The Center for Achievement in Science Education (CASE) is a campus based initiative, designed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities who pursue degrees in science and math. It is an umbrella organization for several science programs on campus that, at one time, operated fairly independently albeit working towards similar goals. The creation of CASE served to systematically reinforce each program’s efforts, help with recruitment and leverage impact by sharing activities. There are several programs that make up CASE and that strive to identify new ways to help students learn science and math. CASE serves to formally coalesce these programs in an extraordinary way, institutionalizing the individual efforts of each program. For example students in one program can participate in the peer workshops for historically difficult science classes offered in another program. All events and activities sponsored and/or hosted by any CASE member program are open to any student in a CASE member program. This practice allows the College to offer a menu of academic and personal enhancement opportunities—career workshops, financial counseling, GRE prep, personal statement writing—to CASE students. In a sense, through CASE, Brooklyn College has expanded its offerings to include many opportunities that are essential to the holistic development of mature, well-trained scientists for the 21st century. CASE has also become a vehicle for new partnerships with NYC High Schools and other programs serving high school students in the New York City area. We have worked with programs such as TRIO-Talent Search and the GK-12 Program bringing our expertise to area high schools. We are also beginning to build partnerships with community colleges to strengthen the bridge to a four year degree in the sciences. All of these activities serve to increase the number of students who pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in science, scientific research and technology, particularly students from underrepresented groups. The programs that make up CASE are the Research Initiative for Science Enhancement (RISE), the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC), the Collegiate Science and Technology, Entry Program (CSTEP), the Honors Academy and the Unified Science Bridge (USB) Program.
