In 2007, the Team Pennsylvania Foundation (Team PA) launched a long-term initiative to dramatically increase the number of students entering STEM-related careers, or those in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields. The initiative outlined clear goals for 2018 that centered on increasing STEM proficiency, education and training accessibility among both students and teachers, and public support for STEM education.
Just past the halfway point of this lofty and lengthy exercise, it’s clear that serious gains have been made, including the establishing of regional STEM networks and a new initiative for children backed by foundation funding. Plus Governor Tom Corbett’s recent budget proposal puts STEM front and center in the K-12 arena.
There’s one area that needs major improvement, says Harrisburg University of Science and Technology Interim President Eric Darr, and it rests with the state’s nearly 500 colleges and universities.
“I’m most critical of higher education because I’m in higher education,” says Darr, tapped by former Governor Ed Rendell to be on the statewide STEM initiative leadership team. “The Department of Education and Governor’s office, whether you like or don’t like their policies, are putting in place plans, funding streams and other mechanisms to make statewide changes in K-12 STEM.
“But the same thing is not being done in higher ed.”
Darr says community colleges are making good use of federal funding in terms of STEM applications, and HU has articulation agreements with several, including nearby Harrisburg Area Community College. Darr says community colleges are making good use of federal funding in terms of STEM applications, and HU has articulation agreements with several, including nearby Harrisburg Area Community College. But proposed flat state funding and a push by the State System of Higher Education’s faculty union for additional payments for online work or work performed outside the classroom run counter to STEM’s trajectory, according to Darr
“If we’re serious about STEM education, particularly STEM in higher education, (the faculty contract) should include online work and blended delivery,” he says.
That said, there are several pieces to the STEM puzzle that seem to fit nicely across the state and are worth examining.
For one, the state’s effort to establish regional networks seems to have stuck enough. While somewhat scattershot statewide, St. Francis University has established a stronghold in Central PA through its Science Outreach Center, where it hosts professional development for teachers and summer academies for students. The Northwest Pennsylvania STEM region is very active and will host its annual STEM Conference on May 21 at Grove City College.
Just last month, Team PA announced a new initiative intended to expand on the STEM regional network called Project Accelerate, which will support out-of-school time activities that will encourage children to pursue STEM careers. Pennsylvania was among only five states to win a two-year Afterschool and STEM Systems Building Implementation Grant from the Noyce Foundation.
Last week, Keystone Edge reported on the first successful technology commercialization among PA’s SSHE schools, as East Stroudsburg University took a Lyme disease detection kit from lab to marketplace, introducing it in late 2012.
In Western PA, Pittsburgh-based education nonprofit ASSET STEM is working with the Norwin School District in Allegheny County to establish a STEM Innovation Center that will promote a business-education collaboration model. This will ensure STEM-related businesses and industries are engaged with young people and that a pathway to STEM education, high tech job training and job placement is carved out. ASSET has an office near Philadelphia in Malvern and is also hoping to establish another innovation center.
This focus on business and industry is what Darr believes to be key in unlocking the much-debated STEM improvement model. It’s also precisely the path HU is going down. It recently introduced a new Bahcelor of Science degree program in Analytics (with a concentration in healthcare analytics). Master of Science in Analytics and a five-year B.S. to M.S. program in Analytics.
It all came about through a partnership with Cap Blue Cross, and enrolled students are eligible to apply for an on-going residency and then grad fellowship there. Perhaps most interesting is the speed with which the partnership and program developed – in about six months from conception to introducing it in December, 2012. HU wanted to pursue a data analytics/visualization degree program in the healthcare space and put together an advisory board of Chief Information Officers from healthcare providers, insurance providers and specialty hospitals (of which there is no shortage in the Capital Region). Cap Blue Cross, Darr says, was interested because data analysis is key to the company’s strategic future – including the ability to analyze data and the growing Health Information Exchange.
“We have this crazy idea of completely blowing away university walls, literally and figuratively,” says Darr. “With our Analytics program, Cap Blue Cross stepped up to support it. “
Much of the Analytics program will be taught on site at Cap Blue Cross in Harrisburg, about 10 miles from HU’s downtown campus, and will include instruction and lectures by Cap Blue Cross employees.
“Our belief is it doesn’t have to be traditional faculty,” Darr says. “’Teach’ is maybe the wrong word. It’s mentoring and coaching toward a set of learning objectives.”
Partnering with business is the future, Darr believs, which echoes Penn State’s gutsy move – that we were first to report on in Decembrer, 2011 – to no longer mandate Penn State’s ownership of intellectual property associated with industry-funded research, but rather focus on developing stronger and more meaningful partnerships with industry.
“HU is not organized around disciplines. We’re organized around applied programs,” says Darr. “If you’re organized around applied programs, it’s a lot easier to include businesses and government in the conversation.
“If you’re trying to defend physics, it’s hard to become interested.”
JOE PETRUCCI is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.