Published November 14, 2018
Dodge City Community College is helping to pave the way forward for STEM and medical students by coordinating with outside agencies to provide scholarship and advanced training opportunities for dedicated students in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.
The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation is aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of students successfully completing STEM baccalaureate degree programs and matriculate into programs of graduate study.
Dodge City Community College was one of the original Kansas LSAMP schools when the alliance was brought to the state in 2013. The continuation of the five-year, $3 million program through 2023 adds Barton County and Wichita State to the alliance.
The LSAMP program is funded through the National Science Foundation, which also offers the Noyce Grant – a program with the purpose of increasing the supply of well-qualified middle and high school science and math teachers.
Additionally, DC3 is proud to partner with Fort Hays State University in its STEM Educator initiative. The role of Dodge City Community College is to identify, mentor and encourage students to become STEM educators, and assist college students majoring in physics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, or mathematics in applying for the Noyce Scholarships at FHSU.
There are seven $13,000 scholarships available for eligible students at FHSU. The scholarships are renewable for a second year and are available to community college transfer students with at least a 2.75 GPA, have earned 60-plus hours and are majoring in secondary or elementary education and a math/science discipline.
In healthcare, the Scholars in Rural Health program through the University of Kansas School of Medicine is designed to identify and encourage healthcare undergrads from rural Kansas to return to rural areas of the state as primary care doctors.
The program seeks to enroll students with at least a 3.5 GPA and who gave completed general biology and chemistry prior to their junior year.
Participants in the Scholars in Rural Health program are strong candidates for the Kansas Medical Student Loan program, which provides tuition and living expenses. Loan recipients agree to specialize in primary care or emergency medicine and work in a medically underserved area of Kansas.
By Scott Edger