University of Charleston�Institutional Team�Report

Dr. Heather Arnett

Dr. Aida Jimenez

Britany Prince

Dean Tracy Bradley

Dr. Beth Pauley

Hailey Cox

Outline

• What are you proud of around immersion?  
• What are you proud of around assembling/empowering an institutional team? 
• What are you proud of around faculty, staff and student participation in improvement science (PDSA) and working groups for First2? 
• What are your challenges?* Be sure to articulate how can we deal with this 
• What resources do you need to maintain success? 

What are you proud of around immersion?

• Successful student friendships and communities
• Support each other
• Teach each other
• Skills from summer or other programs being applied in the classroom
• Increased skills and application
• General joy of realization and recognition 

* Fall to Fall 2020-2021, 2021-2022

** Include the following: URDC, WVAS, InBRE, Publication 

Lydia N.-Chemistry

Hailey C. and Jess. M-Biology

Mexican dinner for

First Gen National day celebration!

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What are you proud of around immersion?

• Successful student friendships and communities

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• Excerpt from S-STEM Evaluator interview: 
• One of the Scholars, describing her experience in this program, shared the following: “I came on campus for 13 days - there were five students total. We made a poster [of their research findings] and it gives me utter joy to see it [posted in the biology hallway] and confirms that I am on the right path. I love to see it in the hallway. I now know how to write posters and research summaries like that we are doing with Bio 128 and know older people who help us. Know our professors well - know their lives and we know theirs.”

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• As she explained, “ My math tutor will be my biology TA for spring. I met her at my summer First2 Network internship. A lot of STEM classes have TAs who are also tutors - so makes it comfortable to see them.”

• Intern Feedback and student survey from SU21 Immersion Site
• Key Planning: First in seat site->actively acquired feedback
• Heavy focus on  experiential components (e.g. catering, dorm living, etc)
• Key tactic: engagement of Dean Bradley to increase communication and engagement of multiple departments together
• SU 2022 Mentors are returning UC SU Immersion 2021 Interns (both they and we are proud!)
• Reflects promising retention (for UC and First2)
• Strong connection to the school, immersion site event, and first2
• Key Outcome: Unique and powerful ideas for mentor events

What are you proud of around immersion?​

What are you proud of around assembling/empowering an institutional team?

• Our team covers major points at various levels:
• Academic at program level
• Administrative at School level
• Institutional at institutional research level
• We wish we can make it even more diverse: buy in from other STEM faculty and FYE
• Team includes
• Dean Bradley
• Key role: help support and act as a liaison between important institutional departments
• Dr. Pauley
• Key role: access to important data and student information
• Key location: provost’s office (executive administrative)
• Dr. Arnett and Dr. Jimenez
• Key role: first year biology instructors to help maintain retention and rapport

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What are you proud of around faculty, staff and student participation in improvement science (PDSA) and working groups for First2?

• PDSAs are not necessarily easy to manage for students and faculty but we have gain useful insights from them:
• Summer 2020-2021
• Change Idea:  Informal Interactions (connected to goal driver 3)
• Informal morning chats during coffee hour--> did not improve engagement
• Add LOA sessions- used Group me app
• Update-Results seem to support out prediction. Small informal interactions did result in developing stronger relationships with faculty.
• Summer 2021
• Change idea: Use of Rocket Notebook for data collection and sharing during Immersive experience (connected to goal driver 2)
• Uploading the data helped them see what work was being done in other labs and ask each other questions about them later. This facilitated discussions among them about big picture questions. During week 2 students used the shared drive, which contained the data, to come together and discuss similarities and differences between the data collected by the two groups.
• Update- use in CURE course in Fall 2021 semester

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What are you proud of around faculty, staff and student participation in improvement science (PDSA) and working groups for First2?

• Fall Spring 2021-2022
• Change Idea: Professor and Student connectivity via an equal playing field, trivia night. (connected to goal driver 3)
• Continue because it is so much fun, and we received many positive comments from students and faculty alike. Even though some of the gains are small, along with other activities these begin to add up.
• More gains when look at freshman only?
• We are adopting these types of events in our department as of Spring 2022.

What are your challenges?* Be sure to articulate how can we deal with this 

• Recruitment
• Recruitment is generally down among all First2 Immersion sites this year
• Network wide issues likely play a role (later application approval and release dates for example)
• Associations with Ambassador timing (CAN we find a time for students or others to integrate better in high schools during key times?)
• December is a little early (before applications and often sites are chosen)
• April is too late (seniors are already finished for the year)
• Marketing and Admissions offices
• UC has rolling admissions so we have recruitment that often happens now through summer (which is not very helpful for events like SU Immersion)
• Marketing and Admissions (and school counselors) are overwhelmed, have many programs to manage, and can lose track or do not have the ability to be detailed about this program
• Target Idea: Collect and identify better key locations students apply from based on this year's and last year's applications to the program

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What are your challenges?* Be sure to articulate how can we deal with this 

• Sustainability
• With current budget constrains at our small private institution, we are sure we cannot match the programming we have been offering with the First2 network help, particularly incentivizing participation with stipends.
• We are currently writing a proposal to present to the administrators in the institutional group. We learned that the virtual camp of 2020 was possible and somewhat effective at a lower cost and so we are trying to determine the feasibility of doing a hybrid program that we could sustain internally (e.g. 1 week online and on campus for 2-3 days instead). We can fundraise for room and board costs, which would be more manageable for the shorter stay. NSCI department could absorb lab costs.
• The group will meet this summer to discuss this idea

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What are your challenges?* Be sure to articulate how can we deal with this 

• Initiating and sustaining Broader First-Generation Engagement
• Ideas have been marketed more last minute, with very little participation and no buy-in from FYE courses
• We want to invite Student Life personnel to be part of the institutional team to see how this enhances participation and buy in from others.
• Our liason with FYE could help promoting programming through-out the semester withing the FYE courses.
• Math Study Hall has been tested in Sp 2021 and will most likely be implemented for more math support.
• The meeting we just had with the research team and HEPC personnel worked a lot. More of this would probably help keep us on track.