Mentoring and Outreach for
the STARS Alliance Program
The Stars Alliance is an NSF-funded program that includes about 20 colleges and universities, mostly in the Southeast. Its main focus is to increase the numbers and diversity of students in computing fields. This includes Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Science and Technology, and many other computing and technology related fields. The University of Tennessee Knoxville joined the Stars Alliance in the spring of 2008, and this branch is headed by Dr. Lynne Parker.
Goals of the UTK STARS activities and programs include:
- Increasing the number of students in computing fields
- Increasing the diversity of computing programs by reaching out to underrepresented groups
- Improving the retention rate of those who start in computing fields
- Encouraging undergraduates to become involved in research activities and to continue on to graduate school
- Promoting outreach activities by reaching out to high schools, middle schools, and community services
- Promoting leadership skills in students
Activities and programs of UTK STARS:
Mentoring
UTK STARS have designed and implemented this ongoing activity to assist students in their adjustment to Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) curriculum, improve EECS retention of students and contribute to students' success within the EECS Department.
The UTK STARS Mentors are more that happy to answer a wide variety of questions which students may otherwise not ask faculty, staff or administrators, and to share their experiences with the students. UTK STARS Mentors hold regular office hours in the Claxton Complex labs. Students may come by and talk with UTK STARS Mentors at these times.
Outreach
UTK STARS have designed, implemented and teach at these ongoing programs to increase an interest in computer science by broadening EECS visibility in the surrounding community and to provide leadership opportunities for UTK STARS.
- Python at West Park Baptist Church home school co-op.
- Web design at Tribe One inner-city community center.
- Upward Bound at UT for first generation college bound students.
- Mini-Tutorial UTK STARS led instruction on various programming tools such as Vi, EMACS, Ubuntu, Linux/Unix Utils, etc. These tool are useful to know in EECS programming assignments.
High School Outreach
UTK STARS makes presentations to surrounding area high school students on computer science careers; the programming and coding of games, robots and graphics, and their academic experiences at EECS.
Contact Information
| Faculty Advisor | Dr. Lynne Parker |
| Contact Email | parker @ eecs.utk.edu |