HSI Implementation & Evaluation Project: Alverno College STEM Community Impact Program (SCIP)

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，第二轨：IEP旨在通过重点社区参与活动提高STEM专业的保留率和毕业率，以增强STEM身份。作为一所主要为第一代低收入学生服务的女子学院，超过一半的有色人种女性，阿尔弗诺学院将利用这个项目扩大代表性不足的少数民族和女性在STEM领域的参与，她们在STEM学位获得和STEM劳动力参与方面落后。增加STEM中的种族/民族和性别多样性是扩大STEM劳动力的公认战略。该项目利用的证据表明，STEM领域的女性和得不到充分服务的学生是通过直接体验STEM造福社区的方式而受到激励的。该项目将直接吸引400名参加STEM课程的学生，其中包括大约125名STEM专业学生，参与将支持性社区与STEM课程和课外体验联系起来的活动。该项目让所有STEM专业的学生参与入门级和顶级社区服务活动。它将同侪辅导扩展到所有STEM专业，并提高了社区参与的形象。该项目使我们的外部社区参与合作关系，认识到STEM与学生的社会/社区身份之间的交集。该项目将利用家庭支持对有色人种学生和女性在大学成功、专业选择和职业方面的重要性。现有STEM学生和校友之间的专业指导网络将利用专业拉丁裔/西班牙裔榜样影响STEM成功的证据。在文化响应教学和正式的行政支持结构方面正在进行的教师发展将扩大整个学院的项目影响。Alverno的项目将通过调查社区参与计划对STEM身份的影响，提高STEM职业的保留率和毕业率，来推进知识的发展。该项目将衡量参与项目活动的水平与大学留校率之间的关系，并将分析参与者的反映，以了解STEM身份的发展。这项工作将确定该计划的哪些方面对进入和留在STEM以及从事STEM相关职业的决定影响最大。预计100%的STEM专业学生将参加社区参与活动，毕业生将对STEM产生现实的期望，这对满足社区需求至关重要。Alverno的项目将为其他hsi提供可扩展、可复制的模型。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM参与，并在HSI进行能力建设。考虑到hsi的多样性和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型，并促进基础研究(1)关于参与式学生学习，(2)关于如何有效地使STEM多样化和增加参与，以及(3)提高我们对如何在hsi建立机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将借鉴这些方法，为如何实现这些目标提供新的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2: IEP aims to increase retention and graduation of STEM majors through focused community engagement activities to enhance STEM identity. As a women’s college serving primarily first-generation, low-income students, more than half women of color, Alverno College will use this project to broaden participation of underrepresented minorities and women in STEM, who lag in STEM degree attainment and STEM workforce participation. Increasing racial/ethnic and gender diversity in STEM is a recognized strategy to expand the STEM workforce. This project utilizes evidence that women and underserved students in STEM are motivated by directly experiencing the ways that STEM benefits their communities. The project will directly engage 400 students enrolled in STEM courses, including approximately 125 STEM majors, in activities that connect supportive communities to STEM curricular and co-curricular experiences. The project engages all STEM majors in introductory and capstone community-service activities. It extends peer mentoring to all STEM majors and raises the profile of community engagement. The project engages our external community in a cooperative relationship, recognizing the intersection between STEM and students’ social/community identities. The project will leverage the importance of family support to students of color and women in college success, choice of major and career. A professional mentorship network between current STEM students and alumni will capitalize on evidence that professional Latinx/ Hispanic role models influence STEM success. Ongoing faculty development in culturally responsive teaching and a formalized administrative support structure will expand project impact across the college. Alverno’s project will advance knowledge by investigating the impact of a community engagement program on STEM identity, improving retention and graduation into STEM careers. The program will measure the association between level of engagement in project activities and college retention, and will analyze participant reflections to understand STEM identity development. This work will identify which aspects of the program had the greatest impact on decisions to enter and remain in STEM and to pursue STEM-related careers. It is anticipated that 100% of STEM majors will participate in community engagement activities and that graduates will develop realistic expectations of STEM which is critical in meeting community needs. Alverno’s project will provide a scalable, replicable model for other HSIs to adapt. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.