A Leadership Commitment to Underserved Students in STEM Otto W. K A Leadership Commitment to Underserved Students in STEM Otto W. K. Lee, Ed.D. Vice Chancellor – Instructional Services & Planning San Diego Community College District

San Diego Community College District California’s second-largest community college district Serves the City of San Diego and surrounding region 5 Member Elected Board of Trustees.

50,000 Students Enroll in Credit Programs

50,000 Students Enroll in Continuing Education Educational Cultural Complex Centre City Campus Skills Center Cesar Chavez Campus Mid-City Campus West City Campus North City Campus

145,000 Service Personnel Enroll in San Diego Community College’s Military Education Programs

Commitment to STEM Students Colleges Trustees Community

Board of Trustees Recognition of criticality of STEM in terms of: ● Regional economic development and workforce ● Community and industry partners Investment in state of the art teaching and learning facilities

San Diego Region- Areas of Industry Growth Life Sciences 500+ Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Companies Health Sciences Patient Care & Research Information Technology & Services Wireless, Telecommunications, Software Advanced Manufacturing Aerospace, Defense, Global, Shipbuilding Hospitality & Tourism Recreation, Hotel/Motel, Restaurants

SDCCD Corporate Council Constance – you finish with this slide of the SDCCD Corporate Council

Corporate Council Goals Identify strategies for meeting local business and employer needs Provide business leaders an opportunity for effective input into the educational process at the colleges and continuing education programs Provide the District’s Board of Trustees, chancellor, and educators an on-going opportunity to receive direct input from business leaders throughout the region Provide students attending the District’s colleges and Continuing Education up-to-date employer needs and expectations Offer unique corporate marketing opportunities affiliated with District-sponsored activities and programs These goals are to reflect building on-going sustaintive relationships that benefit the community we serve

District Strategic Plan – Goal #1 Increase Access to Continuing and Higher Education Opportunities for All Strengthen curricular linkages with K-12 partners to improve alignment for student learning and academic achievement. Increase student awareness of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) related careers and improve applicable student competencies. Provide seamless and student-focused transfer pathways from non-credit to credit programs, and credit programs to Baccalaureate institutions.

New SDCCD Instructional Facilities Mesa College Math & Natural Sciences (206,000 sf - $117M) City College Sciences (67,000 sf - $55M) Math (66,000 sf - $81M) Engineering Technology (77,000 sf - $38M) Miramar College Sciences (32,000 sf - $34M) Math (46,000 sf - $34M)

Noteworthy SDCCD STEM Initiatives Women in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Spatial Reasoning Military Service Members Minorities and K-12 Bridges to the Future San Diego Gas & Electric “Smart Grid”

The Pipeline of Women in STEM In the second half of the 2000 decade: AP Computer Science Takers – Females 17% Undergraduate engineering enrollment – 17.2% First-year enrollment – 16.7% BS degrees in Math and Computer Science – 27% Employment Engineers -11% Architects -25% Math and Computer Scientists -26% (Sources: NSF; Engineering Workforce Commission)

Student (In)Equity in GIS Program N = 133 students

The Math Phobia - Observations “I’m just not a math person- never have been, never will be…..guess I’m just more artsy….” - Shani Rudick (Student in Developmental Math) Our culture encourages this categorical thinking: Challenge the students to acknowledge that they don’t have to fall into one category or the other. Spatial abilities have been linked to various careers and are “known to be fundamental to higher-level thinking, reasoning, and creative processes…” Gender differences in 3-D spatial skills, favoring males, are well-documented throughout the literature.

One Intervention on Learning : Spatial Reasoning and Visualization The product includes software and a workbook. Although greater success was found with the classes who used both, I was planning to use just the software. There are 9 modules including Isometric Drawings, Rotations of Objects , Surfaces and Solids of Revolutions, etc.

One Intervention on Perception IWITTS Project Collateral – developed using our Student Role Models

The Outcome: Student Equity GIS Program Average GPA increased from 2.16 to 3.05

Improvements in other SDCCD Programs Female Enrollment Ship Building Technology 23% to 31% Physics 31% to 35% Female Student Success Aviation Maintenance 82% to 96% Manufacturing and Engineering Technology 78% to 86% Physics 67% to 75%

Math, Engineering, Science Achievement A culture & language of success MESA model and network Transfer to four-year institution in a math-based major Serving 200 students annually National Science Foundation Support

Troops to Engineers Military experience to civilian careers in STEM Hands-on and high-tech experiences Variation in math preparation SDCCD to offer lower division math courses prior to separation Priority transfer to San Diego State University School of Engineering

Festival of Science & Engineering Activities, demonstrations, education for 22,000 K-12 students and families Over 55,000 participants from local community, education & industry CEO Qualcomm Chancellor, UCSD Chancellor, SDCCD Superintendent, San Diego Unified School District San Diego City Council Member Chief Scientist, US Navy SPAWAR Nobel Laureate

Festival of Science & Engineering

Thank you! QUESTIONS? olee@sdccd.edu 619 388-6965