As university campuses across the United States welcomed incoming freshmen for Fall term, a concerning trend persisted. Students remain less engaged with campus life than educators would like to see.
Mia Minnes from the University of California San Diego pinpointed a few culprits at a STEM Futures Program event held earlier this month. According to her research, COVID isolation fostered a terminally online culture. Chatbots allow students to orient themselves toward artificial intelligence rather than human connection. Plus, food insecurity, experienced by more than 50 percent of college students, adds another barrier to normative college behavior – eating and studying together.
Minnes, a teaching professor in the Jacobs School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering, had a front row seat as first the pandemic and then societal shifts altered student engagement and learning. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Minnes was able to dig deeper. From there, she devised a plan.
In 2021, Minnes co-founded PACE, or Peer-Led Academic Cohort Experiences, along with Joe Politz, an associate teaching professor in computer science. PACE provides incoming computer science students a place to build community, collaborate and find student-led mentorship. They are already seeing the program impact classroom culture.
“We have a motto for PACE: make space, take space. It can be uncomfortable for students to raise their hand, ask a question, introduce themselves, or step back so other students in a project can contribute. We talk about these skills explicitly and practice techniques to build up confidence,” said Minnes.
“The vision for PACE is about computing together. It’s about rebooting campus culture and connection for our computer science and engineering students.”
At weekly PACE sessions, students receive a broad introduction to computing and discover inroads into the discipline’s specialties. Led by upper-level undergraduates, first-years are organized into small groups that participate in faculty workshops, watch videos, engage in roundtable discussions, and do hands-on activities. Students can opt to enroll in CSE 89 for credit.
While the year-long program builds on classroom learning, leaders argue there’s a more important mission at stake: community. Gatherings are designed to be fun and accessible. Add a free lunch and a friendly game of cornhole – and you have a program that entices students off devices, outdoors, and into campus life together.
According to Minnes, a handful of universities offer similar year-long programs for first year cohorts. CSE-PACE builds on those models but adds flexibility – what Minnes calls an “evergreen onramp” – allowing students to jump into the program at any time.
“When you talk to 18 year olds, a commitment to a particular time and place each week is just not where they’re at. Our evergreen onramp lets them know they can show up, and we’ll be here,” said Minnes.
Students have responded well to the model. The number of unique attendees, or newcomers, changes constantly – with more than 150 students since the start of this academic year alone. To date, roughly 600 computing students have participated in PACE.
Minnes attributes the program’s initial success to the many collaborators behind it, starting with her co-founder Joe Politz and Kristen Vaccaro, a PACE faculty mentor and assistant professor in CSE. Minnes also credits the CSE department and the CSE Alumni Advisory Board for leading workshops and initiating a financial campaign.
“It’s been a joy to build PACE together with students, colleagues, alumni, and CSE supporters who have been putting in hours and years of work to think about what would really serve the student’s needs,” said Minnes.
Going forward, Minnes hopes to secure support from corporate sponsors, including tech leaders who heard her presentation at the STEM Futures Program’s virtual Demo Day. With additional funding, PACE leaders could scale the program, offering scholarships to student leaders, creating a salaried position, and securing sufficient food resources. They are also seeking university partners to launch PACE on more campuses.
The STEM Futures Program is a collaboration between Science for America, Founder to Leader, and Thinkubator Media. Demo Day brought together leaders, funders, and ecosystem connectors to meet local social entrepreneurs in STEM, showcasing innovations as national models for change.
By Kimberley Clementi