From Catalyzing to Institutionalizing Change in 2- to 4-year STEM Transfer in Wisconsin

Across the nation, 28% of students started their postsecondary journey at a community college in Fall 2022 (NCES,2025). These students are more likely to be first-generation, identify with a minoritized racial-ethnic group, and come from low income households (Crisp, 2017). The University of Wisconsin - Madison's HHMI Inclusive Excellence project aimed to increase the number and diversity of students graduating with STEM bachelor's degrees in Wisconsin by transforming policies and practices to support transfer from the state's 16 two-year technical colleges to its 13 four-year universities. Though the two systems have a long history of collaboration, catalyzing change in transfer was challenging. Nonetheless, several promising initiatives were developed and strategies to ensure their institutionalization will be presented.

At the state level, we developed six STEM Transfer Pathways to prepare students completing their Associate of Science degree at any of the 16 Technical Colleges to transfer to any of the 13 Universities of Wisconsin with junior standing in their major. Supporting the 2-year institutions to develop the pathway courses needed and to integrate the six pathways into their degree offerings continues. We also developed a prototype transfer data dashboard to track 2- to 4-year transfer students in the state to evaluate the impact of transfer support programs. The dashboard was adopted by the Universities of Wisconsin System and has been released.

Locally, UW-Madison and Madison Area Technical College have begun to institutionalize and expand the transfer collaborations initiated by the HHMI project. UW-Madison hired a STEM transfer coordinator to maintain the Transfer STEM Immersion program, an immersive learning community for incoming transfer students interested in STEM fields. They are also developing a new program, the Madison College Teaching Fellows program for graduate students and postdocs interested in faculty careers at 2-year institutions.