Southwestern College (SWC) and San Diego State University (SDSU) are both designated Hispanic-serving institutions serving the San Diego region. SDSU is the top transfer destination for SWC students and SWC is one of the three major sources of transfer students to SDSU, averaging over 400 students per year out of the approximately 28,000 students enrolled at SWC. For many students, SDSU is their only option due to geographical and financial limitations. However, SDSU only admits around 20% of their over 20,000 transfer applicants, making the process highly competitive. This presentation will describe how SWC and SDSU have partnered to improve the transfer pipeline for chemistry and biochemistry students. Though the SWC and SDSU chemistry departments have been informally connected for many years through research and professional relationships, recently a large (~$5 million) NSF grant through the Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program has provided opportunities to formalize these relationships both at the department level and at the administrative level. The goal of this grant is to support chemistry and biochemistry students in their academic careers starting at SWC and transferring to SDSU for baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Support is provided to students in the form of scholarships and mentoring both for academics and undergraduate research. This presentation will describe how the initial stages of grant development catalyzed conversations with key faculty and administrative stakeholders that provided important insights into issues with the transfer process. We will also share lessons learned from this process at both the two-year and four-year institution level and describe activities and processes that have been successful for meeting project goals.

Formalizing existing partnerships: Grants as catalysts for change

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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