This National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project involves a consortium of four Shenandoah Valley, Virginia higher education institutions: Blue Ridge Community College, Bridgewater College, Eastern Mennonite University, and James Madison University. The institutes are collaborating on activities to recruit and retain students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors on their four campuses. In the face of declining enrollments in many of these institutions' STEM programs, this project aims to reverse the trend and increase the diversity of STEM majors at each institution.

The Bridging the Valley project is implementing a Summer Bridge program comprised of a morning mathematics readiness component and an afternoon science engagement session, establishing STEM-based learning communities on each campus, and delivering a joint STEM faculty professional development program to share innovative pedagogical strategies and focus on student retention issues.

SRI has been awarded a subcontract to conduct a project evaluation of the implementation and impacts of the Bridges project. The evaluation includes documenting and monitoring project planning and implementation, providing formative feedback to inform ongoing project planning efforts, and assessing the short-term and long-term impacts of the Summer Bridge program and learning communities.

SRI is collecting survey and qualitative data annually to document project implementation and assess project impacts. Participating students, faculty, and staff are being asked to complete surveys and participate in interviews around their experiences and involvement in project activities. Additionally, the project is tracking institution-level and individual student-level data from each institution. This information is being stored in a database to inform annual and final reporting requirements to the NSF as well as to assess project impacts on participating institutions and students.