Farooq Khan, Satyanarayana Swamy-Mruthinti, Rebecca Harrison
This presentation details two ongoing USG BOR funded initiatives for educators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Further, it will appeal to English faculty interested in the ways in which writing courses can be meaningful parts of such initiatives. The first (funded as a BOR STEM II Initiative) seeks to increase the academic performance and progression of STEM majors and to prepare them for success in STEM careers. Key features include: (a) A Summer Bridge Program to provide a head-start in English and Mathematics; (b) An inter-disciplinary freshmen seminar course; (c) Participation in undergraduate research; and (d) Coursework significantly impacted by curricular innovations undertaken by an inter-disciplinary team of faculty members. The second initiative (a Complete College Georgia Replicate Grant) is an innovative STEAM project, wherein English composition courses are taught with assignments focused broadly around STEM themes. A team drawn from several disciplines will focus on inter-disciplinary team building, innovation, and our constant efforts in analysis and improvement. In particular, we will discuss scalability and adaptability to non-STEM disciplines.
