What is the Emerging Scholars Program (ESP)?

WVU was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) grant as part of the Kentucky-West Virginia LSAMP Alliance in 2006. As part of the grant, WVU proposed to focus on calculus as a gateway to STEM majors by developing pedagogy and curriculum that concentrated on group- and inquiry-based learning to build a community of underrepresented STEM majors. The foundation of this work was based off of work by Uri Treisman at University California at Berkeley where he developed the Professional Development Workshop (later called Emerging Scholars Program). 

The format of Emerging Scholars Programs (ESP) is different from campus to campus where all programs recruit specific populations of capable students to participate in a class geared to more group learning and challenging problems. Traditionally ESP calculus classes require students to go to a regular calculus class and enroll in additional 4 to 6 hours of outside support (usually 1-2 credit hours) where they are given more challenging problems to work on in groups. In these sessions, students are required to work problems in groups on a blackboard, compare their work to other groups during the session, and present their work periodically to the rest of the class. 

The WVU ESP Calculus classes are formatted differently in the sense that students meet in a specially designed ESP class where they work on problems in groups and present problems to other classmates periodically  (i.e., students do not go to a regular calculus class and then attend an outside of class session). Very little time is spent with an instructor lecturing to the class; most of the class is spent in a group learning format. 

The WVU ESP calculus classes have been very successful with students succeeding in ESP calculus at 80% or higher, and also graduating college at 75% or higher, depending on what calculus course they started in.

Who is eligible for ESP?

 The eligibility requirements for students are:

• Identify as an underrepresented student (African American/Black, Hispanic or Latino, Native American, or Pacific Islander)

• US Citizen or permanent resident

• Maintain enrollment in an approved STEM major

What are the benefits of ESP

• Learning calculus in a group- and inquiry-based learning environment

• Breadth and depth of procedural and conceptual understanding of calculus

• Participation in a community of underrepresented STEM students with a common goal

• Smaller class that is designed to encourage collaboration 

• Instructor that is committed to helping students in calculus and STEM

• Entry into the larger LSAMP community (over 50 LSAMP Alliance across the U.S.) and all of the benefits that offers at WVU and across the Nation

What courses are offered in ESP?

• Calculus I (Math 155)

• Calculus II (Math 156)

• Multivariable Calculus (Math 251)

• Differential Equations (Math 261)

• Recently we have developed ESP for College Algebra  (Math 126) and Trigonometry (Math 128)

• We also have a summer program (with stipends) for students who would be placed into Math 153 for Fall

Who do I contact for more information or if I or have an eligible student?

You should contact the ESP coordinator, Dr. David Miller 

david.miller@mail.wvu.edu