Poster Abstracts

University of South Carolina

STEM Diversity Programs at USC

The University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, is the state's flagship research institution, with over 17,500 undergraduate students and 6,500 graduate students. Its efforts to promote enrollment of underrepresented minorities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels have been underway for several decades. Minority enrollment has hovered around 15% during this period. Defining characteristics of these efforts include effective coupling between institutional and state funding and federal and foundation support, partnerships with HBCUs, a committed administration, and a dedicated, participatory STEM faculty. Our poster briefly describes a dozen active recruitment and retention programs that have made a positive difference for minorities at USC and for scientific advancement of the STEM disciplines. The recent (January, 2005) merger of the College of Liberal Arts with the College of Science and Mathematics into a new College of Arts and Sciences presents new challenges and opportunities for building upon existing programs and for devising new approaches to this nationwide effort.