Project S4 (Scholarships and Supports for STEM Success)

Donnelly College, Kansas City KS

Investigators

Abstract

The overall goal of Donnelly College's Project S4 (Scholarships and Supports for STEM Success) is to recruit, retain, and graduate students with majors in Information Systems and Biological/Physical Science. Towards this goal the project will support a total of 57 students in Associate of Applied Science (AAS), Associate in Science (AS) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees in the aforementioned disciplines, who have demonstrated financial need. Donnelly is located in an under-resourced urban area; to keep tuition low for its students, it operates out of a converted hospital building and has gradually upgraded so that learning spaces are pleasant and functional. The project will strive to prepare students for STEM careers while minimizing (or eliminating) college debt. Specific objectives of Project S4 include: (1) increased enrollment of IS (AAS and BS) and of Biological/Physical Science (AS) students; (2) transfer of at least 90% of AS/AAS students into B.S. degree programs at Donnelly or other accredited institutions; (3) expansion of Supplemental Instruction (SI), undergraduate conference attendance, peer mentoring, and tutoring; (4) determination of effectiveness of service learning paired with either job shadowing or internships as professional experiences in STEM fields; and (5) strengthening of partnerships between Donnelly and local STEM-related companies. The project evaluation will strive to answer questions of interest to the broader STEM education community. In particular, these questions are related to the impact of support services on student success in terms of retention, graduation and transfer rates, and the impact of linked professional experiences on students' knowledge of and exposure to their STEM professions, confidence in their ability to succeed and motivation to persist in STEM majors.