Promoting Student Success through a Social, Academic, and Institutional Support System in Engineering Education

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI）计划，这个轨道2项目将开发和研究学术，机构和社会支持的可持续系统（即，正式的同行指导计划）的一年级工程学生在得克萨斯大学埃尔帕索。Promoviendo el Éxito Estudiantil a través de un Sistema de Apoyo（PromESA）模式通过为学员提供辅导、咨询和与可用大学服务的联系，为学生提供教育和个人支持。同样重要的是，该项目将提供社会情感支持，提供建立友谊的机会，并肯定学生的归属感，特别是对拉丁裔学生。PromESA组件将专门考虑学生的交叉身份（例如，性别、第一代大学生身份、文化遗产）。研究结果将告知努力提供学术，机构和社会支持服务不足的人群，同时解决缺乏归属感的拉丁裔学生在工程教育经历。该项目将实施一个整体的，社会文化响应同侪指导计划改编自循证的Promotores de Educación计划在加州州立大学在长滩开发。这一多层面举措将以四个目标为指导。第一是通过将全面的、对社会文化有反应的做法纳入教师和同侪导师的培训和专业发展中，增加学生的归属感。第二是将拉丁文化资产和价值观的意识融入试点部门的景观中。第三是提高参与学生在工程学位课程中的保留率，坚持性和学术表现。第四，建立结构和政策，使主要项目组成部分在授标期之后制度化。嵌入式行动研究工作将使用定性和参与性研究方法相结合，以提供对来自历史上少数民族/边缘化人口的学生的同伴指导计划的影响更全面的了解。 该研究将专门研究这些计划如何影响参与者，并缩小对拉丁裔学生攻读工程学位的同行指导计划的影响的知识差距，特别是在利用他们的文化优势和交叉身份时。此外，所产生的知识将为工程教育研究界提供对Latinx学生独特经验和观点的更深入了解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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 project will develop and study a sustainable system of academic, institutional, and social supports (i.e., formal peer-mentoring program) for first-year engineering students at the University of Texas El Paso. The Promoviendo el Éxito Estudiantil a través de un Sistema de Apoyo (PromESA) model offers educational and personal support for students by providing mentees with tutoring, advising and connections to available university services. Equally importantly, the project will provide social-emotional support, provide opportunities to build friendships, and affirm students’ sense of belonging, particularly for Latinx students. PromESA components will specifically account for students’ intersecting identities (e.g., gender, first-generation college student status, cultural heritage). Research findings will inform efforts to provide academic, institutional, and social support for under-served populations while addressing the lack of a sense of belonging experienced by Latinx students in engineering education.This project will implement a holistic, socio-culturally responsive peer-mentoring program adapted from the evidence-based Promotores de Educación Program developed at California State University at Long Beach. This multidimensional initiative will be guided by four objectives. First is to increase students’ sense of belonging by incorporating holistic, socio-culturally responsive practices into training and professional development for faculty and peer mentors. Second is to build awareness of Latinx cultural assets and values into the landscape of the piloting department. Third is to increase participating students’ retention, persistence, and academic performance in their engineering degree programs. Fourth is to establish structures and policies to institutionalize major project components beyond the award period. The embedded action research effort will use a combination of qualitative and participatory research methods to offer a fuller understanding of the impact of peer-mentoring programs for students from historically minoritized/marginalized populations. The research will specifically examine how such programs can impact participants and narrow the knowledge gap on the impacts of peer-mentoring programs for Latinx students pursuing engineering degrees, particularly when leveraging their cultural strengths and their intersectional identities. Furthermore, the knowledge generated will provide the engineering education research community with a deeper understanding of the unique experiences and perspectives of Latinx students.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.