HSI Conference: Transforming STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions - Regional Insights from the Southwest

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) Dear Colleague Letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) calls for projects to support conferences that will identify the most critical challenges and opportunities regarding undergraduate science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at HSIs, and potential actionable solutions that fall within NSF's mission, policies, and practices. The University of Arizona (UA) proposes a regional conference that brings together up to 100 students, faculty, practitioners, and administrators from southwestern 2- and 4-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Workshop participants will be recruited from the 150 HSIs in Arizona, New Mexico and California. The 3-day workshop will focus on five topics relevant to STEM undergraduate education: (1) Enabling transitions from 2- to 4-year HSIs: gaps and opportunities for cross-institutional partnerships, (2) Charting the role of Research 1 (R1) HSIs in undergraduate STEM education: research as a pathway for college and career success, (3) Leveraging innovative and inclusive pedagogies and curricula: gaps and opportunities for new instructional initiatives, (4) Mapping HSI opportunities and challenges to recruitment, retention, and persistence: successful examples and potential new initiatives, and (5) Meeting HSI students where they are: the meaning and role of culturally-responsive STEM education at the college level. The workshop is expected to results in a report that is focused on the regional challenges and opportunities of HSIs in the southwest. The workshop participants will work toward identifying priority areas for improving STEM education in HSIs. The outcomes of the conference will: (1) serve to advance knowledge regarding critical gaps and opportunities in bolstering the educational mission of HSIs that are demographically and geographically situated in the Southwestern United States , (2) identify and characterize models of institutional collaboration that best serve the needs of Hispanic students within and across science, engineering, and mathematics education,(3) improve our understanding of effective practices for generating sustained interest and success in STEM fields among Hispanics, and (4) synthesize evidence from ethnographic research to inform institutional change, pedagogy, and STEM curricula in HSIs.