Journal of STEM Education Volume 16 • Issue 4 October-December 2015 36 Increasing STEM Enrollment Using Targeted Scholarships and an Interdisciplinary Seminar for First- and Second-Year College Students Jon K. Piper and Dwight Krehbiel Bethel College Abstract To attract and retain more academically qualifed students to science and mathematics, we developed a merit-based scholarship program for incoming students with STEM interests. Scholarship recipients participate for the frst two years in an interdisciplinary learning community and declare a STEM major by the sophomore year. STEM Learning Community (SLC), a year-long course initiated in fall 2009, has become a permanent part of the College curriculum. Content consists of weekly meetings for discussions and presentations on such topics as scientifc ethics, relationships between science and technology, the nature and history of science, and the interplay between scientifc discovery and societal development. A major component are group research projects conducted during the school year and presented at our annual undergraduate research symposium. In addition, we provide career counseling, visits and presentations by STEM professionals, and internship opportunities. Students report that they are developing such valuable skills as problem solving ability, communication skills, collaboration, and knowledge of the research process. Enrollment and graduation data show that numbers of participants, especially women and minority students, increased following the inception of the SLC. The results suggest that targeted scholarships combined with engagement in collaborative undergraduate research are a useful tool for enhancing STEM recruitment and persistence. Introduction and Rationale Attracting more students into STEM felds is a national priority (Jackson, 2003). The global economy increasingly requires persons with scientifc, engineering, and technological skills. The US can remain a leader in science and engineering only with a well-educated and efectively trained population. Unfortunately, the US lags behind other industrialized and industrializing nations in percentages or total numbers of undergraduates receiving degrees in natural sciences, engineering, computer science, and information technology (Committee on Prospering, 2007). Fortunately, there is a consistently high level of US student interest in undergraduate STEM programs, with about 50% of pre-college students indicating an intention to major in a STEM discipline (Committee on Prospering, 2007; ACT, 2014). There is a large gap, however, between the stated intentions of incoming students and their persistence to successful degree completion with a STEM major. In fact, undergraduate STEM programs tend to display the lowest persistence rates among all academic disciplines despite evidence that students who drop out of STEM programs are as qualifed as, if not more qualifed than, college entrants as a whole (Seymour and Hewitt, 1997). The frst year of college is a particularly risky time during which many students entering with an interest in science or mathematics switch to a major outside the STEM disciplines (Astin and Astin, 1993; Seymour and Hewitt, 1997; Daempfe, 2003-2004; Committee on Prospering, 2007; Graham et al., 2013). This attrition rate may be as high as 60% overall, and even higher for women and minorities (President’s Council of Advisors, 2012). Persistence is reinforced by academic success, however. Risk of attrition from the sciences declines the longer a student remains in college. Furthermore, historically underrepresented minority groups, which constitute about 25% of the US population and 17.9% of undergraduate students, make up only 2.5% of students in STEM majors and 6% of the entire US science and engineering workforce (Committee on Prospering, 2007). And, although women make up nearly half of the entire US workforce, only a quarter of the science and engineering workforce consists of women (National Science Board, 2004). Demographers forecast that 42 % of the US population will be composed of African Americans and Hispanics by 2050 (Passel and Cohn, 2008). This demographic shift means that racial and ethnic minority students will necessarily constitute an increasingly larger percentage of students in the potential STEM talent pool. Our strategy to increase STEM matriculants through scholarships To increase the number of STEM matriculants at the college, in 2000 we began a program to ofer four- year competitive scholarships to students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline. The focus has been on several STEM departments at the College— Biology, Chemistry/Physics, Mathematics/Computer Science, and Psychology—that have worked together closely for many years and constitute the main portion of the College’s Division of Science and Mathematics. The principal goals of this program are to improve recruitment and persistence of students in STEM felds at Bethel College and to prepare these students for diverse careers in research, practice, and industry. In 2008, we secured a four-year S-STEM grant from the National Science Foundation to augment our existing STEM scholarship program and attendant activities. During the S-STEM funding period, we worked diligently with the College development ofce to build an endowment to sustain the scholarship program in perpetuity. All scholarship recipients are expected to maintain a specifed standard of academic excellence in their college coursework and make reasonable progress in a STEM program of study to retain eligibility. We are persuaded that such a scholarship program, combined with the appropriate student support services, is also an efective means to increase STEM participation by underrepresented minorities and women. In 2006, prior to the initiatives begun under the S-STEM grant, Bethel College’s rates of minority and women STEM graduates were 9% and 33%, respectively, and we hoped to improve these percentages. Strategies to improve STEM persistence Persistence in the sciences improves where programs employ cooperative learning strategies to develop peer support or where students are encouraged to participate in research with faculty (Seymour and Hewitt, 1997). Nurturing environments are strong predictors of student persistence in STEM majors, particularly for women and minorities. Such a climate is created through regular contact with faculty, social gatherings with faculty and peers, seminars and discussion groups, support networks, and mentoring experiences. A key factor for retaining students in STEM majors is assuring that students feel connected to the intellectual and social life of the college (Tinto, 1993; Braxton, 2000). STEM-related extracurricular activities and interactions