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Board 130: NSF S-STEM: Transfer Success Co-Design for Engineering Disciplines (TranSCEnD)

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Conference

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Tampa, Florida

Publication Date

June 15, 2019

Start Date

June 15, 2019

End Date

June 19, 2019

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topics

Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--32234

Permanent URL

https://216.185.13.174/32234

Download Count

437

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Paper Authors

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Rachel McCord Ellestad University of Tennessee, Knoxville Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5163-7675

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Rachel McCord Ellestad is a a Senior Lecturer and Research Assistant Professor in the Engineering Fundamentals Division at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech. Her research interests include the impact of metacognitive and self-regulated learning development on engineering student success, particularly in the first year.

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David J. Keffer University of Tennessee, Knoxville Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-6246-0286

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David Keffer received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Since 1998, he has been a member of the faculty in the College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, where he is currently professor and associate head in the Materials Science & Engineering Department. Prof. Keffer is a multiscale materials modeler, using computational simulations to develop structure-property relationships in nanostructured materials. He was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Lectureship to teach at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea in 2010-2011.

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Jennifer Retherford P.E. University of Tennessee, Knoxville

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Dr. Retherford is an alumna of the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and received her graduate degrees from Vanderbilt University. She currently teaches a variety of courses supporting the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee. Among many structural engineering courses, Dr. Retherford also manages the Senior Design Project course for all undergraduate seniors.

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Chris Wetteland University of Tennessee at Knoxville

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Mary kocak University of Tennessee at Knoxville Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-6447-7292

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Travis Griffin University of Tennessee, Knoxville

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Mr. Travis Griffin was is the Fred D. Brown Jr. Director of Engineering Diversity Programs at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Mr. Griffin comes to the university from Oklahoma State University where he served as the coordinator for the Multicultural Engineering Program. In this role, Mr. Griffin focused on recruiting, advising and retaining students for the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. He also developed, implemented and managed special programs targeted to underrepresented groups and a multicultural awareness program for the college.

Mr. Griffin received his bachelor’s degree in software engineering from Mississippi State University in 2004 and his master’s degree in higher education from USM in 2005. He is an active member, leader and advisor within the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and National Association of Multicultural Engineering Program Advocates and has received numerous recognitions and honors including the NSBE Alumni Extension (AE) National Leadership 2006 award and the Region 3 NSBE AE Dedication 2006 award.

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Abstract

Beginning with the graduating high school class of 2015, the Tennessee Promise program provides "last-dollar" scholarships and mentoring programs focused on increasing the number of students at any of the state's 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology, or other eligible institution offering an associate's degree. In its inaugural class, about 58,000 students (90% of Tennessee's senior class) applied for Tennessee Promise. Thus, the faculty and administration at the University of Tennessee anticipate that transfer students are likely an increasingly important fraction of the student body. In the Tickle College of Engineering, transfer student enrollment has increased at an average rate of 10% per year over the last five years. Transfer students face a unique set of challenges, which differ from those who begin their first year at a university as freshmen. The challenges are both academic--adapting to the reduction in individual attention with university coursework--and social--lacking a well-defined peer-cohort with whom the adjustment to university life can be shared. In engineering, transfer students also statistically represent a different demographic population than the student body of entering freshmen (the fraction of first-generation college students is double (32% compared to 15%) among transfer students, which can potentially bring cultural challenges as well. These challenges manifest in an unfortunate fact: currently the fraction of engineering transfer students who do not graduate within 5 years is nearly double (29% to 15%) that of traditional engineering students who have an analogous two years of college behind them. Finally, existing programs for financial aid are disproportionately distributed to students who enter the university system as freshmen relative to transfer students. The objective of the TranSCEnD program at the University of Tennessee is to increase the retention of engineering transfer students to a level comparable to engineering students, who entered the Tickle College of Engineering as freshmen. A program which spans a five-year process--two years at the community college, a summer bridge program, and three years at the University of Tennessee--is proposed. Activities include faculty exchange between institutions, student skills seminars, sustained mentoring, intra-cohort peer learning, and inter-cohort peer-teaching. The individual elements of the program as well as the synergistic integration of elements have been chosen to balance two influences: (1) a program designed with theoretical influence from Tinto’s Theory of Voluntary Student Departure, and (2) a practical acknowledgment of demonstrated success at the University of Tennessee. This paper will provide a summary of the TranSCEnD program as well as provide an update on current activities from the grant team.

Ellestad, R. M., & Keffer, D. J., & Retherford, J., & Wetteland, C., & kocak, M., & Griffin, T. (2019, June), Board 130: NSF S-STEM: Transfer Success Co-Design for Engineering Disciplines (TranSCEnD) Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32234

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