Undergraduate Research Scholars Academy (URSA)

 

The Undergraduate Research Scholars Academy (URSA), established at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in 2012, creates a pipeline for high-achieving, first generation community college students to transfer to a selective four-year university.  The URSA community includes Scholars, faculty, staff (transfer agents), and peer mentors who collaborate on each phase of the program, including facilitating recruitment and summer/academic year activities with the community college partners, recruiting and training the faculty mentors, collecting participant data, and drafting reports.

 

Summer Bridge Program: A ten-day residential program at LMU introduces Scholars to URSA and includes daily workshops that support the program’s goals.

 

• Research Skills:  Community college faculty meet daily with the Scholars, helping them gain research skills and prepare their individual research project presentations for faculty, colleagues, and the general public. 

• Transfer Process:  Summer topics include financial aid, networking, time-management, financial management, and organizational skills.  During the following academic year, monthly workshops at the partner community colleges and LMU cover school/life balance, personal statements, letters of recommendation, and career planning.

 

Mentoring:  Throughout the summer and academic year, Scholars attend regularly scheduled meetings, lunches, and dinners with their assigned LMU faculty mentor.  Through consistent interaction, mentors provide guidance and demystify the university enrollment process.  They discuss potential majors, advanced degrees, as well as the faculty’s role as a university professor.  The mentors also advocate on behalf of the participants by providing letters of recommendation and assistance with developing responses for the participants’ scholarship applications to four-year institutions.

 

Evaluation and Assessment:  Program effectiveness is monitored through qualitative and quantitative data (surveys, open-ended questionnaires, and interviews) obtained from the Scholars and Faculty Mentors. 

 

Program Results:  URSA has demonstrated significant potential for expansion.  Less than 20% of Latina/o and African American students in LACCD transfer to a university within a 6-year period.  The majority (85%) of URSA students have or will transfer to a university within a 2-3 year period.  

 

• Since its inception, a total of 70 Scholars (40 female & 30 male first-generation, low-income, high-achieving students) have participated in the URSA program.

• Of the 47 Scholars involved in the first two cohorts, 23 have transferred to a four-year institution and 10 are in route to transfer by the fall 2015 semester

• Seven Scholars from the first URSA Cohort will be attending a University of California, California State University, or a private university in Fall 2013.  A recent Scholar obtained a two-year, $10,800 Scholarship for the Fall 2013 semester with the assistance of her mentor’s recommendation and guidance. 

• URSA is excited to welcome 44 new Scholars into our family with the Summer 2015 cohorts.