Abstract:

With the opening of the John C. Dunham STEM Partnership school in Fall 2014 on Aurora University campus, new opportunities for student research, innovative programs, and faculty leadership roles have developed. Aurora University is a small, private, midwestern university in Aurora, Illinois. The STEM Partnership school serves 200 kids, grades 3-8, from four school districts and has a STEM curriculum that was developed collaboratively between district teachers, corporate partners, not-for-profit partners, and university faculty. Students are recruited based on interest in science and mathematics.

The STEM school is a state of the art building with interdisciplinary and multigenerational spaces, including cell culture and instrumentation laboratories. The STEM school classrooms highlight a space with stimulating environment with natural lighting, flexible, student-centered, and infused with technology. School has many sustainable and energy saving features as well as includes a STEM Forum for group presentations and displays, wind turbine, solar panels, and a rooftop garden. The collaborative and interdisciplinary laboratory spaces are shared by elementary, middle school, undergraduate, and graduate students and therefore represent valuable opportunities in education, research work and future collaborations for all entities.

Aurora University have and is in the process of developing new programs of study such as biotechnology, STEM minor, chemistry, systems engineering, STEM graduate programs, and an innovation engineering summer program for high school students. These programs are developed collaboratively with voices from educators, corporations, community leaders, and not-for-profit organizations. The biotechnology minor officially started in fall 2015 and seeks to prepare students with appropriate laboratory and intellectual skills highly sought by biotechnology companies. The STEM minor will provide elementary education majors and non-education majors with a diverse STEM course background and prepare them for STEM related jobs. The chemistry and systems engineering programs will be offered in Fall 2017 and will also provide opportunities for undergraduate students in research and industry.

The STEM school has greatly impacted the university faculty, from engaging with K-12 educators to leading university STEM initiatives. The STEM faculty have provided instructional support to STEM teachers, led meetings attended by superintendents and community leaders, organized professional development workshops, supported after school activities, coordinated STEM summer programs, written grants, and created new programs. This work has increased collaborations between STEM departments as well as developed new relationships with other university programs such as education, nursing, business, and social work. The faculty has engaged the community partners to provide support for programs and real life connections to enhance STEM education.

The university administration has supported the campus STEM initiatives by providing course releases to faculty, hiring new faculty, increasing laboratory research spaces and equipment, and creating a STEM faculty liaison position. The university has taken a leadership role in the community to build new partnerships that will support education at all levels.

Keywords:

STEM, University, Faculty, Education.