Centers for undergraduate research and civic engagement are rare at the community college level. With two such Centers, both launched in 2022 and 2023 at a Midwestern Community College, we are examining how intentional mentoring efforts in undergraduate research and civic engagement at community colleges impact students' political efficacy and…

Research shows that while many students express interest in STEM, far fewer go on to complete degrees in these fields, with significant disparities across race and gender. Our latest report spotlights the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Program, which is designed to address these disparities. Utilizing interviews with national…

The most effective stakeholders of distance education processes are the instructors who carry out and manage the teaching processes. Instructors are expected to master the process in order to carry out distance education effectively and efficiently. One of the most important factors affecting this situation is the satisfaction level of the…

The transfer pathway from community college to university holds promise for advancing equity in STEM because it is followed by disproportionately high numbers of underrepresented students. Among the challenges these students face is cultivating belonging in multiple institutional settings. By combining belonging and validation theories, this…

Introductory classes are often a student's first exposure to foundational knowledge, careers, and faculty in an academic major. The characteristics of introductory exercise science courses, as well as faculty impressions of course benefits and areas for improvement, were explored in this study. Electronic survey data from 181 universities around…