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III. Project
Description
The National Need
NSF has appropriately recognized
the need to enhance the quality of undergraduate programs in
SMET at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
The need arises from considerations of deficiencies in several
areas, including access and retention rates, curriculum and faculty
development, and in the quality and variety of available laboratory
equipment in comparison to majority institutions (Campbell et
al., 2000). The need to keep up with the pace of societal advancement
through technology has led to a high demand for quality graduates
in SMET fields. This demand can be met, at least in part, by
enhancing the overall quality of education in these fields, thereby
increasing retention and, ultimately, the numbers of graduates
(Committee on Undergraduate Science Education, 1999). Support
from NSF to HBCUs, which typically have inadequate resource bases,
will contribute to the development of an SMET work force that
reflects the diversity in the populace.
The Institutional Need and Potential
Central State University (CSU)
is the only state supported HBCU in Ohio. It is predominantly
African-American (currently 96%), and is located in the rural
community of Wilberforce east of Dayton. CSU has matriculated
professionals of national and international note in the SMET
fields since its inception in 1887. The SMET fields at CSU include
baccalaureate programs in biology (BIO), chemistry (CHM), mathematics
(MTH), computer science (CPS), , manufacturing engineering (MFE),
industrial technology (INT), geology (GEL), earth science (ESC)
and water resources management (WRM). Programs in BIO, CHM, physics
(PHY), MTH and CPS are administered through the Department of
Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Sciences (NSMCS) in
the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). The Manufacturing Engineering
Department manages the INT and MFE programs, and bears the distinction
of offering one of the seventeen (17) ABET accredited MFE programs
in the Nation. The Department of Water Resources Management is
under the International Center for Water Resources Management
(ICWRM) and includes GEL and ESC. The WRM was the first interdisciplinary
baccalaureate program of its kind in the Nation and the ICWRM
also offers advanced short courses and training programs in the
field. MFE and WRM are in the College of Business and Industry,
reflecting an emphasis on the close links between those disciplines
and industry. NSMCS and WRM also offer an interdisciplinary minor
in Environmental Engineering. Some faculty members from biology,
chemistry, water resource management and manufacturing engineering
are actively engaged in research. However, their efforts are
constrained by limited opportunities, facilities and resources,
as well as heavy teaching loads.
Like many other HBCUs, CSU has triumphed
in its struggles for survival and growth during its long history.
Most recently, CSU has successfully overcome a series of crises
during 1995-1997 period, essentially due to financial and management
problems. A stable structure evolved in the fall of 1997 when
the current administration was installed at the University with
an accompanying infusion of funds from the State of Ohio, and
the academic programs were re-aligned to produce a more efficient
operation. Since then the University has operated under strict
fiscal discipline, with a consistently positive financial balance,
and a current positive fund balance of $5 million. During the
crisis, the enrollment dropped from the pre-crisis level of 3,000
students to about 1,000. Since then CSU has experienced some
increases in enrollment and current (fall 2001) enrollment is
approximately 1,400 students, which is a 25% increase over last
years fall enrollment. The university is currently building a
new 300 bed dormitory in anticipation of additional increases
in the student population. The projected enrollment for Fall
2002 is 1,600 with 440 incoming freshman and 140 transfer students.
However, fiscal constraints derived, at least in part, from the
crises have prevented the Institution from dedicating the resources
needed to enhance the quality of instruction in the SMET fields;
enhancements which would allow us to attract and retain significantly
larger numbers of talented students for these academic areas.
Despite the reduced enrollment levels since 1994, as of fall
2000, CSU has been consistently responsible for significant percentages
of the total number of African-American students graduating from
all Ohio public universities in the SMET fields: 84% in Engineering;
31% in other sciences (BIO, CHM, WRM); 25% in computer science;
and 23% in Mathematics. This suggests that, given appropriate
levels of resources and properly focused initiatives, this university
has the potential for significantly increasing the numbers of
African American SMET graduates in the state.
Objectives:
Access and retention in university
SMET programs are obvious keys to increasing the numbers of African
Americans who ultimately become productive professionals in SMET
fields. Several studies (e.g., Jeria and Roth, 1992) have found
that access, in particular the approach to and focus for access,
is closely linked to retention. Accordingly, CSU is proposing
an approach designed to attract students with appropriate retention
profiles by providing and marketing an environment that offers
higher quality educational opportunities and experiences. This
approach will not reduce access to promising students who meet
our basic entry requirements, but who might not have all of the
high retention probability attributes. Details of the proposed
program are provided in subsequent sections but, in overview,
we are proposing a combination of systemic changes including
curriculum expansion and revision, faculty development, infrastructure
updating, and broadened student research and internship opportunities
that will significantly enhance the quality of SMET education
at CSU. The global vision of CSU's program is to substantively
contribute to an increase in the numbers of African Americans
who become productive professionals and leaders in SMET fields.
