MIE: The University of Texas at El Paso: A Model of Excellence

9550502里特得克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校(UTEP)是拉美裔教育的全国领先者。在该校17,000多名学生中，超过60%的学生是代表不足的少数族裔，估计有三分之二是他们家庭中第一个上大学的人。UTEP大约85%的学生来自埃尔帕索县，这是一个快速发展的城市地区，代表着许多西南大城市，这些城市现在或不久将拥有大部分人口，这些群体目前在科学、工程和数学(SEM)劳动力中的代表性较低。然而，UTEP的独特之处在于，它是西南部唯一一所种族分布与所服务地区的人口结构相匹配的主要城市大学。模范卓越院校(MIE)计划为UTEP提供了作为未来城市大学的典范的机会，这所大学的使命是服务于少数族裔学生占多数的多元文化人口。UTEP的MIE项目将解决增加SEM专业学士学位数量的主要障碍：进入SEM学生的高得令人无法接受的自然流失率。UTEP提出了一种动态的方法来满足入学学生的需求，这种需求将随着当地学校改善计划，如NSF资助的埃尔帕索系统倡议，改善地区学生在数学和科学方面的准备而发生变化。UTEP的MIE计划将帮助一年级学生了解如何在大学取得成功，减少一年级课程的班级人数，并全面介绍什么是SEM学科以及这些领域的职业提供的机会。最重要的是，通过MIE，UTEP的教职员工承诺他们的责任不仅仅是课堂教学，他们还应该对整个学生的发展负责，并创造一个支持学习和个人发展的校园环境。由于其中许多活动将利用本科生和S的导师和同伴导师，另外一个好处是为学生团体提供有意义的工作经验，这些学生团体由在校期间必须遇到的有经济责任的人组成。UTEP还将使用MIE加速将主动学习策略引入其所有的SEM课程。这些策略包括合作学习、计算机辅助教学、英语作文课程与结构方程课程的衔接以及同伴教学。为了使主动学习和有效教学成为现实，MIE将通过努力修改教师奖励的主要决定因素，从研究到促进学习，成为改变对教师使命和责任的思考的催化剂。MIE将提供资源，通过增加教职员工和升级学位课程的基础设施来丰富SEM课程的质量和数量，这些学位课程可能会产生最大的SEM毕业生增长。MIE的目标是确保每一名EM学生通过担任校园研究项目的研究助理或行业政府的实习生或合作学生，至少参与一次专业丰富的经历。最后，MIE将通过提供资源来提高UTEP向学生提供建议、跟踪他们的进展和评估项目有效性的能力，从而影响大学教育基础设施。UTEP将通过在学术和学生事务方面的独特专业知识组合来管理MIE。首席研究员是工程教育领域的全国领导者，具有管理大型跨学科项目的经验。Co-PI在学生事务领域带来了类似的经验。他们将与一个由关键教师、管理人员以及来自行业和政府的地区SEM领导人组成的咨询委员会合作，以改变UTEP的SEM教育的本质。2德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校

9550502 Riter The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a national leader in Hispanic education. Over 60 percent of its more than 17,000 students are underrepresented minorities and an estimated two-thirds are the first in their families to attend college. Approximately 85 percent of UTEP's students come from El Paso County, a fast growing urban region representative of many large southwestern cities that now have, or soon will have, a majority of their population composed of groups currently underrepresented in the science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) workforce. UTEP, however, is unique in that it is the only major urban university in the Southwest whose ethnic distribution matches the demographics of the region it serves. The Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) program provides UTEP the opportunity to serve as a model for the urban university of the future, one with a mission to serve a multicultural population where minority students comprise the majority. UTEP's MIE project will address the major impediment to increasing the number of bachelor's degrees in SEM disciplines: the unacceptably high attrition of entering SEM students. UTEP proposes a dynamic approach to meeting the needs of entering students, needs that will change as local school improvement programs, such as the NSF-funded El Paso Systemic Initiative, improve area students' preparation in mathematics and science. UTEP's MIE plan will help first-year students understand how to succeed in college, reduce class size in first-year courses, and present a broad picture of what SEM disciplines are about and the opportunities that careers in these fields provide. Most importantly, through MIE, UTEP's faculty commit to the concept that they are responsible for more than classroom instruction, that they are also responsible for the development of the entire student and the creation of an on-campus environment that supports learning and personal development. Since many of these activities will utilize undergraduates a s mentors and peer instructors, an additional benefit will be the provision of meaningful work experiences for a student body composed of people with financial responsibilities they must meet while attending school. UTEP will also use MIE to accelerate the introduction of active learning strategies into all of its SEM courses. Such strategies include cooperative learning, computer-assisted instruction, the linking of English composition courses with SEM courses, and peer instruction. To make active learning and effective teaching a reality, MIE will serve as a catalyst for a change in thinking about the mission and responsibilities of faculty by working to modify the major determinants of faculty rewards from research to the promotion of learning. MIE will provide resources to enrich the quality and increase the quantity of SEM programs through addition of faculty and staff and the upgrading of infrastructure in the degree programs likely to yield the greatest increase in SEM graduates. A goal of MIE will be to ensure that every SEM student participates at least once in a professional enrichment experience by serving as a research assistant in an on-campus research project or as an intern or co-op student in government of industry. Finally, MIE will impact the university educational infrastructure by providing resources to improve UTEP's ability to advise students, track their progress, and evaluate the effectiveness of programs. UTEP will manage MIE through a unique combination of expertise in academic and student affairs. The Principal Investigator is a national leader in engineering education with experience managing large interdisciplinary programs. The Co-PI brings similar experience in the student affairs area. They will work with an advisory committee of key faculty, administrators, and regional SEM leaders from industry and government to change the very nature of SEM education at UTEP. 2 University of Texas at El Paso