Resources Faculty meetings Grant writing support Allies Faculty across STEM departments

1. NW-PULSE @ NW BIO 2014 STRATEGIES TO INCREASE STEM STUDENT ENROLLMENT & SUCCESS YAKIMA VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE Stephen Kenny, Matthew Loeser and Jerred Seveyka VISION – We envision a future where STEM courses experience consistently high enrollment and students succeed in their ambitions.. MAIN GOAL– Our team has developed a proposal to increase STEM student enrollment and success. The proposal will be submitted in June to solicit funding. ACTIONS ACCOUNTABILITY BARRIERS & CHALLENGES • Enrollment: YVCC STEM courses are underenrolled, particularly at the advanced level. In addition, many students arrive underprepared to be successful. • Funding: Outside grant funding will increase enrollment and student resources. • Products: draft proposal for increasing STEM student enrollment and success • Assessments: faculty discussion on common content and standard assessments for introductory life science course (Biology 109) • Drafted $2.8 million STEM proposal to be submitted to Dept. of Education • Additional funding requests to YVCC administration for equipment and lab tech support • Held life science workday to discuss policies and course content STRENGTHS RESOURCES & ALLIES SUSTAINABILITY We work well as a team of faculty and we enjoy support from our administration. Evidence of this teamwork can be found in the common content for the general biology course taught by multiple faculty and progress towards a common assessment. • Resources • Faculty meetings • Grant writing support • Allies • Faculty across STEM departments • Dean and V.P. • Support for STEM proposal from faculty in physical sciences and mathematics Administration offers release time to faculty to write grants. NWBIO provides a venue for describing challenges and hearing new ideas to address these challenges. This work was supported in part by NSF EAGER #51588