MENTORING SUPPORTS FIRST-GENERATION STEM STUDENTS
Olivia Long
Olivia Long works to help students like she once was—a first-generation, financially disadvantaged student from a rural background who was interested in science.
Long is passionate about demonstrating to those students the value of college and the value of science—and helping them stay in school and stay in science. An associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, she received a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to research the impact of educational resources on improving STEM students’ sense of belonging, retention and graduation rates.
The grant was awarded as part of an initiative to enhance diversity in STEM at Pitt-Greensburg, a school of about 1,500 students 35 miles east of Pittsburgh. The initiative aims to create a more inclusive and supportive environment that fosters innovation and academic success among STEM students. A significant number of these students are first-generation college students from rural, former industrial and mining areas.
One of the strongest ways to support STEM students, Long’s team found, was mentoring.
“It is not always easy explaining to families unfamiliar with higher education that their student can achieve great success, just like anyone else in college.”
“We took a new approach to support mentoring,” Long says. “Rather than having a general one-semester first-year seminar for new students, we put together a full-year, credit-earning seminar specific to science students.”
Previous first-year seminars at Pitt-Greensburg were mostly taught by staff. The Science Cornerstone courses now recruit faculty throughout the STEM disciplines to work for a year with students interested in STEM.
Before the program, the attrition rate for students between the first and second year was about 50% for science students, and specifically biology students. After the first two years of the program, the attrition of STEM students dropped dramatically, and the retention rate increased from about 50% to almost 90% for students who completed the year-long course.
Long is now on leave working for the NSF in the Directorate for STEM Education as a program officer in the Division for Undergraduate Education.
“Rural and first-generation students face various challenges, but one significant hurdle is demonstrating the value of a science education,” Long explains. “It is not always easy explaining to families unfamiliar with higher education that their student can achieve great success, just like anyone else in college. However, by helping them feel they belong in science and showing the power of education, we can open new doors to success for these students.”