Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIV
1601 EAST MARKET STREET
GREENSBORO,NC 27411
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
While there is a known shortage of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) educators and professionals across the nation; especially with underrepresented groups, there is a demand for highly skilled FCS professionals who possess the intellectual capital and leadership potential to improve the well-being of children, youth, families, and communities.To address this issue, the FCS 21st Century workforce should include a well-trained and diversity of FCS professionals. This proposed project goal is to enhance educational, collaborative partnerships and recruitment efforts to increase underrepresented student enrollment in FCS programs and career pathways.To achieve this goal, the projects' targeted objectives will:1) increase the percentage (10%) of students successfully recruited into FCS at NCAT; and 2) increase the application rate of Davidson-Davie Community College and Lexington Senior High School students to FCS at NCAT by 30%.A leadership training model will provide students with communication, critical thinking, interpersonal and problem- solving skills and cultural competencies.The project supports The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences initiatives: Say YES to FCS, FCS Success, and FCS Day.It will also add to FCS's Body of Knowledge which will be infused in the leadership model.Fifty students will receive mentoring from the project team and the Advisory Council as they move through various career pathways to degree programs, graduate programs, or careers in the FCS profession.The overall proposal aligns with CBG program goal of "enhancing the food and agricultural sciences professional workforce in attracting and educating students from underrepresented groups".
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The partnership between NCAT, DDCS and LSHS is an inaugural collaboration designed to address the CBG need area of Student Recruitment and Retention. Moreover, this partnership will enhance the leadership capacity to create varied career pathways to FCS/human sciences and offer training, leadership and mentoring opportunities for high school and/or college students from underrepresented communities. Recruitment from within and nearby underrepresented communities will strengthen and bring diversity to NCAT-FCS programs. Building on the teaching/education capacity to equip underrepresented students with the needed skills, knowledge and qualities necessary to gain agricultural-related careers, i.e., family and consumer sciences, this proposal also addresses a key component of the CBG priority area of Leadership Skills Development, which supports the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) aim to support the growth of human talent and educational opportunities in the agriculture-related workforce of students from minority-serving institutions.The overall project's goal is to enhance educational, collaborative partnerships and recruitment efforts to increase underrepresented student enrollment in FCS programs and careers. The interinstitutional collaboration with NCA&TSU, DDCC and LSHS. The objective developed to guide the project include Objective: 1) To increase the percentage (10%) of students successfully recruited into the FCS Department at NCAT. This objective will be carried out by the inter-institutional project team and the Leadership Council); and Objective 2) To increase the application rate of DDCC and LSHS students to NCAT- FCS Department by 30%. This objective will be carried out by the project team and the LC (Williams-Wheeler, Faulkner, Alston, Phillips, Bruff and the Leadership Council). Williams-Wheeler will be responsible for the project's overall management.
Project Methods
The project team and LC will work closely to recruit, educate, mentor, retain and graduate first-generation, underrepresented students to the family and consumer sciences discipline. Objective 1: To increase the percentage (10%) of students successfully recruited into the NCAT-FCS.This objective will be evaluated by Faulkner with the assistance of the project team and the LC, who will monitor and document when students are recruited for the project on a semester basis. Faulkner, in conjunction with the project team, will conduct evaluations by ensuring students receive project education, leadership and training by conducting interviews (qualitative) via one-on-one and group meetings to assess their perceptions about the project. To accomplish Objective 1, the following activities will be carried out:Recruitment Plan. The project team, LC and LS will develop and implement a marketing and recruitment plan within the first three months of notice of funding to recruit students from DDCC and LSHS. Recruitment efforts will be via partnering institutions' websites and various social media platforms, i.e., Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Interested students from partnering institutions will be invited to Aggie Nites, NCAT career fairs, guidance counselors, and other educational/social events. Students will be recruited to participate via four pathways: 1) from LSHS to DDCC; 2) from LSHS to DDCC to NCAT; 3) from LSHS to NCAT and 4) from NCAT to FCS workforce or graduate/professional school (see figure 2). The marketing and recruitment plans will be reassessed from year one achievements to use when recruiting for the second cohort of LS in year two.Selection Criteria. The project team and LC will develop criteria for selecting the LSs and identifying their key roles in the mentoring process. The NCAT-LS will be selected based on an interest in studying FCS, completing an application and essay entitled "What does Family and Consumer Sciences Mean to Me?" They will work closely with the project team to recruit students from DDCC and LSHS. Ten (10) NCAT LS will be selected for cohort 1 and then 10 NCAT LS will be selected for cohort 2. NCAT LS must be sophomores or juniors when applying and confirm majoring in one of the NCAT-FCS programs.