Collaborative Proposal: Partnering to Improve Undergraduate STEM Education Conference

University Of West Georgia, Carrollton GA

Investigators

Abstract

This is a collaborative conference proposal from the four comprehensive universities in the state of Georgia: Georgia Southern University, Kennesaw State University, University of West Georgia, and Valdosta State University. The goal of the conference workshop proposal is to bring these four institutions together to discuss, plan, and implement changes to improve undergraduate STEM education across the state. This conference will focus on four strands: gateway courses, faculty teaching and learning, education research, and undergraduate research. These four topics are critical to the success of students and their faculties at these institutions. A theme of the meeting is to establish collaboration and partnerships among the faculties of these institutions, so that they can share best practices, initiate change, and study the impact of change on recruitment, retention, and graduation rates. By focusing the efforts of these four institutions with guidance from the University System of Georgia, the workshop outcomes may reach a broad spectrum of STEM faculty (and thereby students) across the state, to address the low persistence of students who begin as STEM majors in college. Specifically, the workshop conference will establish plans to improve undergraduate STEM education and to increase research opportunities at these institutions for undergraduate students. Participants will plan how to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts, particularly in increasing the persistence of STEM majors to graduation. Focusing on all four of Georgia's comprehensive universities is unique in the sense that these institutions aspire to balance research, teaching, and service expectations to a greater degree than research and liberal arts institutions. There is widespread agreement that the comprehensive universities in Georgia should be working jointly to improve our undergraduate STEM retention, progression, and graduation and this conference workshop will serve to initiate this joint work. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.