate Programs

Rising Above the Gathering Storm by Building Bridges for STEM Transfers

from Community Colleges toBaccalaureate Programs

Jason Miller, Truman State University,Jane Roads, Moberly Area Community College, and

Jennifer Thompson, Truman State University

for the 2010 Missouri Transfer Conference12 February, 2010

Friday, February 12, 2010

Objective• to report on the Belknap Springs Workshop on

STEM training partnerships between two-year and four-year schools,

• to understand what is happening in Missouri with regard to training of undergraduates in STEM, and

• to invite others to join in the effort to broaden participation in STEM through training that begins at two-year schools


Outline

• Missouri’s STEM Talent Expansion Program

• the ‘two-year to four-year’ situation in Missouri

• recommendations from the Belknap Springs Workshop

• bring it home to Missouri


Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (2007)Authored by the Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century: An Agenda for American Science and Technology, a joint committee of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine

"Without high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs and the innovative enterprises that lead to discovery and new technology, our economy will suffer and our people will face a lower standard of living. Economic studies conducted even before the information-technology revolution have shown that as much as 85% of measured growth in US income per capita was due to technological change."

From the Executive Summary


Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (2007)Authored by the Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century: An Agenda for American Science and Technology, a joint committee of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine

Recommendation C: Make the United States the most attractive setting in which to study and perform research so that we can develop, recruit, and retain the best and brightest students, scientists, and engineers from within the United States and throughout the world.


0

5500

11000

16500

22000

27500

33000

1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Public Four-yearsPublic Two-yearsTotal

Enrollment of First-time, Full-time freshmen in Missouri

Data from MDHE Statistical Summaries, available online.


0

5500

11000

16500

22000

27500

33000

2000 2002 2004 2006





0

5500

11000

16500

22000

27500

33000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007





0

5500

11000

16500

22000

27500

33000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Public Four-yearsPublic Two-yearsTotalTransfers




0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Percent transfer

Based on data from MDHE Statistical Summaries, available online.

Proportion of Students Starting at Two-years schools that Transfer to

Four-year programs


0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

This is a problem• while college enrollment is on the rise, transfers from

two-year programs to four-year programs are not keeping pace

• in STEM fields, the numbers are probably worse

• when more Missouri students start college at a two-year institution,

• how will this affect Missouri’s ability to train more students in science and mathematics for industry?

• how will this affect Missouri’s ability to produce teachers of its future scientists and mathematicians?

Percent transfer


Broadening Participation in STEM



STEM Talent Expansion Program

A partnership between four Missouri colleges (2004-present).


pics of research, workshops

Student-Centered Partnership

Research Experiences

Transfer Support

Faculty Development, Interaction


Belknap Springs

NSF-funded programs to expand the talent pool in STEM through interinstitutional, 2-year & 4-year

partnershipsFriday, February 12, 2010

Belknap Springs


Workshop Goals• Fostering 2-year/4-year Collaborations

• Creating Undergraduate Research Opportunities for more 2-year students

• Ensuring Success of STEM Transfer Students

• Choosing & Tracking Impact Measures

• Institutionalizing Multi-institutional Projects

Will relay the Belknap thoughts; want to adapt to Missouri’s situation


Our Process

• Identify a Vision

• Identify Challenges and Features

• Identify Strategies

• Identify Metrics for Assessing Progress

• Identify Actions and Agents for Change


Fostering 2-year/4-year collaborations

• many institutions are geographically isolated from one another

• many STEM courses are taught by part time faculty with no service expectation

• too few articulation agreements in STEM

• faculty and staff are already asked to do more with less

Vision: STEM Faculty and Staff and 2-year institutions will interact with STEM faculty and staff at 4-year

institutions so everyone is invested in and understands the 2-year-to-4-year STEM pathway.


Creating Undergraduate Research Opportunities

• difficulty in defining valid research projects, research-like experiences

• logistics such as space, supplies, instrumentation, funding, and administrative champion

• faculty teaching loads

• curriculum

Vision: All community college students who would like to do research will have that opportunity


Ensuring success of STEM Transfer Students

Vision: That all STEM transfer students from community colleges will earn a baccalaureate degree in STEM having every post-baccalaureate opportunity of native four-year students.

• 2-year vs. 4-year cultural differences

• transfer student “shock” and acculturation time

• inadequacy of pre- & post-transfer advising in STEM (career, academic, and general student support)

• financial need

• student ability to visualize themselves in STEM


Choosing & Tracking Impact Measures

• great variation between institutions make a uniform data reporting requirement difficult

• institutional resources limit the degree to which data can be gathered

• there are no feedback-loops in the data-reporting process

Vision: Define meaningful measurable short, medium, and long range outcomes for the programs and students. Identify interventions and outcomes.

Collect longitudinal data.


Institutionalizing multi-institutional efforts

• the current fiscal crisis and changing institutional priorities

• high administrative and staff turn-over at 2yr schools

• value in promotion and tenure decisions at 4yr schools

• justifying long-term civic and economic good in the face of other potential short-term opportunities

Vision: Successful STEM Talent Expansion projects will be fully institutionalized.


Next Steps?• At what rate are community colleges preparing

STEM students for transfer?

• How are community colleges preparing students?

• At what rate are those students earning baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields?

• How are four-year schools supporting those students?

• What is Missouri government doing to broaden postsecondary participation in STEM?


Next Steps?• All community colleges and all four-year institutions

must increase joint efforts (programs & policies) to support STEM students for/from transfer

• The state should collect longitudinal data on students who pursue STEM degrees and use it to identify bottlenecks to success and best-practices

• Institutional funding should be based in part on successful production of STEM students (e.g., by degree, other milestones)


Discussion

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF UBM #0431664 and NSF UBM #0928013. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Web Portal: http://step.truman.eduEmail: [email protected]: 660.785.7252


http://step.truman.edu

http://step.truman.edu

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Rising Above the Gathering Storm by Building Bridges for STEM Transfers from Community Colleges to Baccalaureate Programs

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