School of Sciences earns national recognition

Sept. 16, 2024 – DENTON – An article in the August 25 edition of Washington Monthly titled "America’s Best and Worst Colleges for Women in STEM" caught Juliet Spencer, PhD, by surprise. The director of TWU's School of Sciences had not heard of the bimonthly magazine or its monumental project:

"Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System," author Laura Colarusso wrote, "we compared the gender distribution of every STEM program at 1,027 U.S. colleges and universities—an exercise no other media outlet has done. We then ranked the 20 undergraduate programs with the highest and lowest percentage of recent graduates who are female in 10 popular STEM fields—computer science, chemical engineering, natural resources, and so on."

In the article, under the category "Best Biology," the No. 6 school in the nation: Texas Woman's University.

"I was ecstatic," Spencer said. "I wasn't aware of that ranking that they had done, so I was just really thrilled to see TWU on the list of best colleges for women in STEM for biology. And we were real proud to see the salaries of our graduates."

Washington Monthly found that for median earnings five years after graduation (women and men), TWU ranked fourth in the nation at $60,619 per year. That's the real measuring stick, because if you're not earning a good living, so what?

"Student success, that's our number one mission," Spencer said. "The degree is an achievement. But the degree is supposed to open doors, specifically doors to a good, well-paying career. So that was really nice to see. We want people to know TWU is a great place for your training, and the outcome, once you get that degree, is going to be a good job, a well-paying position."

Spencer joined the faculty at TWU in 2018 as professor and chair of the biology division. While she is still a biology professor, three years ago she was named director of the School of the Sciences.

"I work with the other science units as well," she said. "And I told them when I saw the ranking, I hope it won't be long before we see chemistry and math and computer science making that list. The things we're doing in biology, we're doing in all the sciences to support our students."

So what does Spencer think she, the faculty and staff have done to lift TWU to this position?

"I think the whole faculty and staff have really worked to become more student friendly," Spencer said. "It's small things, but I think that are really impactful."

For example, there are sequences of courses that majors must take in a particular order: principles of biology one and two; and molecular biology and genetics. In the past, the first course was offered in fall and the second in spring. Miss the first course and you lose an entire year waiting for the first course to come around again the next fall.

"We offer both courses every semester so you can take them in spring and summer, so we're not slowing anybody down from graduating. I think we have seen a big uptick in successful completions because the students now have that opportunity. If they miss part one, they can just take part one the next semester and finish in the summer, or whatever works best for their schedule. We're trying to remove any barrier that we can, and I think the accessibility of those classes has been a factor in student success."

Another step has been community building.

"We've done outreach and social activities," Spencer said. "We don't get a lot of time with students at their formal orientation, where they're learning about all of TWU. So we created a welcome lunch that we do the second week of school where we try to get them in the SRC."

The SRC, the Scientific Research Commons, is the crown jewel of the School of the Sciences. Located at the south end of the Denton campus, the 80,000-square-foot building opened in 2020 and boasts bright, state-of-the-art laboratories, as well as conference spaces, faculty offices, and graduate-student work space. It does not, however, have classrooms, which are housed across Old Main Circle in the Ann Stuart Science Complex.

"Students might not set foot in the SRC until they start thinking about research, maybe in their sophomore, junior or senior year. Hopefully they come to faculty office hours, but they might not see the labs."

The welcome event informs students about the SRC's activities and capabilities.

"I know they're only starting their college journey, but start thinking about goals for when you graduate and you're looking for a job or internships." Spencer said. "We really try and set them up for success by making sure they're well acquainted with all the resources and opportunities we offer. And just friendly faces, too. Making sure they know professors are very interested in their success and getting to know them and really wanting our students to take advantage of all we offer.

"We've really worked to develop a strong orientation program for all of our programs because that helps the students get to know us and the resources, but also helps them get to know each other, build their support network so you're learning together. I think that's one thing that we've really put effort into."

Which is a dramatic departure from the traditional model at most universities that has been presented to generations of incoming freshmen: figure it out yourself.

The other strategy the school is focusing on goes back to that primary measuring stick: good-paying jobs. The school is interacting with potential employers.

"We have been very successful with the biotechnology program," Spencer said. "We've got partners that know us and know TWU students. They are calling us saying, who do you have for me this year for an internship and position? We are trying to replicate that in some of the other areas, and that's one of my top priorities moving forward, to develop those same relationships for informatics, chemistry, math and data science."

That effort is paying off. This spring, the TWU campus hosted its first health sciences career fair, an event organized by Ann Davis, PhD, the head of the biology division, director of TWU's Joint Admission Medical Program and pre-health advisor. The fair filled the massive ballroom in the Student Union at Hubbard Hall.

"Ann did all the heavy lifting and coordinating," Spencer said. "It was a great turnout on the student side and on the exhibitor side.

"We want to open doors for our students in collaboration with the career connections and internship office," Spencer added. "It's really about building relationships across TWU."