National Resource Center announces 2014 - 2015 Fidler Grant Recipients
Columbia, SC - The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition named Diane Cardenas Elliott, an affiliated researcher at Bloomsburg University, and Joni M. Lakin, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technonlogy at Auburn University the recipients of the 2014 – 2015 Paul P. Fidler Research Grant. The Center will publicly acknowledge Elliot and Larkin during its 21st National Conference on Students in Transition, held October 18 – 20, 2014 in Denver, CO.
The grant, designed to encourage and enable scholarly research on issues related to college student transitions, includes a financial stipend and travel to two national conferences. Completed research funded by the Paul P. Fidler Research Grant is featured in the Journal of The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. Elliot and Larkin's study is entitled STEMing the Shock: "Transfer Shock" and its Impact on STEM Major and Enrollment Persistence. The abstract appears below:
Students who transfer between two- and four-year institutions often experience "transfer shock" or a reduction in academic performance during this critical transition. Research suggests transfer shock, although temporary may reduce student persistence in their major. Using a mixed methods approach, this study explores the role transfer shock plays in STEM major and degree persistence. More specifically, we examine the impact of transfer shock on persistence by understanding how STEM majors experience transfer shock and exploring the student and institutional factors that affect transfer shock and academic success. Results will have important implications for creating a viable community college-STEM career pathway.
In its tenth year, the Paul P. Fidler Research Grant has become a well-respected and highly competitive grant program. The Center received many strong proposals from researchers and practitioners throughout the United States. The three other outstanding research projects selected as finalists were:
- Jill Bradley-Levine of the University of Indianapolis and her study entitled A Comparative Study of Early College High School Students' Transition to and Persistence in Higher Education.
- Heather Harris and S. Jeanne Horst of James Madison University and their study entitled The Use of Propensity Score Matching Techniques to Estimate the Effects of University Interventions.
- Rebecca Christensen of the University of Michigan and her study entitled "Healing the World": Exploring the Influence of a Residential Learning Community on First-Year Students' Social Justice Conceptualizations, Attitudes, and Behaviors.
Dallin George Young, Assistant Director of Research, Grants, and Assessment at the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, led the Paul P. Fidler Research Grant selection process. He anticipates Elliott and Lakin's research will significantly contribute to the national discussion on understanding the factors that support transfer student success.
"This ambitious project is very promising because it will shed light on how transfer shock is manifest in ways that depend on the academic programs transfer students choose. Most importantly, this knowledge will better equip faculty and staff to develop approaches to help increase transfer student success in science, technology, engineering, and math. The results are likely to point to means of moving away from 'one size fits all' approaches for supporting transfer students, particularly those majoring in STEM areas."
The application window for the 2015-2016 Paul P. Fidler Research Grant will open April 1, 2015 and closes July 1, 2015. Past recipients of the grant include:
· 2013-2014 – Forrest Lane and Georgianna Martin, Examining the Importance of Attachment and Engagement in Predicting GPA across Stages of Transfer Student Transition
· 2012-2013 – Jacob Okumu, Developmental meaning-making dynamics of emancipated foster care youth transitioning into higher education: A Constructivist-Grounded Theory
· 2011-2012 – Kristin Moser, Redefining Transfer Student Success: Transfer Capital and the Laanan-Transfer Students' Questionnaire (L-TSQ) Revisited
· 2010-2011 - Paul J. McLoughlin II, High-Achieving Low-Income Students: How Low-Income Students on Full Financial Aid are Navigating an Elite College Environment
· 2009-2010 – Rachel Smith, Connected in Learning: A Mixed Methods Study of First-year Students' Academic and Social Networks
· 2008-2009 – Maryellen Mills, Student Success Course Participation and Engagement among Part-time and Full-Time Community College Students
· 2007-2008 – Dr. Eunyoung Kim, Acculturation Experiences and College Transitions of Minority Immigrant Students
· 2006-2007 – Dr. Barbara Hofer, The Electronic Tether: Parental Regulation, Self-Regulation, and the Role of Technology in College Transitions
· 2005-2006 – Christine and Michael Kirk-Kuwaye, A Study of Engagement Patterns of Lateral and Vertical Transfer Students During their First Semester at a Public Research University
Dallin George Young, Ph.D.
Assistant Director for Research, Grants, and Assessment
National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
University of South Carolina
[e-mail] dallin.young@sc.edu
[office] 803.777.2134
[address] 1718 College Street, Columbia, SC 29208
