Louis Stokes B2B Alliance: Strategic Transfer Alliance for Minority Participation (STAMP) Training While Online (TWO)

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the STEM workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming STEM education through innovative recruitment and retention strategies and experiences in support of groups historically under-represented in STEM disciplines: African-Americans, Alaska Natives, American Indians, Hispanic Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. The Strategic Transfer Alliance for Minority Participation (STAMP) Training While Online (TWO) led by the University of Hawaii - Kapiolani Community College includes the seven University of Hawaii Community Colleges (UHCCs): Hawaii CC, Honolulu CC, Kapiolani CC, Kapiolani, Kauai CC, Leeward CC, Maui CC, and Windward CC. The key objective of this LSAMP-B2B is to create a sustainable, articulated and purposeful community college program incorporating best practices in online teaching and learning with the goal of doubling the number and increasing the resilience of populations of students from Native Hawaiian, Native Pacific Islander and other underrepresented groups who enroll, persist in, and transfer to a four-year degree program in the STEM fields at the University of Hawaii. Students who navigate through and persist in the STEM UHCC programs will acquire the requisite skills, training and knowledge needed to successfully transfer to a four-year university and ultimately pursue graduate education or move into the STEM workforce. The LSAMP B2B STAMP TWO Alliance will implement proven strategies and activities to increase the number of Native Hawaiian and other underrepresented students transferring annually into baccalaureate STEM degree programs over the next three years. The STAMP-TWO Alliance will employ key strategies built upon lessons learned in an earlier STAMP project funded by the NSF LSAMP program, and best practices informed by the Tinto model for student retention as well as “high context” activities to serve Native Hawaiian and other underrepresented minority learners. Key strategies include recruitment activities, mentoring, and undergraduate research experiences. Further, Alliance intends to build a sustained, fully-articulated transfer curriculum through institutional collaborations between the UH two-year colleges and the UH four-year campuses, members of the LSAMP Islands of Opportunities Alliance. The Alliance leadership will collaborate with the UH System to promote institutionalization, articulation, and sustainability of the pathways, while leveraging other funded STEM programs at UH and strengthening the alliance and communication between UH campuses. 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.