1. San Diego City College Academy for STEM Success - A Model Summer Bridge Program Rafael Alvarez San Diego City College MESA Program Director Tuesday, March 6, 2012

2. Engage, Educate, Empower Female Academy: Circle of Sisters

3. A Power Community @ City College Male Academy: Circle of Brothers

4.  Background  “How to”: A 3-Day “STEM Culture” Model  Evaluation & Results “A Conversation”

5. Background Culture Need STEM Academy

6. Student Interest in STEM Hurtado, S. and Chang, M. (2010). Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors. Higher Education Institute at UCLA.

7. Degree Completion Hurtado, S. and Chang, M. (2010). Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors. Higher Education Institute at UCLA.

8. “New” American Dilemma 28.5% - Percentage of underrepresented minority groups in national population (2006) 9.1% - Percentage of underrepresented minority groups among college-educated Americans in science and engineering occupations (academic and non-academic) Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads (2010). National Academy of Sciences.

9. Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) 8% - Percentage of HSIs among all U.S. postsecondary institutions >50% - Percentage of Latinos enrolled in HSIs among the over 2 million Latinos enrolled in college 25% - Minimum percentage of Latino fulltime equivalent (FTE) enrollment required for HSI status Malcom, L.E. et. al. (2010). (Re)Constructing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Moving Beyond Numbers Toward Student Success.

10.  Graduates of high schools with low API scores  First generation college students  Economically disadvantaged  Placement into basic skills courses  Lack of necessary social and cultural capital “Color of the sky”: Student Realities

11.  "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group"  "the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time "  "the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization " What is Culture?

12.  Model academic support program in STEM, including: Academic support and social integration Professional and leadership development  Established in California in 1970  Currently 68 MESA Programs statewide serve K-12, community college and university students  Thirteen states have adopted MESA model

13. San Diego City College MESA Program

15. STEM Academy: Collaborators Rafael Alvarez Director Dr. M. Spradley Dean Dr. L. Perez Counselor Veronica Navallez Counselor Dr. S. Starobin Principal Evaluator Dr. F. Santos Laanan Co-Principal Evaluator Joyce Lui Graduate Research Assoc. Carlos Lopez Graduate Research Assoc.

16. STEM Academy: Mentors

18. 3-Day Schedule A.M. Training Networking Lunch P.M. Training Industry Exposure Day 1: Culture Day 3: Strengths/Campus Day 2: Learning Strategies

19. Day 1: Commitment Victims …  Blame others  Complain  Make excuses  Repeat ineffective behavior  “Have to” do things  Pretend their problems belong to others  “Try”  Give up FAILURE Victims seldom achieve goals Creators …  Accept responsibility  Take actions  Seek solutions  Do something new  “Choose to” do things  Own their problems  Commit & follow through  Take control of their choices & their lives! SUCCESS Creators often achieve goals Downing, S. (2009). Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life. Wadsworth, Boston, MA, 6 th Edition.

20. Cultural Beliefs  Secret to Success (a.k.a. African Village story): “When you find something in life that you want as much as you want to breathe, then you will find the secret to success!”  Capstone for life: The purpose for the learning  Skills  Knowledge  Wisdom  FREEDOM!

23. Networking Lunch - Daily

24. Industry Exposure - Daily

27. Other Day 2 Training  Learning styles  Test taking strategies

29. Other Day 3 Training  Time management  Test taking strategies  Campus tour: Scavenger hunt led by mentors

30. Mission Accomplished!

31. Evaluation Plan  Formative evaluation for program improvement was conducted by Iowa State University research team  Methodology: Use of quantitative and qualitative assessment tools  Questionnaire, with Likert scale, completed daily to determine:  Degree of understanding  Likelihood for applying the training  A focus group was conducted following each STEM Academy

32. Evaluation Results  Students were very satisfied with the program and the rewarding learning experience in such a short period of time  Interactions with professionals from STEM fields and City College professors helped students to gain a clear vision about their goal and career path  For the majority of students, the Academy experience confirmed their interest in pursuing a career in STEM fields

33. Evaluation Results (continued)  Some of the students would like to interact more closely with their peers during the 3 day program  All students concluded by saying that they would definitely recommend this program to other recent high school graduates with aspirations to go to college and pursue a career in STEM field

34. Recommendations  Programmatic – provide shared experience for females and males  Participation – emphasize Academy experience to improve outreach and recruitment  Personalize learning experience – provide opportunities for self-reflection and discussion  Mentors – increase the opportunities for mentors to share their experiences  Evaluation tools – revisit survey design to provide a more refined assessment, and tailor a survey instrument for mentors

35. Fall 2011 Results – Units Earned

36. Fall 2011 Results – GPA

37. Special thanks to the STEM Academy teams at San Diego City College and Iowa State University Comments are appreciated. Please forward to Rafael Alvarez (ralvarez@sdccd.edu) Detailed information for the STEM Academy, including related materials, can be found on the City College website: www.sdcity.edu (Search “stem academy”)

38. “Following an informed approach”: References 1. Dowd, A.C., Malcom, L.E. & Macias, E.E. (2010). Improving Transfer Access to STEM, Bachelor’s Degrees at Hispanic Serving Institutions through the America COMPETES Act. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California.Improving Transfer Access to STEM, Bachelor’s Degrees at Hispanic Serving Institutions through the America COMPETES Act 2. Frehill, L., DiFabio, N. & Hill, S. (2008). Confronting the "New" American Dilemma - Underrepresented Minorities in Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity. National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering.Confronting the "New" American Dilemma - Underrepresented Minorities in Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity 3. Henderson, P., Psalmonds, E. & Bissell, R. (2010). Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads

39. “Following an informed approach”: References (continued) 4. Hoffman, E., Starobin, S.S., Santos Laanan, F. & Rivera, M. (2010). Role of Community Colleges in STEM Education: Thoughts on Implications for Policy, Practice and Future Research. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, Volume 16/Issue 1. DOI: 10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.v16.i1Role of Community Colleges in STEM Education: Thoughts on Implications for Policy, Practice and Future Research 5. Hurtado, S., Chang, M., Eagan, K. & Gasiewski, J. (2010). Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles.Degrees of Success: Bachelor’s Degree Completion Rates among Initial STEM Majors 6. Malcom, L.E., Bensimon, E.M. & Dávila, B. (2010). (Re)Constructing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Moving Beyond Numbers Toward Student Success. Ames, IA: Iowa State University(Re)Constructing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Moving Beyond Numbers Toward Student Success