Reeves Audrey G, Bischoff Amanda J, Yates Brice, Brauer Daniel D, Baranger Anne M
Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
J Chem Educ. 2022 Nov 10;100(1):134-142. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00427. eCollection 2023 Jan 10.
The undergraduate transfer process has well-documented challenges, especially for those who identify with groups historically excluded from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. Because transfer students gain later access to university networking and research opportunities than first-time-in-college students, transfer students interested in pursuing postbaccalaureate degrees in chemistry have a significantly shortened timeline in which to conduct research, a crucial component in graduate school applications. Mentorship programs have previously been instituted as effective platforms for the transfer of community cultural wealth within large institutions. We report here the design, institution, and assessment of a near-peer mentorship program for transfer students, the Transfer Student Mentorship Program (TSMP). Founded in 2020 by graduate students, the TSMP pairs incoming undergraduate transfer students with current graduate students for personalized mentorship and conducts discussion-based seminars to foster peer relationships. The transfer student participants have access to a fast-tracked networking method during their first transfer semester that can serve as a route for acquiring undergraduate research positions. Program efficacy was assessed via surveys investigating the rates of research participation and sense of belonging of transfer students. We observed that respondents that participated in the program experienced an overall improvement in these measures compared to respondents who did not. Having been entirely designed, instituted, and led by graduate students, we anticipate that this program will be highly tractable to other universities looking for actionable methods to improve their students' persistence in pursuing STEM degrees.
本科转学过程面临诸多有案可查的挑战，尤其是对于那些认同历史上被排除在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）项目之外的群体的学生而言。由于转学生比首次进入大学的学生更晚获得大学社交和研究机会，对攻读化学学士学位后学位感兴趣的转学生进行研究的时间线大幅缩短，而研究是研究生申请中的关键组成部分。此前，指导计划已被确立为大型机构内社区文化财富传承的有效平台。我们在此报告一项针对转学生的近龄指导计划——转学生指导计划（TSMP）的设计、实施和评估情况。TSMP由研究生于2020年创立，将本科转学生与在读研究生配对，提供个性化指导，并举办基于讨论的研讨会以促进同伴关系。转学生参与者在首个转学学期可获得一种快速社交方式，这可成为获得本科研究职位的途径。通过调查转学生研究参与率和归属感的问卷对项目效果进行评估。我们观察到，参与该项目的受访者在这些指标上相比未参与的受访者总体有所改善。由于该项目完全由研究生设计、实施和主导，我们预计，对于其他寻求切实可行方法以提高学生攻读STEM学位坚持率的大学来说，这个项目将具有很高的可操作性。
