Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Indiana

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Indiana The LSAMP Indiana project is a result of collaboration among Ball State University; IndianaUniversity, Bloomington; Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis; Purdue University, Calumet; and Purdue University, West Lafayette. Each university surveyed existing studentretention and minority programs. At many of our universities, there are a substantial number of K-12 outreach programs designed to enhance initial interest in Science, Math, Engineering, and Technology (SMET) disciplines, as well as numerous programs to help freshmen transition from high school into college. In addition, there are a substantial number of programs to support research projects by upper-division students in SMET disciplines. However, there are fewer (if any) programs across the participating universities to help first-year students identify with their SMET discipline and help them to sustain that initial identification through research and mentoring experiences over their next two years of college. In response to this finding, the involve institutions formed an alliance to increase the number of minorities receiving baccalaureate degrees in SMET disciplines by providing (1) early research enrichment experiences; (2) sustained teaching and mentoring opportunities in gatekeeper as well as upper-level courses; (3) personalized interactions with graduate students and faculty mentors beginning in the students' freshman year; and (4) professional and personal development opportunities. These early experiences with research and teaching are designed to encourage students to forge and sustain an academic and a social identification within their SMET discipline. These goals will be reached by the implementation of the following three programs: Summer Transition and Academic Research Programs (STAR Programs) -- The STAR programs will help LSAMP students' transition from high school to college by exposing them to research and career enrichment experiences designed to enhance the student's initialcommitment to a SMET discipline beginning in the summer before their first year of college. Importantly, to sustain this initial commitment, the STAR programs then continue to provide research and career enrichment experiences from the students' freshman year through the summer after their sophomore year. STAR programs will provide research and career enrichment experiences that include such activities as the following: (1) participation in a summer bridge program with a "hands on" introduction to research experiences component; (2) formal and informal meetings with faculty and/or graduate mentors; (3) visits to laboratories that emphasize the active involvement of students; (4) participation in a higher-level summer research experiences between their first and second years of college; and (5) participation in the annual LSAMP Indiana Research and Alliance Enrichment Conference. Supplemental Instruction (SI) -- SI programs offer participants the chance to lead and/or participate in review and study skill sessions to supplement course instruction. Some of the universities in this alliance have established SI programs for a few of the historically high-risk 100and 200 level "gatekeeper" courses, and they are particularly effective in raising participants'(especially minority participants') G.P.A. and retention rate. As an alliance, therefore, we are interested in the following: (1) beginning the SI program in SMET courses at universities with no SI program; (2) expanding the SI program to (more) SMET courses at universities with an established SI program; and (3) adding SI to upper-level courses known to be difficult for students (i.e., 2 nd level gatekeeper courses). Coordination and Development Programs -- To forge the Alliance, all parties involved in LSAMP Indiana will be invited to conferences in order to: (1) enhance the alliance by sharingdata, program experiences (successes and failures), and ideas for improving programs and the alliance; (2) provide conference experiences that serve academic and social identification needs; (3) build a supportive network of SMET scholars (faculty, graduate students, administrators, and students) working toward a shared goal who can help guide the alliance; and (4) develop diversity competencies among faculty, administrators, support staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students affiliated with LSAMP Indiana by developing new and innovative workshops that are then adapted and administered on each campus.