The objectives of the program proposed by CSU are:
1) To increase the number of CSU SMET graduates
from 18/year to 74/year or better over a five-year period, with
a correlated increase in the number of students graduating with
a GPA of at least 3.0 from 8 to at least 38 over the five-year
period.
2) To increase the numbers of CSU SMET graduates who continue
on to SMET graduate and
professional schools from 3/year to 12/year or better over a
five-year period
3) To enhance the level of preparedness and market value of CSU
SMET graduates who ultimately choose SMET careers
Elements of the proposed program that will
allow CSU to meet these quantitative objectives include:
- Improving access and retention in SMET
areas through a strong marketing and image campaign
- Improving student learning processes through
a hybrid Learning Communities/ Peer-Led Team Learning approach
- Improving the curriculum with new lab
equipment for gate-keeper courses in Physics, biology, and Mathematics
and for core courses in Manufacturing Engineering, Computer Science,
and Water Resources Management
- Enhancing the engineering-emphasis stream
in WRM to produce a program in Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering
(HEE)
- Increasing the numbers of students and
faculty engaged in research and the quality of that research
- Increasing the linkages and collaboration
with larger institutions to provide graduate school opportunities
for students and collaborative research opportunities for faculty
Basically, we are proposing to increase
the number of freshman students registering in SMET programs
by 10% each year and to increase the number of transfer students
by 20 each year using an aggressive marketing and recruitment
program. Simultaneously we will increase freshman SMET retention,
where the most potential for improvement lies, from the current
63% to 70%, with smaller but significant increases for the Sophomore,
Junior and Senior years, by attracting more students with retention-correlated
attributes and by introducing changes which will enhance overall
retention. This will have the compound result of increasing the
number of graduates in the SMET programs by at least 400% over
current rates by the end of the proposed five (5) year period
of the program.
The Vision:
One of the stated missions of CSU is to provide educational
opportunities in technological fields for under-represented minorities.
In support of this important mission, CSU has recently completed
developing Phase I of a Master Plan (MGT of America Inc., August
2000), which emphasizes many of the goals outlined in this proposal.
The Institution is strongly committed to the mission of providing
education to under-represented minorities in the technical fields
and is striving to improve the quality of the educational experience
in those fields at CSU. The average graduating GPA for SMET students
is currently 2.94. The most recent data indicates a composite
Freshman-year retention rate of 63% for the SMET disciplines.
The retention rates will be increased by building a strong and
reputable program that is responsive to the needs of the work
place. CSU's vision is to achieve nationwide distinction for
the quality of its SMET programs. We want our SMET graduates
to be sought after by employers and to become recognized leaders
in their respective professions. This requires high quality in
course content and delivery. Enhancement of quality is to be
achieved by ensuring that course content is current and relevant,
and by building and instituting self-sustaining systems of instructional
delivery and student learning that stress excellence. CSU believes
that the ultimate test of quality lies in the numbers of employers
and graduate/professional schools seeking CSU graduates and the
number and quality of students competing to come to CSU.
The Strategic Plan - Five-Years and
Beyond
CSU proposes an integrated approach
for increasing the numbers of graduates in its SMET disciplines
and simultaneously enhancing the educational experience provided
to them. In this approach, access and retention are linked by
the fact that the strongest predicator for retention has been
found to be selected academic attributes of the entering students
(Adelman, 199). Assessments by CSU's Office of Assessment, Research,
and Institutional Effectiveness have shown that the factor that
has, by far, the most positive influence on SMET retention is
the strength of the academic credentials of the entering student.
Specifically, entering CSU students who have GPAs above 3.0,
who have successfully completed a college prep core curriculum,
who have scored 17.0 or above in the science portion of standard
achievement tests, and who have taken a college prep course series
in high school, have Freshman-Sophomore retention rates that
are approximately double those of students who do not meet those
standards. Attracting a higher percentage of students with these
attributes will result in significantly higher retention in the
Freshman-Sophomore transition and in subsequent transitions.
