HSI Conference Grant: PROMISE: Providing Resources and Opportunities for Minorities in STEM Education

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) Dear Colleague Letter NSF 17-092: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education in Hispanic Serving Institutions called for projects to support conferences that would 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. Laredo Community College (LCC), Texas A & M International University (TAMIU), Texas A & M University-Kingsville (TAMUK), and University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) responded to the call by proposing a conference to bring together key stakeholders in undergraduate STEM education at two and four-year public and private Texas HSI colleges and universities in order to inform the design of NSF's Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program. The rationale for the proposed HSI PROMISE: Providing Resources and Opportunities for Minorities in STEM Education conference is based on the great need as well as the great potential to generate new knowledge on effective programs and strategies to recruit, to retain, and to graduate Hispanics in STEM. The conference will be held in March 2018 in Laredo, Texas, through the Texas Hispanic Serving Institutions Consortium (TxHSIC), an organization which unites such entities. The conference will convene faculty and administrators from over 83 public and private colleges, universities, community-based organizations and business entities. Media announcements and pre-conference meetings will secure at least 100 attendees from institutions in Texas and at least 100 virtual participants. Sessions at the HSI PROMISE Conference will primarily focus on undergraduate STEM Education and will provide a networked conduit to provide input to NSF. However, to reap the broader benefit of this effort, students must be empowered to become leaders and partners in STEM innovation. The voices of students currently enrolled in STEM disciplines will be included through focus groups both live and via teleconference with MAES (Latinos in Engineering and Science) LCC and Texas chapters and TAMIU, TAMUK, and UTPB Noyce Scholars. As part of the assessment, the conference will include participation from researchers from the Center for Research and Policy in Education at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSAP). For broader national input and impact the 12 community colleges in the NSF funded, HRD#1450661 KickStarter project with Science Foundation Arizona have been invited to participate via teleconference. A major output of the conference will be a report which will include a list of potential actionable solutions that fall within NSF's mission, policies, and practices and a policy brief through Center for Research and Policy in Education at UTSA. A major outcome will be the continued collaboration of Texas HSIs to secure funding and the optimization of impact from NSF support.