Center for STEM Research and Education

The mission of the Center for STEM Research and Education is to enhance student learning and success in the STEM fields through facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and initiatives.

School of Education, Health, and Natural Sciences, Worcester State University
Established: 2015

Profile submitted by Daron Barnard

Vision and Goals

The purpose Center for STEM Research and Education is to pool expertise and resources to address common concerns across WSU STEM programs (Biology, Chemistry Computer Science, Earth, Environment, and Physics, and Mathematics). The center will promote excellence in STEM education by keeping abreast of trends in national STEM education.

Center/Program Structure

The Center for STEM Research and Education at Worcester State University is based in the School of Education, Health, and Natural Sciences. The organizational structure includes a Center Coordinator (with a 0.25 FTE release) and STEM Center Committee. The Coordinator is a faculty member in one of the STEM departments and reports to the Dean of the School of Education, Health, and Natural Sciences. The committee is comprised of one faculty representative from each of the remaining participating departments. Each member of the committee serves as a liaison to his or her department.

Description of Programming

Programming for the Center focuses on student retention and success in the STEM fields. Currently, we are providing supplemental instruction to core courses in the STEM departments to support student success in these areas. This supplemental instruction is led by student mentors and overseen by the Center's committee members. As the Center has just been established, the programming is in its initial stages. Future plans include establishing a bridge program and providing opportunities for interdisciplinary STEM research and collaboration.

Successes and Impacts

Since the Center has just been established, we cannot comment on successes yet. However, getting the Supplemental Instruction program running has been an important step in demonstrating the benefit of having this interdisciplinary Center. We will be assessing the effectiveness of this program at the end of the fall semester.

Elements Contributing to Success

The establishment of this center has been made possible by strong administrative support from the Dean of School of Education, Health, and Natural Sciences and the Provost's office.

Supplemental Materials