Hinds Community College - Utica Campus (HCCUC), located in a rural Mississippi area, was founded as the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute for Coloreds; however, in 1982 it merged with Hinds Community College (HCC), but proudly retained its Historically Black College and University (HBCU) status and is the only campus of six at HCC with the distinct status. In 2010, HCCUC received an HBCU Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) grant to increase the number of STEM graduates. This five-year NSF grant saw a total of 105 STEM majors receive support, and a significant percentage went on to graduate from HCCUC with an associate’s degree and transferred to four-year institutions. A one-year NSF-funded HBCU-UP planning grant in the 2015-2016 academic year allowed HCCUC to develop phase II of its STEM-UP Academy. HCCUC received a second NSF HBCU-UP grant following the planning grant that builds on lessons learned during phase I, and currently use these lessons to improve the quality of STEM educational experiences for HCCUC students. Ultimately, the goal of the STEM-UP Academy program is to double the number of students who complete associate degrees at HCCUC who are prepared to pursue B.S. degrees. The STEM-UP Academy program employs a number of activities to achieve its goal: Collaboration with high schools on the development of Bridge Programs to ensure that students experience a successful transition from secondary to tertiary education. Increase in the number of research experiences for HCCUC students to help improve student persistence as well as engagement in their learning. Development of effective mentoring programs for HCCUC students, which is particularly important for underrepresented minorities, many of whom have been shown to benefit from this support. Creation of partnerships with universities to enable students who graduate from HCCUC to transfer and achieve a bachelor’s degree.

Hinds Community College- Utica Campus: Establishing a cohesive community college STEM institutional transformation academy

256th National Meeting (2018)

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