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Board 267: Engineering a Transfer Friendly Experience with Alternative Pathways to Excellence

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topics

Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

6

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42719

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/42719

Download Count

86

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Paper Authors

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Katherine Acton University of St. Thomas

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Deborah Besser P.E. University of St. Thomas

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Dr. Besser, PE, ENV SP, holds a PhD in education and MS and BS in civil engineering. Currently, she is civil engineering chair and Center for Engineering Education director. Previous experience includes faculty positions in diverse universities where she

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Kundan Nepal University of St. Thomas

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Kundan Nepal is currently Professor and Chair of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department in the School of Engineering at the University of St.Thomas (MN). He teaches courses in areas of Engineering Design, Digital Electronics and Embedded Systems. His current research explores power efficient testing, error detection and avoidance techniques in digital integrated circuits. In addition, his work also seeks the democratization of the exciting field of embedded computing and the Internet of Things by bringing these technologies to solve problems identified by traditionally under-served communities.

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Jennifer E. Holte University of St. Thomas

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Jennifer Holte is on the faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of St. Thomas and serves as the School of Engineering's Community College and Transfer Coordinator. She holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

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Abstract

The Alternative Pathways to Excellence (APEX) program at the University of St. Thomas is an NSF funded S-STEM Track 2 project that seeks to strengthen efforts to recruit and retain STEM transfer students by integrating financial, academic, and practical supports.

The APEX program provides student support services, formal and informal mentoring, curricular and co-curricular supports, and cohort building activities all formulated to create accessible pathways into engineering careers for a population of academically talented students with low income and high unmet financial need.

The goals of this program are to increase recruitment by partnering with five regional community colleges, to award S-STEM scholarships of up to $10,000 annually to cohorts of 4-6 students each year, to increase retention by developing retention-friendly supports, and to graduate APEX scholars who go on to meaningfully contribute to fueling innovation in industry and/or academic post-graduate study.

Generation of knowledge is based on studying the APEX program as a model and evaluating qualitative and quantitative data surrounding students’ successful transitions to a four-year institution. Program evaluation is focused on understanding how well APEX recruitment strategies contribute to increasing the number of low income and underrepresented students who transfer into the University of St. Thomas Engineering program and understanding the extent to which retention efforts are most beneficial to retaining students. In this work, we showcase initial program activities, and the initial results based on the first year of study and our first cohort of scholars.

Acton, K., & Besser, D., & Nepal, K., & Holte, J. E. (2023, June), Board 267: Engineering a Transfer Friendly Experience with Alternative Pathways to Excellence Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42719

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