Broadening Participation Research: Understanding faculty attitudes, competency, and perceptions of providing career advising to African American STEM students at HBCUs

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The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) provides awards to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs. HBCU-UP broadening participation research projects create and study new theory-driven models and innovations related to the participation and success of underrepresented groups in STEM undergraduate education. This award studies STEM faculty career management skills, knowledge, abilities, and attitudes and their ability to support underrepresented students’ persistence in STEM. Faculty members provide advising, guidance, and mentoring for students and are an essential component in students’ progress toward STEM careers. If faculty members do not possess strong career development skills and recognize the value of career advising to their success in working with students, then their ability to help students is hindered. This study is contributing to knowledge on how and to what degree STEM faculty members are prepared to manage their own career and contribute to students’ career development. Study findings are expected to be foundational to preparing professional development experiences that improve career advising in STEM faculty and informing policy and practice to enhance African American STEM student’s persistence, retention, and career readiness.This foundational education research project uses a psychometric validation and quantitative, descriptive design to study HBCU STEM faculty and develop a validated measure of faculty attitudes toward career advising. The study uses structural equation modeling and general linear modeling to validate the Faculty Career Advising Attitudes Scale and clarify the construct of STEM faculty members’ ability to manage their own career and provide basic career mentoring and advising to their students. Findings will enhance understanding of the relationship between faculty members’ own career development attitudes, abilities, and skills and their attitudes toward guiding African American STEM students’ career development.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.