Julian Scholarships: Recruiting, Retaining and Supporting Local, First-Generation Undergraduate Scientists

Depauw University, Greencastle IN

Investigators

Abstract

The Julian Scholars: Recruiting, Retaining and Supporting Local, First-Generation Undergraduate Scientists project provides DePauw University scholarships for twenty-four, first-generation students in west-central Indiana who major in one of the following disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Geosciences, Mathematics or Physics. The Julian Scholars project: 1. Serves the region of the State of Indiana most historically linked to the University, by offering an excellent education in the sciences to qualified students who might otherwise not have such an opportunity. 2. Provides urban and rural students a mechanism for widening their academic and social viewpoints through interactions with each other. 3. Maintains retention levels and builds recruitment rates by selecting students who reside geographically near DePauw. 4. Enhances recruitment by selecting as many students as possible from Indiana's 21st Century Scholars Program. The Julian Scholars project capitalizes on DePauw University's excellent retention rates for first-generation students, the First-Year Seminar and Advising program, the Science Research Fellows program, the Women in Science program, and committed faculty members who offer students optional research and internship experiences. Julian Scholars participate in the following: the Bridge to Science (B2S) program, an established and successful summer collaborative science research project linking high school students and their teachers with college students and their professors, and Storytelling for Science (S4S) programming, which describes science as accessible, dynamic and collaborative, reinforcing the B2S approach to science for Julian Scholars and motivating them to persist to graduation. Recruitment and Retention Plans for the Julian Scholars project include: -- Establishing blueprints for supporting at-risk, rural and inner-city first-generation college populations; -- Developing a prototype for using urban and rural students to support each other and to increase diversity; -- Tapping a new pool of students who can help strengthen the education of Indiana's residents and future workforce; -- Leveraging the successful Indiana 21st Century Scholars program to increase enrollments of underrepresented groups in STEM degree programs; -- Highlighting research as a motivator for careers in science, an orientation to the university and a confidence and community builder; -- Creating an increased level of cross-disciplinary conversation by leveraging components of the successful Science Research Fellows Program; -- Preparing a diverse population for adult employment that would otherwise not have the opportunity to attend DePauw University; and -- Generating additional evidence to support the theory of action which undergirds the Julian Scholars project.