SW Dallas News

Media Contact: Debra Dennis; ddennis@dallascollege.edu

For immediate release — Feb. 14, 2023

(DALLAS) — Some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid fields, like computer science and engineering, need credentialed workers. To help ensure a steady workforce for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields and open opportunities in these fields to more students, Dallas College and the American Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (AIIR) have created the AIIR STEM Coaching Collaborative at Dallas College. Through this coaching collaborative, students in targeted STEM courses will receive intensive in-class and out-of-class support through supplemental instruction, tutoring and faculty-led group coaching.

In addition to funding, AIIR will provide a scholarship to help students reach their goals. The coaching collaborative and associated scholarship are funded through a grant from AIIR to Dallas College Foundation.

Dallas College’s Learning Commons and the STEM Institute will co-lead the initiative.

“The AIIR STEM Coaching Collaborative at Dallas College is funding tutoring and coaching programs during the current semester and will continue through Fall 2023 to assist students in STEM disciplines who struggle to succeed,” said Dr. Eric Mulumba Zozo, executive director of AIIR. In addition to its generous contribution of $90,000 toward the coaching collaborative, AIIR has also earmarked an additional $10,000 in scholarships, totaling a $100,000 donation. AIIR has earmarked these scholarships for students pursuing STEM degrees.

Half of the first 20 AIIR STEM scholarship recipients are women, addressing the gender disparity in many STEM fields. The other half supports STEM students with financial needs to prevent them from dropping out. These resources will help all students succeed in receiving a degree or credential in STEM while pushing more qualified workers into the STEM labor market, Mulumba Zozo said.

“While the nation is experiencing a critically impairing plight, our joint initiative will be a catalyst for change by helping attract more students to STEM fields and encouraging those already committed to STEM to excel in their career paths,” Mulumba Zozo said. “We are particularly honored to have the opportunity to play a role in the flourishing of this remarkable institution with its diverse body of students.”

“The AIIR initiative is an absolutely fantastic resource for students,” said Dr. Jason Treadway, director of the STEM Institute at Dallas College. “I think it addresses two things that we desire as an academic institution: persistence and completion of a STEM credential. We want students to obtain their degree or certificate, and the AIIR initiative provides critical resources to guide and enable them to do just that.”

STEM scholars are crucial to filling workforce needs in the growing tech fields and in science and engineering, he said. Attracting more students to STEM fields will curtail labor issues and place students in in-demand fields.

For more information, please visit the Dallas College STEM Institute and Dallas College Foundation websites. You can also watch a YouTube video about the AIIR STEM initiative at Dallas College.

About Dallas College

Dallas College, formerly the Dallas County Community College District, was founded in 1965 and consists of seven campuses: Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland. Dallas College offers online learning and serves more than 125,000 credit and continuing education students annually. Dallas College also offers dual credit for students in partner high schools and early college high schools throughout Dallas County. Students benefit from partnerships with local business leaders, school districts and four-year universities, and Dallas College offers associate degree and career/technical certificate programs in more than 100 areas of study, as well as a bachelor’s degree in education. Based on annual enrollment, it is the largest community college in Texas.

About AIIR

American Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (AIIR) is a nonprofit organization working domestically and internationally to supplement the labor market and provide research-based strategies promoting economic prosperity, sustainability and social justice for the nation by bridging research and action to improve human capital and by promoting growth and well-being. Its work helps the United States remain a global leader in this generation and the ones to come. AIIR has initiated studies and endeavors to attract STEM students in colleges and schools throughout all 50 U.S. states. In addition to enhancing workforce competency, AIIR is providing other services that build capacity, including policy and behavioral change.

Original source can be found here.