Broadening Participation Research: Investigating Faculty Influences on STEM Degree Production at HBCUs

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Prairie View A&M University proposes to investigate the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) faculty in the production of underrepresented undergraduates with STEM degrees. The investigators will conduct a mixed methods research project involving HBCUs that produce significant numbers of African American STEM graduates to determine faculty contributions to that success. The project builds on previous research focused on academically gifted African American students enrolled in HBCU STEM programs that suggested the need for a more in-depth study of the faculty's influences on student success. Recognizing the confluence of HBCU culture and climate on student success, the researchers will be able to isolate the nuanced role of the faculty. The overarching goal of the project is to better understand factors that influence the retention and success of African American students in STEM and to produce insights about how faculty can structure successful collegiate experiences for these students.The proposed research project will be guided by social capital, resilience, and cultural capital theories. It will investigate two research questions: How do HBCU faculty support minority student persistence and retention in STEM; and what strategies are most effective in preparing underrepresented minority students for graduate education and STEM careers? The research will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will include the collection and analysis of qualitative data from interviews, focus groups, and chat-based discussions. The second phase will use data from the qualitative findings to develop a quantitative instrument that will capture the factors articulated by faculty that impact the retention and success of African American students in STEM. Data will be analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding methods to uncover salient emergent categories and themes, and the constant comparative method will be used to gain additional insights on the research findings. The research will will produce a model for STEM faculty development and training and a survey instrument for measuring STEM faculty engagement towards success.