Collaborative Research: HSI Conference: Exploring the Realities of Contingent Latinx Faculty in STEM

在不断改进的本科生STEM教育：拉美裔服务机构(HSI计划)的支持下，HSI会议项目旨在更深入地探讨拉美裔服务机构(HSI)中临时(兼职、合同约束或非终身教职轨道)拉丁裔教师担任各种研究和教学角色的现实。这个合作项目包括一个两部分的会议，重点是Latinx教员在STEM的经验，一部分是教员自己，另一部分是他们的管理人员。这项工作将探索临时教员的工作现实，他们占高等教育系统雇用教职员工的46%以上。特别是，我们将努力了解许多临时教员(主要来自拉丁裔社区)在加州州立大学(CSU)系统中的挑战。就拉丁裔/非拉丁裔本科生在高等职业学校的入学人数而言，CSU学校共同构成了全国最大的高等职业学校之一。这项工作将有助于一个相当未被开发和未被探索的研究领域，以帮助揭示阻碍这些人在其职业中取得成功和驾驭方向的隐藏障碍。虽然这次会议的提案主要集中在STEM的Latinx临时教员，但预期的工作和结果将作为未来研究的基线，以及支持这些教员成功的政策知情倡议，进而支持他们的学生。本项目的目的是(1)结合HSI、Latinx临时STEM教员和管理人员来检查STEM中Latinx临时教员的隐藏现实；(2)使用STEM教育研究方法对会议讨论进行定性分析，并从政策的角度(由兰德公司领导)评估和分析会议结果，以共同生成一份政策简报，与STEM院长和HSI管理人员分享；以及(3)开发信息图表摘要，向对STEM和政策改革中的Latinx临时教员问题感兴趣的组织和利益相关者传播结果。研究方法将纯粹是探索性的和定性的，采用案例研究方法。将通过专题和新出现的编码技术分析定性数据，并将其用于开发代码簿和为传播产品提供信息的传播产品(例如，政策简报)。在政策智库兰德公司的支持下，我们不仅将通过学术期刊传播这项工作，还将接触到更广泛的学术受众，以支持临时教职员工，他们反过来又处于支持STEM本科生(往往是边缘化的)学生的第一线。HSI计划旨在加强本科生STEM教育，扩大STEM的参与，并建设HSIS的能力。鉴于高等教育机构的不同性质和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法，以激励机构和社区的变革，并促进基础研究(I)关于学生参与式学习，(Ii)关于如何有效地多样化和增加对STEM的参与，以及(Iii)提高我们对如何建设高等教育机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将从这些方法中获得如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 HSI Conference project aims to more deeply explore across Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), the realities of contingent (part-time, contract-bound, or non-tenure track) Latinx faculty with various research and teaching roles. This collaborative project consists of a two-part conference focusing on the experiences of Latinx faculty in STEM, one part for faculty members themselves, and one for their administrators. This work will explore the working realities of contingent faculty who represent over 46% of the employed faculty in higher education systems. In particular, we will seek to understand the challenges many contingent faculty, primarily from the Latinx communities, experience in the California State University (CSU) system. CSU schools collectively form one of the largest pools of HSIs in the nation in terms of Latina/o undergraduate enrollment in HSIs. This work will contribute to a fairly untapped and underexplored area of research to help uncover the hidden barriers that prevent the success and navigation of these individuals in their professions. Although this conference proposal is primarily focused on Latinx contingent faculty in STEM, the anticipated work and results will serve as a baseline for future research as well as policy-informed initiatives to support the success of these faculty, and by extension their students.The aims of this project are to (1) coalesce both HSI, Latinx contingent STEM faculty, and administrators to examine the hidden realities of Latinx contingent faculty in STEM; (2) to qualitatively analyze the conference discussions using STEM education research methods and evaluate and analyze conference outcomes from a policy perspective (led by RAND Corporation) to co-generate a policy brief to share with STEM deans and HSI administrators; and (3) develop an infographic summary to disseminate results to organizations and stakeholders with an interest in issues of Latinx contingent faculty in STEM and policy reform. The research methods will be purely exploratory and qualitative in nature using case study research approaches. Qualitative data will be analyzed through thematic and emerging coding techniques and be used toward the development of a codebook and dissemination products that inform the dissemination products (e.g., policy brief). With the support of RAND Corporation, a policy think tank, we will not only disseminate the work through academic journals but reach a wider academic audience of ways to support contingent faculty, which in turn are in the frontlines of supporting undergraduate (and often marginalized) students in STEM. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also draw from these approaches to 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.