Johns Hopkins University Unpacking the Student Life Cycle – Strengthening College-Going Pipelines and Promoting Academic Success of Diverse Student Populations During Their First Semesters at a University Norma L. Day-Vines, Ph.D. Professor Johns Hopkins University
STEM Degree Conferrals by Race Whites and Asians Bachelor’s 77% Master’s 74% Doctoral 86% African Americans Bachelor’s 8% Master’s 7% Doctoral 2% National Science Foundation, 2009
Meyerhoff Scholarship Program (MSP) The Meyerhoff Scholarship Program is a signature program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). This program is designed to increase access to and success in STEM for Black students.
Salient Program Features Financial Aid Recruitment Summer Bridge Program Study Groups Program Values Program Community Personal Advising and Counseling Tutoring Summer Research Internships Research experience during the academic year Faculty involvement Administrative involvement Mentoring Community service Family involvement
Salient Programmatic Features The program emphasizes the pursuit of a STEM PhD
Barriers Faced by Academically Talented Students Overwhelming course load Social and cultural isolation Stereotype thereat (Steele & Aronson, 1997)
Factors Important to Minority Student Success Academic and Social Integration Create community of shared intellectual interest Develop a critical mass of talented peers of the same ethnicity Knowledge and Skill Development Develop critical abilities necessary for achievement (e.g. social and cultural capital) Develop content expertise (e.g. study groups, intellectual engagement) Support and Motivation Financial, family faculty, and institutional support and internal motivation; Counterbalancing the difficulties related to learning in the sciences requires strong supports including faculty involvement, meaningful research experiences, an academically focused peer group, involvement with university staff; ethnic minority role models (including a mentoring relationship), and tutoring; horizontal and vertical networks (Astin & Astin, 1992; Barlow & Villarejo, 2004; Doolittle, 1997; Fries-Britt, 1998; Grandy, 1998; May & Chubin, 2003; Seymour & Hewitt, 1997) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtK086Tb-30 Monitoring and Advising Academic and career planning; identification of early warning systems (Maton & Hrabowski, 2004)
Student Perceptions of Key Programmatic Feature of MSP Financial Support Summer Bridge Program Formation of Myerhoff Identity Belonging to the Meyerhoff Family Developing Networks that facilitate academic and social development