All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program

Salish Kootenai College, Pablo MT

Investigators

Abstract

Project Summary The goal of All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (ANLSAMP) program is that of substantially increasing the number of American Indians and other under-represented minorities who enroll in STEM disciplines at partner institutions and complete B.S. degrees in the STEM fields. In order to achieve this goal, the ANLSAMP partner institutions have designed program components that will increase the number of American Indians who will graduate with A.A. and B.S. degrees in these fields. ANLSAMP is uniquely situated in that it works with most of the nations tribal colleges as well as a number of majority colleges/universities. We have assembled these particular groups for two reasons. First, a greater number of American Indians are pursuing higher education at tribal colleges. The participation of this group of course, insures that NSF funding will impact the greatest number of Native American students. Second, since many tribal colleges do not have STEM bachelors degree programs, it is important to have majority institutions within our network to bridge our students from the associate degree level to the bachelor degree and beyond. ANLSAMP has developed the following list of five-year objectives to accomplish the goal presented above: Increase by 100%, the enrollment of American Indian students in STEM disciplines at Associate degree-granting institutions. To increase by 100%, the enrollment of American Indian students in STEM disciplines at Bachelors of Science degree granting institutions. To increase by 100%, the number of American Indians who received Bachelors degrees in STEM disciplines. To double the number of Bachelors Degree programs in STEM at tribal colleges, from 3 to 6. To enroll 15% of the STEM bachelor degree recipients in graduate degree programs. Thirty-six institutions of higher education have come together to form an Alliance with the specific intent of influencing American Indian students as well as other under-represented minority students to pursue and attain associate and bachelor degrees in one of the science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The under-representation of American Indians in the STEM professions has been highlighted and targeted as an action item at the national level over several decades. However, the participation of American Indians in STEM careers has shown only marginal improvements over the years, such that their current representation amount to less than 0.5% of the STEM workforce. This low representation has the potential of failing to tap into the unique capabilities and talents of American Indians. ANLSAMP has carefully considered its project development in order to meet the intellectual merit required of an LSAMP project. As a consequence of an evaluation of the levels of commitments and needs and of the availability of resources, ANLSAMP has re-organized its partner institution into three tiers. This tier structure will build capacity and facilitate the participation of all STEM faculty and students at partner institutions while, at the same time, ensuring that program objectives are accomplished. The ANLSAMP partner institutions will utilize a 4-R model to address the four most important areas for our students and our program. They are: 1) Recruitment, 2) Retention, 3) Research and, 4) Reporting. Within each R, our focus is that of continually providing opportunities to substantially increase the number of Native American STEM students who enroll in and graduate from partner institutions. Upon the successful implementation of program activities, the Alliance leadership expects to observe a significant and sustained increase in STEM student enrollment at the partner institutions. The increase in enrollment will accrue from the success of the recruitment initiatives within the high school and two-year colleges. The enhancement of the academic activities for student participants, the culmination of tutoring, mentoring and field and internship experiences are expected to stimulate and sustain students interests with a concomitant increase in student retention rates. The activities presented in this proposal are expected to generate an increase in the rate of student persistence and progression in pursuit of these accomplishments. The broader impact for this program reaches beyond American Indians in higher education. The Alliance leadership expects that the support from the NSF, the non-federally funded internships and scholarships along with in-kind contributions from the partner institutions will ultimately pay significant dividends to the States in which partner institutions are located, to the nation and in particular, to American Indian Communities.