Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP)
About the Program
The goal of the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (TLSAMP) program is to increase the enrollment and graduation rate of underrepresented ethnic minority students (Hispanic, African-American, American-Indian, Alaskan Native, and Pacific Islander) in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by at least 100% at the end of the five-year period. The objectives to support the goal of the alliance are to:
- recruit underrepresented students to pursue science or engineering as a career;
- improve the quality of the learning environment for underrepresented science and engineering students at all schools; and
- ensure that a larger number of undergraduate students are prepared to enter graduate programs.
The University of Tennessee is one of six colleges and universities to receive a five year grant from TLSAMP, which represents one of 36 such programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Pre-College Student Activities
The Freshman Engineering Summer Bridge Program is a two-week summer residential program for underrepresented entering freshman who have been admitted to the UT College of Engineering. The program is designed to help increase the number of minority engineering students successfully completing the engineering curriculum. Click here to learn more about the TLSAMP Summer Bridge Program.
Current Student Activities
To meet the needs and goals of a TLSAMP partner school, we have established a Mentor Program between students and faculty. Faculty members from the departments of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are assigned a student in the TLSAMP program. The student is required to spend at least two hours per week with their faculty mentor as a Teaching Assistant or Research Assistant. The goal of the mentor program is to help students develop a relationship with their respective faculty members in an effort to retain more underrepresented ethnic minorities in the undergraduate programs as well as better prepare them to enter graduate school.
