1. 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

2. 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.

3. 50,000 Students Enroll in Credit Programs

4. 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

5. 145,000 Service Personnel Enroll in San Diego Community College’s Military Education Programs

6. Commitment to STEM
Students
Colleges
Trustees
Community

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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)

13. 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”

14. 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)

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

16. 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.

17. 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.

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

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

20. 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%

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. Festival of Science & Engineering

25. Thank you!
QUESTIONS?