Prof. Agda Cordero and Prof. Iliana Ballester Panelli
Through our NSF funded project, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón seeks to help first- and second-year students in STEM majors overcome obstacles in gateway math courses, which are nationally acknowledged barriers in STEM success. “Increasing Student Success in STEM” (ISSS) focuses on peer mentoring, math tutoring, research and internships, and faculty development leading to key gateway math course revisions. These improvements will increase within-term retention, fall-to-fall retention, six-year graduation, and placement into STEM employment post-graduation. Through peer mentoring, we seek to support STEM students; we created a model of ‘Mentor speakers” who regularly give short talks to STEM students about their experiences as undergraduate STEM students. The project aims to engage first and second-year students in research activities mentored by faculty researchers. Math courses have been redesigned to incorporate active learning methodologies; this effort together with math tutoring aims at reducing math anxiety among STEM students.