Women and non-white racial and ethnic groups remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). To achieve a more diverse and equitable STEM workforce, the recruitment and retention of these historically marginalized communities in postsecondary education will also need to increase. Recently, the lens has turned to…

Sonia Kovalevsky Days (SK Days) are nationally-held outreach events that are commonly organized by local chapters of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) to encourage young women to continue their study of mathematics. The AWM Student Chapter at Worcester Polytechnic Institute hosted virtual renditions of SK Day for middle school girls…

The Women Owning Woodlands Network was launched in 2005 as a way to provide collaborative and hands-on peer learning education to women who felt uncomfortable participating in traditional Extension programs. Since its inception the program has grown to provide education and resources for over 300 women. We surveyed these women to identify if the…

Objective: To examine the effects of a university's health vaccination initiative in increasing vaccination rates among international students/scholars in the United States. Methods: The vaccination initiative included: increasing vaccination opportunities by holding a pre-registration event, providing vaccine recommendations from healthcare…

This study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of the longterm impacts of place-rich community-based learning on university students. This study was informed by transformative learning theory, which recognizes how learning experiences that expand the learner's worldview help develop autonomous thinking. A mixed-methods approach was used to…

Existing research primarily examines the impact of structured, credit-bearing service learning in undergraduate chemistry, leaving the potential contributions of co-curricular service learning and its lasting influence on chemistry graduates underexplored. Therefore, this mixed-methods study aimed to assess the lasting impact of co-curricular…

This presented study explores the ongoing Uni Connect Programme run by the UK government to widen participation among underrepresented young people. The research focused on one specific local authority that delivers Uni Connect activities, gathering data from eight in-depth interviews (project manager N = 2, activity coordinators N = 6) and the…

This research brief summarizes findings from a qualitative study examining the core features of basic needs support. The goal of the brief is to provide clear guidance to community college leadership and staff on six promising features that colleges should build into their basic needs support approaches. These include: (1) comprehensive basic…

Many community college students are constrained by limited financial resources and are unable to meet basic food, housing, and transportation needs. As of 2020, approximately 23 percent of college students faced food insecurity, and 8 percent were homeless. To support student well-being and increase the likelihood that students succeed, community…

There is growing evidence in literature that university students who facilitate informal outreach programs enrich their educational experience through building their scientific identity, sense of belonging to the community, and important career skills. These features are shown to potentially help with students' persistence in STEM majors and…

Moving beyond academic settings to encompass libraries of all kinds, this book showcases critical information literacy topics, programs, and lessons with an emphasis on practical application. Through its focus on questioning who creates information, addressing algorithmic biases, and advocating for the inclusion of marginalized voices, critical…

Historically, despite more formal efforts to spread awareness about the profession, many school psychologists discover the field "by accident" or happenstance. This, in conjunction with attrition, training constraints, an expanding role in schools, and an ever-evolving need for increased school psychologist-to-student ratios to address…

Background: Despite the prevalence and potential of K-12 engineering outreach programs, the moment-to-moment dynamics of outreach educators' facilitation of engineering learning experiences are understudied. There is a need to identify outreach educators' teaching moves and to explore the implications of these moves. Purpose/Hypothesis: We offer a…

With enrollment down, competition increasing from company training and university associate degree programs, and people's perceptions of community colleges still lagging the robust reality of what they have to offer. Community colleges need to tell their own stories so that others do not do for them. Community colleges are often a misunderstood,…

Independent Demonstration Projects is a strategy to innovate for government without prior approval of officials. The innovator implements their idea as a minimum viable product, independent of the government. Once the innovation is operating, it creates pressure on officials to sustain and expand it with government resources. This case illustrates…