CSU Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, Phase III

University Enterprises, Incorporated, Sacramento CA

Investigators

Abstract

California State University Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program, Phase III nitiated in 1994, the California State University-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (CSU-LSAMP) is a comprehensive, statewide program dedicated to increasing the number of students from underrepresented minority groups (URM) graduating from campuses of the California State University (CSU) with baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The CSU-AMP Alliance includes 47 public postsecondary institutions: 19 CSU campuses plus 28 California Community Colleges (CCC). With past NSF support, CSU-LSAMP contributed substantially to broadening participation of underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines. If the annual number of STEM degrees awarded to URM students had remained at the 1993 pre-CSU-LSAMP baseline of 750, the total number of degrees awarded between 1994-95 and 2001-02 would have been 6000. Instead, a total of 11,601 degrees were awarded over the past eight-year period, an increase of 5,601 URM- STEM degrees. The potential for CSU-LSAMP to further increase overall participation of URM students in STEM is strengthened by projections for changes in the number and proportion of URM students graduating from California public high schools. In Phase III, CSU-LSAMP proposes to engage approximately 2,000 URM students/year in activities that sustain or further improve individual student retention and progression rates achieved during Phase I and Phase II, and proposes to increase the number of URM-STEM degrees awarded from the 2001-2002 level of 1,485 to 2,528 in 2007-2008. Hence, the CSU-LSAMP goal is to award over 1,000 more STEM baccalaureate degrees to URM students by the end of the project period. Since California Community Colleges enroll approximately 63% of college-going students in California, partnership activities that improve transfer rates are critical to achieving the degree production goal. Therefore, during Phase III, CSU-LSAMP will complete construction of .bridges. between CSU and CCC partners that facilitate student advancement through this critical decision point. Since many of the strategies initiated in Phase I and Phase II for lower division students have already been institutionalized, CSU-LSAMP will also introduce activities in Phase III that are designed to enhance graduate school preparedness of upper division students with the goal of improving aggregate student progression to STEM graduate programs. Phase III activities provided by each CSU campus will focus on four common objectives: (1) increasing transfer rates of URM students from the community colleges to STEM majors in the CSU; (2) enhancing first and second year retention rates and overall academic performance of URM students in STEM majors to levels comparable to levels for non-URM students; (3) enhancing performance of URM students in math and science courses; and (4) increasing the number of URM students interested in pursuing graduate study in STEM disciplines, and enhancing graduate school preparedness of upper division URM-STEM students. The types of activities that will be offered to support each objective have consistently been shown to facilitate retention and progression of URM students in STEM, and represent a set of well-established .best practices. for accomplishing the objectives. These activities include: course articulation between CSU and community colleges; individual transfer agreements with community college students; advising/orientation programs; peer mentoring; faculty mentoring; intensive summer or academic year programs designed to prepare students to excel in calculus courses; supplemental academic year workshops designed to enhance performance in specific math and science courses; graduate information workshops; AY or summer internships and research experiences; GRE preparation workshops; participation in scientific and professional conferences; interactions with other URM-STEM serving programs; and Interactions with URM- STEM serving prog ms at Ph.D. granting institutions.