WASHINGTON, D.C. – High levels of student educational attainment and career success in STEM disciplines become easier to reach when institutional leaders take a systematic approach toward change and make mentoring a prominent part of their programs.
This was among the key points made Wednesday at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) 2012 Joint Annual Meeting, or JAM, on Broadening Participation Research.
“As [students] learn more and develop more and see what is out there, their world opens up,” Kimberly Cline, president of Mercy College, said in describing the impact of PACT, or Personalized Achievement Contract, an initiative her college implemented and that connects students with mentors who work as STEM professionals at major U.S. companies, namely, IBM and Johnson & Johnson.
While opinions vary on the practical value of mentors, Cline said mentors make a discernible difference in retention and graduation rates, and enhance students’ career prospects by exposing them to a career they might not have ever heard of before.
Cline shared her insights during a luncheon plenary session led by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education editor David Pluviose that also featured Gerald Monette, an independent consultant who works with tribal colleges, and Meldon Hollis, associate director at the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Asked what it will take to broaden participation in STEM, both Monette and Hollis stressed the need for stronger federal investments in programs and institutions that have proven effective.
Monette touted the success of Tribal Colleges and Universities Program, also known as TCUP. Though TCUP is “one of the most underfunded programs at NSF,” Monette said (he put the figure at $13 million), he says the program has enabled tribal colleges, which rely completely on federal funding, to build capacity in STEM.
