Engaging Rural Students in Advancement Opportunities through the Field of Data Analytics

The geographical region served by this project supports a large number of students from groups which have been historically underrepresented in STEM career pathways. This project will emphasize recruitment, retention, and graduation of students from groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines, thus providing women and Hispanics in Northarks service area with increased access to well-paying careers in data analytics. The project will serve regional and national interests by developing an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Data Analytics. The proposed degree program will prepare graduates to quickly and effectively enter the workplace. The students will work on case studies using real-world data. The proposed project plans to integrate communication, collaboration, professional ethics, critical thinking, and employability skills into course content. Data sources for projects will include data from Oceans of Data, DataCamp and anonymized North Arkansas College data generated from undergraduate research projects. The project team will collaborate with an active and engaged Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT). The key activities of this proposal has the potential to be scaled and adapted by other two-year colleges and applied to other STEM disciplines.

The project team intends to (1) immerse students in case studies and real-world data, (2) integrate communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and employability skills into data analytics content, (3) collaborate with local industry using a BILT, and (4) focus on development of a more diverse STEM community. Coupled with a concurrent credit pathway for high school students, this project team will lead to an increase in the number and diversity of highly prepared data analytics technicians. Best practices from the National Center for Women in Technology will be adapted to recruit and retain women and other students from underrepresented groups into the data analytics fields.