One more post on the ALA Annual Conference, and then I’ll move onto other topics. I was particularly struck by the insights of speaker Carissa Tomlinson at the panel session, “Sticking with STEM: How the Academic Library Can Help to Retain Successful Students,” co-sponsored by ACRL’s Science and Technology Section and Health Sciences Interest Group…. Read more »
The Engage to Excel executive report issued by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2012 made five recommendations to produce one million STEM graduates by 2022. Recommendation 4 is “[e]ncourage partnerships among stakeholders to diversify pathways to STEM careers” (p.7) and related Action 4-4 is “[improve] data provided by the Department… Read more »
In the 1997 landmark study, Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences by Seymour and Hewitt, 75% of students who switched to non-STEM majors identified “inadequate advising or help with academic problems” as a concern (p.33). Interestingly, 52% of undergraduates who stayed in STEM majors had the same concern. Individual interviews and focus groups… Read more »
