Houston Alliance for Minority Participation Project

休斯顿路易斯斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟。休斯顿-路易斯·斯托克斯少数族裔参与联盟（H-LSAMP）由6所大学、2所社区学院和一个学区组成，将在第一阶段的基础上实施一个现实的、全面的计划：a)招收STEM学科的合格少数族裔学生；B)通过关注个人留存问题来提高留存率；C)确保每个学生毕业时都有明确的职业目标，并为实现这一目标做好准备。H-LSAMP将保持其管理结构，招聘和选拔过程，并将继续以奖学金的形式向其H-LSAMP学者提供财政支持。学者们将通过参加与他们的培训相关的活动，如在研究实验室工作，来赚取他们的津贴。H-LSAMP将保持其成功的合作学习社区模式，要求学者参加与微积分和化学等核心课程相关的严格的卓越研讨会。此外，H-LSAMP将实施流程，向学者们介绍为准备充分的毕业生提供的就业机会，并监督和建议他们优化按时毕业的可能性。重点将放在鼓励学生攻读研究生学位和准备他们进入研究生院。为此，H-LSAMP将计划并定期举办有关STEM职业和研究生教育的研讨会和论坛，强调在这些领域拥有博士学位的人有领导机会。H-LSAMP将通过提供正式的书面沟通技巧培训来满足提高沟通技巧的需要。同时，将设计和采用一项例行监测和记录学生进展的议定书，其中包括定期的个人评估和与一名工作人员的后续会议。H-LSAMP将通过使用公认的研究方法来确定被认为对这一人群的保留很重要的因素的相对贡献，从而有助于增加关于本科少数民族STEM学生保留的知识体系。最后，由于信息管理对LSAMP等项目的成功至关重要，因此专门为H-LSAMP开发的最先进的信息管理软件程序将提供给其他机构。这个项目的智力价值主要在于产生了重要的新知识，这些新知识是关于那些有助于在德克萨斯州攻读STEM学士学位的拉美裔和非裔美国人等代表性不足的少数族裔群体中获得保留和成功的因素。我们可以合理地期望这些知识可以推广到美国其他地理区域的西班牙裔和非裔美国人。一旦一项以学生为中心的创新计划的结果为人所知，该计划将教育原则的应用与标准化咨询和监控协议相结合，教育界将有一个模型来评估和回应个别少数民族STEM学生在大学生涯中的需求。H-LSAMP领导、教师和工作人员的承诺是有案可稽的，该计划制度化的证据包括物理设施的承诺和机构与国家科学基金会的匹配约为1.5:1。这个项目更广泛的影响在于，它有可能大大增加从我们的机构毕业的、受到启发并准备好追求职业目标的专注的少数族裔毕业生的数量。人们预计，很大一部分人将渴望读研究生，从而扩大下一代科学领袖和教育工作者的队伍。最后，H-LSAMP将有潜力提高类似项目的成功和影响，通过提供专有软件，促进有效、高效操作所需的数据收集、检索、分析和报告。

HOUSTON LOUIS STOKES ALLIANCE FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION.PHASE II The Houston-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (H-LSAMP) consortium consisting of 6 universities, 2 community colleges, and a school district, will build upon its Phase I foundation to implement a realistic, comprehensive plan to: a) recruit well-qualified minority students in STEM disciplines; b) enhance retention rates by focusing on individual retention issues, and; c) ensure that each student graduates with a clear career goal and the preparation to achieve it. The H-LSAMP will maintain its management structure, its recruitment and selection process, and will continue to provide financial support in the form of stipends to its H-LSAMP scholars. Scholars will earn their stipends by performing activities associated with their training, such as working in research laboratories. The H-LSAMP will maintain its successful Collaborative Learning Community model in which scholars are required to attend rigorous excellence workshops associated with core courses such as calculus and chemistry. Additionally, the H-LSAMP will implement processes to educate the scholars about career opportunities open to well-prepared graduates, and monitor and counsel them to optimize the likelihood of on-time graduation. Strong emphasis will be placed on encouraging students to pursue graduate degrees and preparing them for entry to graduate school. To this end, the H-LSAMP will plan and execute regularly scheduled workshops and forums about STEM careers and graduate education, emphasizing the leadership opportunities open to those with doctoral degrees in these fields. The H-LSAMP will respond to the need for improved communication skills by providing formal written communications skills training. Concurrently, a protocol for routine monitoring and documenting student progress that includes periodic individual assessment and follow-up meetings with a staff member will be designed and employed. The H-LSAMP will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about retention of undergraduate minority STEM students by using accepted research methods to determine the relative contributions of factors believed to be important to retention in this population. Last, because information management is important to the success of programs such as the LSAMP, a state-of-the-art information management software program developed specifically for the H-LSAMP will be made available to other institutions. The intellectual merit of this project lies primarily in the generation of important new knowledge about factors that contribute to retention and success in the population of underrepresented minorities, primarily Hispanics and African-Americans pursuing STEM baccalaureate degrees in Texas. One can reasonably expect much of this knowledge to be generalizable to Hispanics and African-Americans in other geographic areas of the U.S. Once the results of an innovative student-centered plan that combines application of educational principles with a standardized counseling and monitoring protocol are known, the educational community will have a model for assessing and responding to needs of individual minority STEM students as they progress through their college careers. The commitment of the H-LSAMP leaders, faculty, and staff is well-documented, and evidence of institutionalization of the program includes the commitment of physical facilities and an institutional to NSF match of approximately 1.5:1. The broader impact of this project lies in its potential to greatly increase the numbers of well-focused, minority graduates who graduate from our institutions inspired and prepared to pursue career goals. The expectation is that a high proportion will aspire to attend graduate school, swelling the ranks of the next generation of scientific leaders and educators. Finally, the H-LSAMP will have the potential to enhance the success and impact of similar programs by making available proprietary software that facilitates the data collection, retrieval, analysis, and reporting required for effective, efficient operation.