[RUME] PREP workshop about starting an Emerging Scholars Program

[Natasha Speer]

If you or someone you know wants to start an Emerging Scholars  
Program, this workshop may be of interest. Last year we had a lively  
group of about 30 people from a variety of institutions and are  
looking forward to offering the workshop again this summer (in  
Portland, Oregon, right before MathFest).

Please forward this information to anyone you think might want to know  
about the workshop.

Thanks,

Natasha

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PREP 2009 Workshop: How to Build and Run a Successful Emerging  
Scholars Program

August 2, 2009 through August 5, 2009
(this workshop is a prelude to MathFest)

Success in college calculus opens the door to mathematics and science  
majors. However, students from under-represented groups typically do  
not perform in calculus as well as other students with comparable  
preparation.
Question: What can you do to level the playing field for your students?

Answer: Start your own Emerging Scholars Program!

Emerging Scholars Programs (ESPs) promote exceptional achievement  
among under-represented student populations and provide a model that  
is easily expanded to other introductory science courses, as has been  
demonstrated at many institutions of higher education.

Developed by Uri Treisman and implemented during the past 20 years at  
a variety of schools across the US, ESP workshops build student  
success through collaborative group work on problems more challenging  
than typical calculus problems. Led by faculty and teaching  
assistants, a typical ESP workshop focuses on student-driven  
approaches to difficult worksheet problems, with Socratic questioning  
forming the primary assistance given by the ESP leaders.

This PREP workshop, now in its third year, will provide you with the  
tools you need to plan, establish, and run an ESP at your institution.  
You will learn about successful models from many institutions from  
liberal arts colleges through research universities. Workshop  
participants will receive (1) ESP materials including problems and an  
ESP director's guide, (2) practice developing and leading (simulated)  
ESP meetings including writing worksheet problems, (3) guidance in  
developing a plan for an ESP perfect for your institution, (4) ongoing  
support through an online forum and through follow-up meetings at the  
Joint Mathematics Meetings and MathFest, and (5) access to a database  
of thousands of calculus problems appropriate for workshop use.

The final workshop day will be devoted to implementation issues  
including how to obtain administration buy-in and support. Each  
participant (or pair of participants) will draft a proposal to his/her  
home institution for piloting ESP. The full group will discuss each  
proposal and help each participant (a) revise the proposal and (b)  
anticipate potential challenges to its implementation.

We strongly encourage participants to come in pairs from the same  
institution or from neighboring institutions.

For more information, see our website at http://faculty.smcm.edu/dtkung/2009_PREP.html
the PREP website at http://www.maa.org/prep/2009/ or email one of the  
organizers.

David Kung (dtkung at smcm.edu)
TJ Murphy (murphytj1 at nku.edu)
Katherine Socha (ksocha at smcm.edu)
Natasha Speer (speer at math.umaine.edu)

==================================
Natasha M. Speer
234 Neville Hall
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Maine
Orono, Maine 04469
(207)581-3937

speer at math.umaine.edu

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