Jennifer Cannady, Laura Palucki Blake

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Achieving and Sustaining Excellence for
Under-Represented and First Generation College
Students
Jennifer Cannady, Laura Palucki Blake John
Pilger Agnes Scott College
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How would you define excellence for
under-represented and first generation students?

• Retention?
• Innovative curriculum?
• Satisfied students?
• Evidence of learning?
• Continuous improvement?
• What else?

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The Promise Scholars Program

• Open to all students who indicate an interest in
  pursuing a major in natural and physical sciences
  (including math), taking into account
• SAT/ACT scores
• HS background

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Promise Scholars Program, cont.

• URM and First Generation Status
• Role of culture
• Stereotype threat
• Studying--groups vs. individual

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Promise Scholars Program Goals

• Provide sustained, purposeful and comprehensive
  academic support to students in natural and
  physical sciences
• Increase student participation in research in the
  natural and physical sciences
• Establish intensive psychosocial networks among
  students

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Program Elements Intensive Summer Experience

• Designed to transition the student to college
  course work
• Biology 191 (Cell and Animal Biology)
• Two-credit math reasoning course
• Residential component
• Living and Learning Community
• Mentoring
• Speaker program
• Celebratory banquet with families

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Program Elements Learning and Career Strategy
Workshops

• Weekly learning strategy workshops
• Topics covered might include
• Getting the most from your textbooks
• Breaking the procrastination cycle
• Mastering final exams
• Forming and participating in effective study
  groups
• GRE and graduate school application workshops
• Mock graduate school and job interviews

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Program Elements Peer Tutoring and Mentoring

• Cascade Mentoring
• 1st year Scholars have dedicated peer tutors for
  science classes
• 2nd year Scholars tutor 1st year Promise Scholars
  
• 3rd year Scholars tutor local middle school girls
• Senior Scholars tutor female high school science
  students
• Cooperative learning groups

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Program Elements Academic and Psychosocial
Support

• Monitoring academic issues regularly and
  purposefully
• Intervene early in potential problems
• Weekly meetings provide safe environment
• Community-building activities
• Lab meetings with discussions and informal
  presentations
• Celebratory social events

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Program Elements Career Seminars and Shadowing

• Co-curricular seminar series
• Round-table lunches with speakers
• Career path discussions
• Shadow internship rotation program

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Program Elements Enhanced Laboratories
Experiences

• Improve student abilities to conduct science
• Increase the number and quality of inquiry-
  based science laboratory experiences
• New course Inquiry and Communication in Biology

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Program ElementsWorkshops for Faculty

• Faculty selected to mentor Promise Scholars will
  participate in year-long science and mathematics
  research mentoring workshop series
• Collaborative effort between CTL, Science Center
  for Women, and Promise Scholars

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Program Elements Summer Research Experiences

• Students placed in authentic summer research
  experiences after sophomore and junior years.
• ASC faculty mentors
• Local research mentors
• Emory University
• Morehouse Medical School
• CDC

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Evolution of Promise Scholars Program

• Recognition of problem
• Advising office, advisers, Dean of the College
• Researching solutions
• Advising office intern researches various
  programs
• Dean of the College assigns research team
• Presentation of initial proposal to campus groups

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Evolution of Program, cont.

• Student life faculty collaboration
• Incorporation of program in new Strategic Plan
• AACU Greater Expectations Institute
• Connections with partners such as local middle
  school, Georgia Tech
• Pre-proposal to NSF

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Focus Group

• 11 first-year students indicating interest in
  natural sciences
• Meet bi-weekly with 3 administrators
• Emphasis on mentoring, support
• We get their insight
• Importance of faculty mentoring
• Function of resource centers
• Peer pressure/norms

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Important Points to Consider

• Research on other programs important but must be
  incorporated into your own institutional context
• Importance of keeping minds open
• Collaboration must be early enough to allow all
  constituencies to react to and impact the program

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How Will We Know? Assessment
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What We Learned (so far)

• The importance of
• Intentional and comprehensive efforts
• Strong administrative support
• Assessment of initiatives
• Broad impact on critical mass of students
• Involvement of faculty, student life,
  administrators