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

在改善本科STEM教育的支持下：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划），这个HSI会议项目旨在更深入地探索西班牙裔服务机构（HSI）的现实情况（兼职，合同约束或非终身教职）拉丁裔教师与各种研究和教学角色。这个合作项目包括一个两部分的会议，重点是拉丁裔教师在STEM领域的经验，一部分是教师自己的，另一部分是他们的管理人员的。这项工作将探讨临时教师的工作现实，他们代表了高等教育系统中46%以上的在职教师。特别是，我们将试图了解许多临时教师（主要来自拉丁裔社区）在加州州立大学（CSU）系统中遇到的挑战。就拉美裔/非拉美裔本科入学人数而言，科罗拉多州立大学的学校共同构成了全国最大的拉美裔/非拉美裔本科入学人数之一。这项工作将有助于一个相当未开发和未充分探索的研究领域，以帮助发现阻碍这些人在他们的职业中取得成功和导航的隐藏障碍。虽然本次会议提案主要关注STEM中的拉丁裔特遣队教师，但预期的工作和结果将作为未来研究以及政策知情举措的基线，以支持这些教师的成功，并扩展到他们的学生。该项目的目的是：(1)联合HSI，拉丁裔临时STEM教师和管理人员，以检查拉丁裔临时STEM教师的隐藏现实；(2)使用STEM教育研究方法对会议讨论进行定性分析，并从政策角度（由兰德公司领导）评估和分析会议结果，共同生成政策简报，与STEM院长和HSI管理员分享；(3)制作一份信息图表摘要，向对STEM和政策改革中的拉丁裔特遣队教员问题感兴趣的组织和利益相关者传播结果。研究方法将是纯粹的探索性和定性性质，使用案例研究方法。将通过专题和新出现的编码技术对定性数据进行分析，并用于编写代码簿和传播产品，为传播产品提供信息（例如政策简报）。在政策智库兰德公司（RAND Corporation）的支持下，我们不仅会通过学术期刊传播这项工作，还会让更广泛的学术受众了解支持后备教师的方法，这些后备教师反过来又站在支持STEM本科生（通常是边缘化的）学生的第一线。HSI计划旨在加强本科STEM教育，扩大STEM参与，并在HSI进行能力建设。考虑到hsi的多样性和背景，实现这些目标需要创新的方法来激励机构和社区转型，并促进基础研究(1)关于参与式学生学习，(2)关于如何有效地使STEM多样化和增加参与，以及(3)提高我们对如何在hsi建立机构能力的理解。HSI计划支持的项目也将借鉴这些方法，为如何实现这些目标提供新的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.