The mission of the STARS (Students & Technology in Academia, Research & Service) Alliance is to broaden
participation in computing for traditionally under-represented student populations. Our STARS Alliance will seek to fulfill our mission through coordinated recruiting, bridging, and
retention activities across our 11 participating universities.
Each university will have STARS alliance students that will serve as part of a STARS Leadership Corps (SLC)
responsible for disseminating Alliance activities. Under the coordination of a faculty member, SLC members
will actively participate in recruiting, bridging, and retention activities within their respective academic
units.
Some of these activities will include:
All SLC students will attend an alliance-wide one-week summer workshop to
promote community building and prepare students for their upcoming SLC assignments. New SLC students will
receive an introduction to mentoring and the value of social capital, leadership skills, research
experiences, preparing for graduate school and the professoriate, professional development and civic
engagement. Civic engagement will emphasize how computing and IT professionals can use their skills to
improve our collective quality of life. Training will also cover the statistics on the disparity in
representation of women and minorities in computing careers as well as the national need to reverse the
trend. Returning SLC students will assist with training, share prior year experiences and receiving
additional training for assignments. Working in teams, the students will choose their academic year
assignment by the end of the week.
During the academic year, SLC students will attend monthly seminars,
held at institutions within regional stars, to cover SLC Workshop topics in greater depth.
SLC students will maintain an electronic journal on a regular basis to
document SLC activities and reflect on their impact and meaning. Occasionally, SLC students will be given
guiding questions for their journal entries to collect data about specific questions the Alliance wishes to
investigate, including the impact of the SLC program on SLC students’ perceptions of computing and intention
to continue in computing careers.
SLC assignments will generally fall within the following categories.
Each assignment will include three components: written reflection, presentation to peers, and outreach to
community or 7th-12th graders.
A small group of Student ambassadors will be enlisted at each
star and charged with designing their own creative way to spread the word about computing to 7th-12th
graders in their areas. Ambassadors will be challenged to dispel common misconceptions about
computing (study, careers, myths) that abound among parents, counselors, teachers and students and
will participate in established outreach programs (e.g., as per Table 2.1). Ambassadors will write
about and present their experiences.
Students will be enlisted to use their computing skills for
community good, e.g., to setup networking and web sites for non-profits or for tutoring
“gate-keeper� courses such as 7th grade algebra. Students will write and present their experiences,
as above.
Undergraduates will be guided through a research experience by
graduate student mentors, as per the model developed for the Georgia Tech Intel Opportunities
Scholars program, or by a faculty mentor, as per the models developed for Auburn’s Scholars of the
Future, or UNC Charlotte’s McNair Scholars program (Table 2.1). Students will write a research paper
in a publishable format, present their work to peers and share their experiences with middle or high
school students or educators.
Students will work in industrial settings to gain work experience. Students will write
about their experience, present their experience to peers and give a career-role presentation to
middle or high school students or educators.
Students will assist faculty with the coordination of SLC
assignments. Typically Peer Coordinators will coordinate students through an assignment that the
coordinator has previously carried out. Peer Ambassadors may develop a chapter of a professional
society for women or minority students. Peer Mentors will provide mentoring to “junior� peers, e.g.,
juniors/seniors mentor freshman/sophomores and grads mentor juniors/seniors, as per the model
employed by Nathan Thomas (described above).
All SLC students who are undergraduates will have a peer mentor (as
described above). Grad students will have a faculty mentor. This tiered approach will incorporate Nathan
Thomas’ strategies for student development of: Identity, Social Support, Psychological Support, Academic
Support, Sense of Belonging, and Leadership Development. These strategies are related to college adjustment,
GPA, and retention [ ].
-
Each year will culminate in the STARS Alliance Celebration, a conference and
poster session for students to present and share their SLC experiences. Competitive Best Paper, Best Mentor,
Best Ambassador, etc., awards will be presented to the students.
About 130-180 SLC students will be selected annually from incoming freshman, transfer students, newly-declared
computing majors, and new graduate students, as well as returning undergraduate and graduate students.
Students will be eligible to receive SLC support for 2 years,
consisting of $500/semester for undergrads and $500/semester for
grad students. A subset of these students will receive SLC stipends
to participate during the summer (e.g., to assist with outreach,
summer camps and SLC program coordination). Students will be encouraged
to continue their SLC participation beyond 2 years without additional
stipends. Our aim is to engage the students to want to share their
SLC experiences by serving an advanced leadership role (e.g., peer
mentor or coordinator). Attempts will be made to support ALL SLC
students to attend the SLC Workshop and the STARS Alliance Celebration.
BECOME AN SLC STUDENT TODAY! >> 