The keys to attracting more of these students are visibility
and quality. We intend to build significant additional marketable
quality into our SMET programs through a combination of process
and resource enhancement, coupled with research infrastructure
building. We also intend to aggressively market these quality
programs in venues that will provide exposure to students who
will be able to "stay the course". The additions and
changes to the SMET programs that are aimed at improving quality
will also result in an increase in retention for those students
who do not enter CSU with top-of-the-line academic records (Bloom,
1998). In the area of instructional delivery, revising curriculum
with the view to increasing laboratory based experiential learning
and introducing technology-based instruction will assist in quality
enhancement. Summer experiences at research institutions will
result in faculty updating their knowledge and skills, which
will also make them more competitive for research grants. With
regard to student learning, we propose to enhance learning through
collaborative learning processes (Cabrera et al., 1998). At the
departmental level, the SMET departments of Manufacturing Engineering
(MFE), Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science (NSMCS),
and Water Resources Management (WRM) are exploring ways to strategically
expand offerings in the fields where higher employment opportunities
are expected. Funding from NSF will accelerate the implementation
of the departmental plans to enhance the quality of education.
The quantitative targets are summarized in the following Table,
with Year 0, being Fall 2001.
Quantitative Targets
for Quality Improvement
|
Parameter |
Year 01/02 |
Year 02/03 |
Year 03/04 |
Year 04/05 |
Year 05/06 |
Year 06/07 |
Remarks |
|
Access (Freshman)
Overall
SMET Population
|
134 |
147 |
162 |
178 |
196 |
216 |
Number
of students expected each fall |
|
Retention
(First Year) |
63% |
65% |
67% |
69% |
70% |
71% |
Average
Freshman retention in SMET |
|
Students
graduating in SMET each year |
18 |
24 |
24* |
58 |
67 |
74 |
Overall
retention to improve at 15% every year |
|
Number
of students graduating with GPA>3.0 |
8 |
12 |
12 |
24 |
30 |
38 |
Average
for SMET |
|
Student Internships per year |
20 |
23 |
27 |
31 |
36 |
41 |
Minimally
to improve at 15% per year |
|
Graduate School |
3 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
9 |
12 |
Minimal targets |
|
Faculty Internships |
0 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
Faculty
cstudent teams 2 /year |
- Dip in graduation
caused by the small size of the current SMET sophomore class
CSU has already initiated the planning for
much of this initiative. The University Faculty Senate
has submitted proposals for improvements in the organizational
structure that would enhance the ability of the University to
adapt to fast-paced changes in the SMET fields. CSU has developed
a master plan for strengthening its academic programs. The University
is investigating the establishment of a College of Science and
Technology or a College of Engineering and a College of Pharmacy
in addition to the current organization of Colleges of Arts and
Sciences (CAS), Business and Industry (CBI) and Education (COE).
The Computer Science Department has recently hired a new faculty
member. These plans have been developed and studied with a view
to enhancing the quality of SMET educational experience and attracting
more students. The major barrier to implementation has been a
lack of the necessary resources.
It is recognized that the larger institutions
are, at present, able to offer more to their clientele in terms
of better services because of their greater resources and superior
infrastructure. A significant part of the State of Ohio's allocation
to the state schools is tied to the number of students, with
increasing allocations for students having upper-classman status.
CSU would also be able to provide and sustain improved
services with higher enrollment numbers. The successful implementation
of the programmatic initiatives proposed here will automatically
result in CSU gaining the increased state funding needed to sustain
those initiatives. In addition, there are other avenues by which
the funding situation can be improved. CSU, despite its small
size, has managed to attract grants to conduct research, training
and community development projects. It may be noted that in the
last financial year (07/01/00 - 6/30/01) CSU obtained nearly
$850,000 of government and private funding for research activities.
At this level, CSU is performing much better than many of the
other smaller universities in the State of Ohio. The Office of
Sponsored Research has recently under taken a "re-engineering"
process, including increased staffing and university funding.
This is intended to produce a continual growth in external support
for funded research activities that benefit SMET students. The
CSU Foundation is continually improving its financial base with
a current level of $2.5 Million (including about $800,000 for
scholarships) and an anticipated growth rate of 10% per year.
Much of this funding will support student financial aid packages
that help to attract new students and aid in the retention of
resident students. A combination of these factors will provide
the long-term support needed to sustain the programs started
under this proposed five-year NSF project.
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