Quantitative and Mathematics Support Center Workshop to Develop Handbook of Best Practices, Professional Organization and STEM Infrastructure

Saint Lawrence University, Canton NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project is convening a workshop of directors of Quantitative and Mathematics Support Centers (QMaSCs) from across a range of different types of institutions. Such centers serve tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of students across the country each year; and they are present at large universities, at liberal arts colleges, and at community colleges. While each center services a diverse set of needs at its specific institution, collectively they all share a common set of concerns and issues. Yet, there is currently no body of resources from which directors of QMaSCs and their staffs can draw. To fill this void, the PI team has set three principal goals for this workshop: 1) to begin a national conversation on directing QMaSCs, in support of this key aspect of the STEM infrastructure on campuses; 2) to establish a sustainable network of people involved in the work of QMaSCs in order to provide and share resources; and 3) to create a handbook of best practices for those who direct QMaSCs or those who may direct QMaSCs in the future. Workshop leaders are working with the participants to formulate a framework for establishing such a professional organization for staff members of QMaSCs. In addition, the primary product of the workshop is a handbook for directors of QMaSCs, modeled after the Writing Center Directors Handbook (Murphy and Stay, LEA Publishers, 2006) used on campuses nationwide. The QMaSC handbook is expected to be a publicly available document geared at providing materials and proven practices for QMaSC directors, including chapters on the various shared aspects of directing a center and case studies that reflect the broad range of activities undertaken by QMaSCs.