Regional comprehensive universities with access-oriented missions provide critical pathways for increasing the number and diversity of STEM graduates. The BOND program at California State University, Fresno supports the transition to college for first-time, full-time freshmen in selected STEM majors. BOND incorporates a learning community, active learning, and early course-based research experiences. Compared to comparison groups, students that participate in BOND are 1.93 times more likely to persist in STEM into their fourth year despite similar academic achievement in introductory STEM courses. A higher proportion of BOND students also engage with campus resources that support their first and second year on campus, which suggests that appropriate support builds persistence through the challenges of a STEM degree. This study highlights the importance of providing support strategies and resources in the first year for STEM retention, counter to the traditional narrative of “weeding out” students in their first year on campus.

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培养不除草：STEM 第一年学习社区培养学生的坚持和参与

具有以获取为导向的使命的区域综合性大学为增加 STEM 毕业生的数量和多样性提供了关键途径。加州州立大学弗雷斯诺分校的 BOND 计划支持选定 STEM 专业的首次全日制新生过渡到大学。BOND 结合了学习社区、主动学习和早期基于课程的研究经验。与对照组相比，参加 BOND 的学生在 STEM 课程中坚持到第四年的可能性要高 1.93 倍，尽管他们在 STEM 入门课程中取得了相似的学术成就。更高比例的 BOND 学生还使用支持他们在校园的第一年和第二年的校园资源，这表明适当的支持可以通过 STEM 学位的挑战建立持久性。