S-STEM: Scholars and Leaders Program

University Of St. Francis, Joliet IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project funded by the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program supports the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at the University of St. Francis (USF) in Joliet, Illinois. Throughout its five years, this project will provide 12 scholarships to two groups of six students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Biology and Biochemistry. The USF Scholars and Leaders Program (SLP) will address the workforce needs in the greater Chicago area for highly qualified biology and biochemistry professionals. SLP students will be drawn from local high schools, where 63% of students are from low-income households and over 70% are underrepresented minorities, for whom college affordability and the need to earn an income are significant barriers to matriculation. The project will build on campus resources such as academic support services, availability of supplemental instruction for introductory classes, a well-developed leadership training program, and summer research opportunities. New support measures and programs that will be developed for the scholarship recipients include development of leadership skills through experiential and community involvement, peer mentoring to assist with the social transition to campus life, participation in a STEM-focused service project, and inclusion of students' families in campus and program activities. These activities will strengthen the university's natural science programs and, as a result, will benefit all current and future biology and biochemistry majors. Both SLP students and the many students who arrive after the grant period will benefit from the leadership component, from local internship networks expanded via the project, and from the family involvement component, which can be critical for first-generation students. Preparing low-income students for rewarding high-wage employment in areas of local and national need will benefit individual students, their families, and the local and national economies. Best practices and lessons learned from this project will be documented and shared with other institutions with similar characteristics. The main goals of the SLP program are to increase the number of academically talented, low-income students from local high schools who enroll in USF biology or biochemistry degree programs, to support them to graduate in four years and to pursue careers or graduate study in these fields, and to sustain and institutionalize SLP practices that have a documented positive effect on recruitment, retention, and graduation of these students. The program builds on USF's existing student support services, scholarship programs, first-year experience course, peer mentoring, and leadership program. New components will include a specific program orientation, faculty mentoring, experiential leadership activities with local high schools, internships, research, and others, family engagement activities, and cohort activities focused on career building. The project hopes to accomplish four objectives: (1) to recruit and enroll 12 academically talented first-year students from local high schools into biology and biochemistry degree programs; (2) to retain 11 out of 12 SLP participants to graduation by enhancing the academic and student support services for Scholars and to analyze how these services affect the success of the Scholars; (3) to enhance the leadership program elements to better prepare Scholars for careers or graduate-level study; and (4) to institutionalize the curricular and support practices deemed most effective by research and evaluation of program activities. The project will include an in-depth examination of the impact of deliberate leadership building on the success of these students by (1) examining how the leadership program impacts students' STEM leadership self-efficacy, (2) defining which program elements influence students' beliefs about their ability to persist in STEM education and to succeed in STEM careers, and (3) determining which program elements are particularly influential for Hispanic students. The results of this inquiry will help develop a deeper understanding of the factors that affect the recruitment, retention, graduation, and postgraduate success of talented low-income students in STEM. 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.