Building a Sustainable Institutional Structure to Support STEM Scholars at IPFW

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

A wide gap in rates of degree completion currently exists between highly selective colleges and universities and those that are nonselective. Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) is an urban, nonselective institution with a high percentage of returning-adult, commuter, under-prepared, first-generation, and low-income students. This project will investigate what institutions like IPFW can do to help students decrease the time it takes to complete their undergraduate degrees in engineering, engineering technology, and computer science. S-STEM scholars, who will receive scholarships during their junior and seniors years, will be selected based on their high-ability or high-potential and demonstrated financial need. A team consisting of teaching faculty, academic advisors, and peer mentors will be created to supports the S-STEM scholars. Because many of the IPFW students are commuters with employment outside of school, it is expected that the program will accelerate the degree completion of the participating students and lead to a stronger Northeastern Indiana workforce. Commuter students attend school full-time or part-time, they live off campus, and their daily obligations are divided among home, work, and school. This project will lead to advancing our understanding of the factors, practices, and experiences (curricular and co-curricular) that affect these students? success, retention, and degree completion. Areas of focus include (a) learning how commuters prioritize the three aspects of their lives (home, work, and school), (b) understanding the impacts and use of the financial assistance these commuter students receive, and (c) investigating best practices and interventions that lead to academic success for commuter students. This project has several broader impacts: (a) scholarship recipients will receive funding and enhanced academic assistance, (b) STEM degree completion will be made more visible to the greater population of IPFW students and pre-college students in local schools, (c) there will be enhanced collaborative partnerships among students, faculty, and local employers, and (d) knowledge gains on supporting the success of commuter students will contribute to the body of knowledge and to STEM workforce development.