Recruiting, retaining and transitioning computing undergraduates the STAIRSTEP way

Lamar University´s Students Advancing through Involvement in Research Student Talent Expansion Program is designed to recruit, retain and transition undergraduates in five Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines. The program was supported by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation that started in 2009 and is currently supported by the university. This paper focuses on the computer science arm of the program. During the five years of National Science Foundation support, 100 percent of participants in STAIRSTEP Computer Science were retained as majors. Their grades in major courses were consistently higher and drop rates consistently lower than cohorts of students from the five-year period prior to inception of the program. Incoming enrollments in the Computer Science Department grew dramatically, as did undergraduate majors and degrees awarded. This paper briefly describes the strategies used in the STAIRSTEP model and describes in detail how activities supporting the strategies were implemented in the Computer Science Department. A formal assessment documents the positive impact that the program has had on the department and its students. The paper includes suggestions for others who may want to adopt these methods and discusses successes and challenges in sustaining the program in the absence of external support.