Com-STEM faculty is encouraging you to do the things that have been proven to enhance the probability of your timely and successful graduation. We (the faculty and staff) can inform you of the steps that you can take to enhance your chances of successfully completing your degree and encourage you to take the necessary steps. But, you are in control. You must decide what kind of engineer, wildlife biologist, process operator, consultant, physician, or (you provide the term) you want to become. The Academic Excellence Reward Program incorporated into Com-STEM has been designed to make you aware of steps that you can take to succeed at this level and to encourage you to take those steps by providing a monetary reward that you can earn.

The Com-STEM Academic Excellence Reward Program engages students in academic activities both, in and out of the classroom and rewards them for their participation with stipends. Com-STEM students are automatically enrolled in the program. Its cornerstone is the Student Portfolio. The first time a student joins Com-STEM, he/she will be given a personalized 3 ring binder to serve as their portfolio. Throughout the semester, Com-STEM students participate in Academic Excellence activities around the university or the community. Every activity they participate in, is documented in their portfolio and earns them points using the formula below. At the end of the semester, the students receive stipends ($$$) based on the number of points they accumulated.

The three-ring binder provides you a convenient way to assemble your Student Portfolio that will form the basis for your potential Academic Excellence Reward at the end of the each semester. Your portfolio is simply a documentation of ALL academic activities in which you are engaged throughout each semester. A recommended starting point is your individual schedule of classes that you receive following registration and payment of fees. A suggested ending point is your official grade report received at the end of the semester.

Between your registration and the grade report will be documentation of all academic and other school-related activities that you complete. You are encouraged to insert all class syllabi, returned tests, graded Scantrons, term papers, other writing or programming assignments, work records, class projects, student club material, and records of extracurricular activities. A very important part of your portfolio will be the information requested for the Academic Excellence Reward Program.

Your portfolio will be submitted to the Com-STEM staff at the end of the semester as a record of your academic pursuits and to determine your eligibility under the Academic Excellence Reward Program. The intention of Com-STEM is for you to be engaged, both in and out of the classroom, in activities that will result in the development of attitudes, behaviors, and skills that are consistent with the desired outcomes of higher education and the philosophy and mission of McNeese State University. Students that are so engaged graduate with a higher frequency than students that are not.

Your documented activities in nine areas will be used to compute an overall performance score following the formula given below. Simply put, the higher your score, the greater your potential Academic Excellence Reward.

The Academic Excellence Reward Formula is:

You can consider this Academic Excellence Reward Formula as a central part of your portfolio. The Com-STEM staff will employ the formula to determine your eligibility for a Com-STEM monetary reward at the end of each term. The formula provides a mechanism for the computing a "semester performance report" for each student. Essentially, Com-STEM seeks to provide a monetary reward for students that do those things that lead to academic success, to a timely completion of the baccalaureate degree, and to a successful entry into either graduate/professional school or the job market. The weighting factors (W1 - W10) and each of the ten areas of interest are explained below. Your portfolio will be returned to you the following term.

The Academic Excellence Reward Formula incorporates contributions from ten activities that are promoted by Com-STEM. Points earned for each activity are normalized to a 0 - 1 scale and then multiplied by a weighing factor labeled W1 to W10. The sum of all weighing factors equals 100.

The award formula promotes the following activities:

1. Enrolling in a full-time academic schedule of courses and completion of those courses with a high Grade Point Average (W1=25)
2. Enrolling in and successful completion of STEM courses required in the degree plan for your major (W2=10),
3. Enrolling in and successful completion of non-STEM courses required in your degree plan (W3=10),
4. Participating in Com-STEM sponsored peer tutoring and mentoring (W4=10),
5. Attending Com-STEM sanctioned seminars (W5=10),
6. Attending Com-STEM sanctioned social and cultural events (W6=5)
7. Working on campus in a STEM-related area (W7=5),
8. Participating in undergraduate research in a STEM area (W8=10),
9. Attending and participating in professional meetings in a STEM area (W9=5), and
10. Visiting with faculty at their offices (W10=10).

Each of the ten items that comprise the Academic Excellence Reward Program was selected because each has been shown to be important in improving the chances that you will complete your degree.

At the end of the semester, the portfolio will be submitted to the program coordinator for evaluation. Semester grades and the number of completed courses will be obtained from individual campus registrars. The number of tutoring sessions, seminars, social and cultural activities, and STEM meetings will be determined by Com-STEM staff. Students compete for awards among other students at the same academic level. Once the the highest total number of points (score) received by a student is determined, all other scores will be normalized based on the highest. Individual award amounts will be determined using the normalized scores and the available funds. Currently, Com-STEM has $10,000 per semester available for this program.

The Academic Excellence Reward Program is biased in favor of full-time students. However, MSU's student body includes many nontraditional students who attend school part time because of work, family or other reasons. Com-STEM recognizes that many of these individuals are deserving of assistance and reserve the prerogative of assisting a small number of part-time students when that support will materially assist deserving students in completing a degree. Decisions concerning these cases will be made by the various faculty leadership teams on a case-by-case basis.

For available Academic Excellence activities, CLICK HERE.

To see a numerical example of how will the Academic Excellence Reward Formula be used to calculate the total number of points earned by a student, CLICK HERE.

For a list of the Spring 2006 Academic Excellence Reward recipients CLICK HERE.