First-Year Bridge Program at Western Teaching University

Universities in the United States experience high attrition rates, which are even higher among first-generation college students, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and academically underprepared students.Many universities have sought to address disproportional dropout among these demographics by creating summer bridge programs intended to increase student confidence, address knowledge gaps, and inform students of oncampus resources.These programs, which have been implemented at a large number of differing institutions, have largely been successful.This paper briefly outlines efforts from other institutions to inform the creation of a STEM-focused summer bridge program at Weber State University, a western teaching university in the Rocky Mountain region.Program goals are defined as well as proposed methods for program assessment.