The Aspire Alliance works to increase the diversity of STEM faculty nationwide by engaging with a growing network of partners to support systemic change in the STEM higher education system. Aspire Regional Collaboratives has developed geographically proximate partnerships among postsecondary institutions to support inclusive pathways toward STEM faculty positions at community colleges for cohorts of diverse graduate students. The widening scope of the Regional Collaboratives requires a reconsideration of the backbone support necessary to coordinate convenings, activity planning, research, and dissemination efforts.
As a collective impact initiative, the ASPIRE Regional Collaboratives has established postsecondary partnerships across two-year and four-year institutions, as well as national disciplinary organizations, to align activities toward its goals. Leads from each collaborative meet regularly to develop activities that support common goals, discuss theory-to-practice resources for planning guidance, share implementation strategies and challenges, and define common metrics for outcome success.
OCCRL will work within a Regional Collaborative to increase the number and diversity of the pool of graduate students and qualified professionals who are pursuing a teaching career in STEM at community colleges. The office will help expand and strengthen the skills of future, early-career, and current STEM faculty to teach the diverse student population. OCCRL will also facilitate biweekly meetings among Regional Collaborative leaders and collaborate with UW-CERSE to adapt evaluation activities and embed them into OCCRL and Regional Collaboratives. Project activities will include:
Regional Collaboratives (RCs) are networks of geographically proximate 2- and 4-year institutions partnering to build inclusive pathways for diverse graduate students to explore and secure positions as STEM faculty. Our model has grown from three regional collaboratives to nine, expanding our reach and impact across the United States. Partnering institutions work together to develop and implement programs and experiences toward two primary goals:
Leaders from all RCs meet regularly and are supported by a national backbone structure and national disciplinary organizations. Together they develop shared goals and metrics, share resources, collaborate on strategies for successful implementation of programming (e.g. mentored internship/practicum experiences, workshops and trainings, open house and informational meetings), coordinate evaluation activities, and engage in joint communication efforts.
California State Univ., Dominguez Hills
California State Univ., Fullerton
California State Univ., Los Angeles
California State Univ., Northridge
Cerritos College
Coastline Community College
College of the Canyons
East Los Angeles College
Foothill College
Golden West College
Los Angeles Pierce College
Mt. San Antonio College
Orange Coast College
Rio Hondo College
San Francisco State Univ.
Santa Monica College
Univ. of California - Los Angeles (lead)
Univ. of California - Riverside
Univ. of California - Santa Cruz
Univ. of California - Irvine
Des Moines Area Community College
Eastern Iowa Community College District
Iowa State University (lead)
Kirkwood Community College
Marshalltown Community College
North Iowa Area Community College
University of Iowa
University of Northern Iowa
West Texas Collaborative
El Paso Community College
Howard College
Midland College
Odessa College
University of Texas - El Paso (lead)
University of Texas - Permian Basin
North/East Texas Collaborative
Tarrant County Community College
Tyler Junior College
University of Texas - Arlington (lead)
University of Texas - Tyler
Bakersfield College (lead)
California State Univ., Fresno
California State Univ., Bakersfield
University of California - Merced
Florida State University (lead)
Tallahassee Community College
Univ. of Wisconsin - Platteville (UWP)
UWP - Baraboo Sauk County
UWP - Richland
Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison
Univ. of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM)
UWM - Washington County
UWM - Waukesha
Univ. of Wisconsin - Whitewater (UWW), (lead)
UWW - Rock County
Quinsigamond Community College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, (lead)
Worcester State University
Clark State College
Strategic Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE), (lead)
University of Dayton
Craig Ogilvie, Regional Change Co-Lead
Gigi Delk, Regional Change Co-Lead
“This material is based upon work by the Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Aspire Alliance and related ADVANCE projects supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (1834518, 1834522, 1834510, 1834513, 1834526, 1834521, 2121930, 2121950, 2204380). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation."
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