Student STEM Ambassador Program: Students as change agents for transforming undergraduate education

The introductory STEM student experience is crucial for student persistence and retention in STEM disciplines. When students feel that they do not belong then they are less likely to remain in STEM. To transform the introductory STEM student experience, SIUE collaborated on an HHMI Inclusive Excellence grant, which provided funds to create the Student STEM Ambassador (SSA) Program. This program is designed to foster student engagement and agency and provide opportunities for students to be leaders in curricular reform and institutional transformation.

At SIUE, the SSA Program is a one-year program for students who have taken intro-STEM courses. Students propose education-based research projects to improve the first-year experience through curricular interventions, faculty development, and/or community building and conduct this research throughout the year. Examples of these research projects include evaluation of student attitudes towards universal design for learning practices, impact of outreach on student STEM identity, and improving small group learning in STEM courses.

To move this project towards institutional transformation, our next step is to use the data generated and experiences had by SSA students to develop a series of student-led professional development workshops on inclusive STEM teaching for faculty at SIUE. Through a student lens based on their cultural capital, this professional development will be a novel form of institutional transformation for undergraduate education.