Resilience--the ability to persist, bounce back, and achieve, despite setbacks or challenges--is an important predictive and protective factor for university students' personal and academic success. Qualitative research at one large U.S. land-grant university investigated faculty and student perceptions of how and why academic service-learning…

It is essential that all students who are interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) have the motivational supports to persist in their STEM career trajectories. "STEM role models," or successful individuals in STEM, can be powerful tools to motivate college students towards STEM careers, particularly if students…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the ways in which LGBTQ+ students at the University of Miami make meaning of their shared experiences in the LGBTQ+ Mentorship Program that the university offers, in order to explore ways in which higher education institutions might consider better supporting this key group of students.…

Students often experience social and psychological barriers to success in General Chemistry, which is a key gateway to many students' science pathways. Learning assistants (LAs) have the potential to reduce these barriers and to strengthen students' sense of belonging in General Chemistry and STEM more broadly. Here, we used a 17-item Likert scale…

This 'teaching tip' shares the success of a service-learning opportunity created to work with university students in a meaningful way in the community. It describes a program called Fit 4 Tots that resulted in more toddlers, university students and community members benefiting from learning and movement experiences.

It is the responsibility of today's scientists, engineers, and educators to inspire and encourage our youth into technical careers that benefit our society. Too often, however, this responsibility is buried beneath daily job demands and the routines of teaching. Space Public Outreach Team (SPOT) programs leverage a train-the-trainer model to…

The journey to achieve gender diversity in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] subjects appears to be a slow one. According to UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admission Service) data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, just 35 per cent of STEM students in higher education in the UK [United Kingdom] are women (STEM…

Both hierarchical (e.g. student-faculty member or student-adviser) and peer (e.g. student-student) mentoring are recognized as best-practice strategies for promoting college student success. Formal mentoring programs utilizing both approaches can be found on many campuses. In the current institutional context of scarce or stagnant resources,…

Many of today's young black males are in a state of crisis. Generational cycles of hopelessness, poverty, violence, incarceration, and illiteracy prevails among many. Their lack of academic achievement when compared to their white counterparts remains a major topic of discussion in America. Exclusive Black Male Leadership Development Institutes…

Higher education institutions have been identified as inequitable for historically marginalised student and staff populations. Student-staff partnership has recently emerged as one approach to redressing such inequities. To what extent are institutional partnership schemes considering or achieving this goal? Using two phases of qualitative data…

This study was designed to explore, record, explain and describe the lived experiences of African American male students engaged in mentorship programs for post-secondary education. This study takes an exploratory phenomenological approach to research and is conducted at a mentorship program site. The following research questions guided this study…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of African American male Upward Bound participants to determine their identity status and to document their perceptions of Upward Bound's influence on their academic outcomes. This study examined the experiences of eight African American male Upward Bound participants at…

This study evaluated The Grassroot Project, a middle school sexual health promotion program in Washington, DC that uses university-level athlete role models and sports-based games. Seven schools were allocated to immediate (n = 160) or delayed intervention (n = 166). Students were tested before and immediately after the intervention on attitudes…

Single mothers living in poverty face numerous challenges raising their children. Their environs, limited free time, and difficulties negotiating daily life are obstacles that programmes attempt to circumvent by helping their children break free from the cycle of poverty. These issues are discussed in literature on the importance of increasing…

A Near Peer Mentoring Program (NPMP) was developed in which Medical Student Training Program (MSTP) students met weekly with small groups of high school students who were participating in an intensive summer biomedical research immersion program. The goal of the NPMP was to provide and engage the high school students with opportunities to express…