Spelman College aims to equip students with skills necessary to become innovators, creators, and leaders in STEAM careers. Spelman is one of the nation's leading producers of Black female medical students and the top producer of Black female undergraduates who go on to receive doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In 2015, the College began the work of infusing STEM curricula with enhanced programming in the Arts to adopt a STEAM educational approach, which incorporates the Arts into the traditional STEM classification of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. At its essence, STEAM acknowledges that creativity is central to advancements in science and technology – and the Arts promote creativity and innovation.
It was this type of innovative thinking that led the College to establish the Department of Environmental and Health Sciences (EHS) in 2016, which brings together faculty with expertise in the clinical professions and public health with those that study the effects of the environment on public health. In its first year, there were ninety-seven EHS majors. By Fall 2019, the number of EHS majors increased by eighty-four percent (84%). Much of the growth of the EHS program has been due to the support of Title III, which has increased the number of faculty in the department and provided funds to establish their laboratories. Title III support for STEAM faculty has also undergirded the College’s efforts to provide mentoring opportunities for students conducting STEAM related research and provided resources needed by faculty to enhance STEAM courses.
Hands-on engagement is essential to reinforcing learning outcomes and stimulating student engagement and retention. Faculty across all departments in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics are creating collaborative activities to accomplish this goal. The Physics department is incorporating additional project-based opportunities to help students acquire and develop skill sets in advanced laboratory techniques and is also expanding quantum computing into curriculum and research. Chemistry and Biochemistry are advancing efforts to integrate computational chemistry into courses and independent research. Biology continues to lead efforts to expose and train students in bioinformatics, genomics, and transcriptomics and align with the Big Data Initiative, a pillar of Spelman's and AUC's current strategic plan.
The Spelman-Broad initiative, a collaboration between Spelman College and the Broad Institute aims to build an education and research program to increase the number of Spelman students and faculty who gain experiences in Big Data Sciences (BDS) through enhanced curricular, research, and professional development experiences. The instruments and supplies acquired for the Spelman-Broad initiative using Title III grant funds support faculty and student research and foster an improved understanding of and an expanded engagement in data science.
Faculty in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics are merging their research and curricular efforts to develop course-based research and authentic learning experiences that engage students in settings that closely align with professional practices. Funding received from Title III has provided faculty with the necessary and state-of-the-art resources to engage in aspects of lab-based STEM research and to expand into HIV research, and emerging trends in Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Science.
The Division of the Arts provides a rigorous education that integrates the arts, the liberal arts, technology, and innovation into its curriculum and co-curricular activities. With Title III support, the Division of the Arts has established a new Documentary Filmmaking major during the 2017-2018 academic year and will begin to offer a new Interactive Media minor during Fall 2021. In addition to the establishment of new academic programs, Title III resources were also used to procure instructional, and lab supplies and equipment to facilitate course enhancements and remote learning in the Departments of Dance Performance and Choreography, Theater and Performance, Music, and Photography
The Spelman Innovation Lab facilitates STEAM initiatives and supports intellectual curiosity, experimentation, and highlights art making and its relationship to aesthetic, civic, cultural, social systems, and technology. Title III funds have been used to support the procurement of state-of-the-art equipment and to provide resources to support staff who are responsible for implementing co-curricular activities in the Spelman Innovation lab. These co-curricular activities and workshops support project-based learning and allow students to apply technology to design, build, and test creative works. During the 2019-2020 academic year, students completed three hundred eighty-seven (387) projects using Spelman Innovation Lab technology and resources.