Meeting STEM Workforce Demand in a Statewide Rural Community College Collaborative

摘要

Across Arizona's rural community colleges, administrators and faculty have been convening as a Rural Community College STEM Collaborative to develop and deliver programs for their STEM Pathways initiatives to increase the number of rural students pursuing STEM in support of the local and state workforce pipeline. The collaborative of eight rural Arizona community colleges is facilitated by Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz), a non-profit 501(3)(c) whose charter includes K-Career STEM education and a team with focus on Community College STEM Pathways. At the onset of this program, funded by NSF in Fall 2014, all eight colleges were awarded a 3-yr grant (totaling on average $75K per college). Participating rural colleges included Arizona Western College (AWC), Central Arizona College (CAC), Cochise College (CC), Coconino Community College (CCC), Eastern Arizona College (EAC), Mohave Community College (MCC), Northland Pioneer College (NPC), and Yavapai College (YC). The collaborative convened regularly to share knowledge and discuss STEM Pathway gaps, outcomes, and best practices. Over the course of this collaboration, the participants have developed a trust and a bond that has led to sharing of ideas and best practices, as well as a recognition of common challenges that would be better addressed together rather than alone.