Board 188: A Legacy of Success: The High Achievers in STEM

Rahman Tashakkori; Jennifer R. McGee; Cindy Norris

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 15
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46752

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Paper Authors

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Rahman Tashakkori Appalachian State University

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Rahman Tashakkori received his PhD in Computer Science from Louisiana State University in 2001. He serves as the Lowe's Distinguished Professor of CS and director for LSAMP and S-STEM programs at Appalachian State University.

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Jennifer R. McGee Appalachian State University

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Cindy Norris Appalachian State University orcid.org/0000-0001-9537-3325

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Abstract

There are well-known and widespread issues that come with recruiting and retaining a diverse group of students into STEM majors. Financial strain for students (Xu, 2016), course workload (Sithole et al., 2017), and institutional quality are highlighted in the literature (Ash & Schreiner, 2016; White et al., 2018; Xu, 2016). Our program, The High Achievers in STEM (BHAS), utilizes the concept of a learning community as the central nexus for providing services to students in order to recruit and retain students in STEM majors. Along with full academic scholarships, BHAS scholars are members of a learning community that extends into various aspects of life on campus. The learning community concept has been shown to facilitate the development of relationships between students by combining their academic and social interests (Hoffman et al., 2002; White et al., 2019). Learning communities have also been shown to increase student retention, especially for students in STEM majors who may be faced with some of the challenges noted above (Solanki et al., 2019; Hoffman et al., 2002). During the COVID-19 pandemic, connection to the BHAS learning community sustained the Sense of Community (SOC) (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) experienced by our scholars, enabling them to persist (Authors, 2021). By empowering and sustaining the SOC within our learning community throughout the life of the BHAS program, we have successfully recruited and retained a diverse group of STEM scholars. One hundred percent of BHAS scholars across all five years came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. On average, 46.34% of BHAS scholars were non-White, which is more than double the percentage of racial or ethnic diversity in our overall student population (19%). Overall retention rates for the five STEM majors who participated in BHAS ranged from 96.0% to 100%. Graduation rates ranged from 89.7% to 95.7%. Non-BHAS students in the same five STEM majors had retention rates that were 22-23% lower than BHAS scholars across time. From the beginning of BHAS (fall 2018) until the end of the last academic year (spring 2023), the program has served a total of 63 students, with 54 students graduating from either an undergraduate or a graduate degree to date. BHAS programming consists of a three-pronged approach, including a weekly seminar, a research team led by a faculty mentor, and a study hall. Research teams comprised students in the same major or a diverse group of students from various complementary disciplines. At the beginning of each academic year, social events were hosted to help new BHAS students assimilate into the learning community. At the end of each semester, research teams met to present progress and findings for their projects in a mini research conference-style session. BHAS scholars across all five years of data reported high levels of satisfaction with the BHAS program in general, with the research team and mentoring rated higher than study halls. SOC was consistently rated as high, and STEM Affinity, as measured by the STEM Affinity Scale, was also consistently high.

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Tashakkori, R., & McGee, J. R., & Norris, C. (2024, June), Board 188: A Legacy of Success: The High Achievers in STEM Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/46752

TY - CPAPER
AB - There are well-known and widespread issues that come with recruiting and retaining a diverse group of students into STEM majors. Financial strain for students (Xu, 2016), course workload (Sithole et al., 2017), and institutional quality are highlighted in the literature (Ash &amp;amp; Schreiner, 2016; White et al., 2018; Xu, 2016). Our program, The High Achievers in STEM (BHAS), utilizes the concept of a learning community as the central nexus for providing services to students in order to recruit and retain students in STEM majors. Along with full academic scholarships, BHAS scholars are members of a learning community that extends into various aspects of life on campus. The learning community concept has been shown to facilitate the development of relationships between students by combining their academic and social interests (Hoffman et al., 2002; White et al., 2019). Learning communities have also been shown to increase student retention, especially for students in STEM majors who may be faced with some of the challenges noted above (Solanki et al., 2019; Hoffman et al., 2002). During the COVID-19 pandemic, connection to the BHAS learning community sustained the Sense of Community (SOC) (McMillan &amp;amp; Chavis, 1986) experienced by our scholars, enabling them to persist (Authors, 2021). By empowering and sustaining the SOC within our learning community throughout the life of the BHAS program, we have successfully recruited and retained a diverse group of STEM scholars. One hundred percent of BHAS scholars across all five years came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. On average, 46.34% of BHAS scholars were non-White, which is more than double the percentage of racial or ethnic diversity in our overall student population (19%). Overall retention rates for the five STEM majors who participated in BHAS ranged from 96.0% to 100%. Graduation rates ranged from 89.7% to 95.7%. Non-BHAS students in the same five STEM majors had retention rates that were 22-23% lower than BHAS scholars across time. From the beginning of BHAS (fall 2018) until the end of the last academic year (spring 2023), the program has served a total of 63 students, with 54 students graduating from either an undergraduate or a graduate degree to date. BHAS programming consists of a three-pronged approach, including a weekly seminar, a research team led by a faculty mentor, and a study hall. Research teams comprised students in the same major or a diverse group of students from various complementary disciplines. At the beginning of each academic year, social events were hosted to help new BHAS students assimilate into the learning community. At the end of each semester, research teams met to present progress and findings for their projects in a mini research conference-style session. BHAS scholars across all five years of data reported high levels of satisfaction with the BHAS program in general, with the research team and mentoring rated higher than study halls. SOC was consistently rated as high, and STEM Affinity, as measured by the STEM Affinity Scale, was also consistently high.
AU - Rahman Tashakkori
AU - Jennifer R. McGee
AU - Cindy Norris
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 188: A Legacy of Success: The High Achievers in STEM
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46752
ER -