HSI Institutional Transformation Project: STEM Undergraduate Education through a Hispanic Student Success Framework

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With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 3 ITP aims to develop an HSI Student Success Servingness Framework that focuses on pedagogy development, through evidence-based teaching approaches, combined with enhanced student peer mentoring and professional development of graduate students and faculty with the aim of improving student learning, student sense of belongingness and overall success. Additional attention is needed in STEM disciplines to improve graduation and retention rates of students by undertaking a range of curricular and mentoring reforms which will result in systemic changes that support Hispanic students. The proposed project builds on our dedication to increasing diversity in the STEM workforce particularly Hispanic students. This plan is an integrated approach to increase the number of undergraduate underrepresented minorities who graduate from the UTSA Colleges of Engineering and Integrated Design and Sciences. The opportunity for UTSA to harness the assets of our first generation and Hispanic students’ experiences and employ these experiences as resources could lead to innovation and discovery enterprises in STEM. It is expected that the program will benefit STEM education by using the new understandings of servingness to develop organizational change that best serves Hispanic students at HSI and non-HSI institutions.The project will successfully complete the following tasks: 1) Development of an HSI Student Servingness Framework; 2) Pedagogical development of engineering courses focused on Computational Literacy which includes professional development of graduate students and faculty; 3) Review of current policies, practices, and structures for undergraduate students with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion and 4) Development and subsequent expansion of Peer Mentoring Program and TA Teaching Academy. Our innovative cross-disciplinary partnership between STEM and Education faculty will improve student learning and self-efficacy by (1) developing new methods of instruction and (2) implementing associated curricular changes focused on computational literacy through evidence-based teaching approaches and STEM faculty coaching. The HSI Student Servingness Framework will allow for institutional change through curriculum changes, policy review, and expanding peer mentoring and other activities. Expected outcomes using the proposed multi-faceted approach are 1) increase the retention, graduation and persistence rates of the students; 2) improve the students’ self-efficacy and sense of belongingness; 3) give faculty opportunities to develop innovative, equity-centered evidence-based best practice teaching approaches that enhance student learning and equity in the classroom; and 4) provide students with marketable skills to be successful in the professional world. The results will be disseminated through a website, conference presentations and peer reviewed publications, and university workshops. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also 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.