Increasingly, community colleges (CC) play a critical role in higher education. Serving over 40% of all undergraduates and nearly 50% of all minority undergraduates in the US, community colleges serve as important access points for students entering post-secondary education and hold great potential for diversifying the sciences. For the biomedical and STEM disciplines, community colleges represent the first step in a training pathway that can culminate in undergraduate and graduate degrees. Additionally, engagement of faculty throughout the transition is critical. At Louisiana State University (LSU), the NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors Program are both designed to increase the numbers of students who complete an Associate of Science (AS) degree in General Science, transfer into a 4-year degree program at LSU, and successfully complete the BS degree. The educational and faculty development models employed in collaboration with Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) will be presented and initial findings in best practices for increasing CC/4-year faculty collaboration will be explored.

Building bridges between Baton Rouge Community College and Louisiana State University

247th National Meeting (2014)

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