Title of the proposal
Modeling Intended STEM Success for First and Second Year First Generation Undergraduates
Bio
Dr. Mary Jo Parker, Executive Director Scholars Academy / Natural Science faculty
Dr. Mary Jo Parker is the Executive Director of the 17 year old Scholars Academy. She is also a faculty member in the Department of Natural Sciences, specializing in only biology instruction of non-STEM majors. Dr. Parker currently is Principal Investigator for several federal grant award programs including: 1) DOED MSEIP ($750,000/3 yrs); 2) Nuclear Regulatory Commission MSIP 2015 ($850,000/5 yrs), 3) NRC MSIP 2011 ($450,000/6 yrs); and 4) NRC Community College/Tradeschools award ($150,000/2 yrs). She has been PI on previously funded awards from NOAA BWET in watershed studies, Texas Workforce Commission Wagner Peyser award, and Texas Workforce Summer Merit Programs.
Dr. Parker has been at UHD for six years and begins her seventh year in FY2015-2016. Most recently, a submitted proposal to the University of Houston System Board of Regents has been selected as an Academic Program of Excellence in 2015. This selection honors the focused efforts on retention and graduation of the Scholars Academy as part of the College of Sciences & Technology at UHD.
General description of the initiative or project
A Department of Education MSEIP award supports the project design which Comparing the impact of a Full Exposure model program and its components (as applied to the Scholars Academy) to the non-Exposure on STEM majors success outcomes associated with retention and persistence.
Full Exposure program modeled after some components of the Scholars Academy program consisting of: 1) Faculty and peer mentoring; 2) Seminar and field trip broadening career experiences connected to advanced degrees and the workforce
3) Graduate school preparation; 4) PhD-Mentored research (summer and academic year); and 5) Research dissemination opportunities.
Modeling Intended STEM Success Project Elements targeted these initiatives:
A) Freshman Ramp-UP support; B) Academic Skill Monitoring; C) Mentoring; D) Career/Research Skill Development; and E) Leadership Development of minority and first generation undergraduates in STEM majors.