More Like this

1. Work in Progress on a Model to Improve the Preparation and Transition of Hispanic STEM Doctoral Students into Community College Faculty Positions - Lessons Learned Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference

   Velez-Reyes, M. (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Annual Conference)

   This work in progress (WIP) paper shares experiences and lessons learned from the first three years in the development and implementation of a model to improve the preparation and transition of Hispanic STEM doctoral students into community college (CC) faculty positions by the Hispanic Alliance for the Graduate Education and the Professoriate (H-AGEP). This is a collaborative effort between the City College of New York (CCNY) and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in partnership with El Paso CC (EPCC), LaGuardia CC (LaCC), and Queensborough CC (QCC). The proposed model addresses the important need of recruiting more Hispanic faculty at CC who can serve as outstanding teachers, mentors and role models to students at CC. Over 50% of Hispanics start their college journey at a community college while less than 5% of faculty in higher education is from Hispanic backgrounds. Increasing the can increase the number of Hispanic who receive degrees from community college and who transfer to 4 year institutions to obtain degrees in STEM. Higher representation of faculty from Hispanic and other racial/ethnic groups on campus have a positive impact on underrepresented minority student’s success when measured in grades and course completions as well as retention and degree completion. The lessons learned came from a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis performed as part of a self-study conducted in December 2020. The study included HAGEP fellows, CCNY and UTEP participant faculty, dissertation advisors, and CC faculty mentors. The lessons learned provide important feedback for program improvement as well as information to teams who may be interested in developing alliances and collaborations with similar goals. A key result of the assessment is the value that CC partners bring in supporting teaching training and in providing a positive perspective on careers at community college to the participating doctoral students. The paper presents a brief summary of the H-AGEP model. Then it summarizes the findings from the self-study and concludes with the lessons learned from the process. 

   more » « less
2. Native American engineering faculty: Insights into entry and persistence

   Authors: Jacobs, S. C.; Johnson, S. B.; Lee, K.; Colston, N.; Mason-Chagil, G.; Turner, S. L.; Presenters: Turner, S. L.; Mason-Chagil, G. (April 2019, Keeping Our Faculty VIII: Recruiting, Retaining, Advancing American Indian Faculty and Faculty of Color)

   Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education initiatives in higher education increasingly call for career mentorship opportunities for underrepresented minorities (URM). Researchers (Johnson & Sheppard, 2004; Nelson & Brammer, 2010) note the importance of having faculty to mentor and act as role models for students, often assuming that mentors play a stronger role if they are also from the same cultural background. Native American (NA) faculty members are underrepresented in most fields in colleges and universities, and exceedingly so in engineering. Only 0.2% (N=68) of engineering faculty nationwide identify as Native American (Yoder, 2014). Likewise, NA students are underrepresented in undergraduate (0.6%; N=1853) and graduate (0.1%; N=173) engineering programs. The low percentage in graduate school is of even greater concern as they represent the primary potential pool of new faculty members. Advising and mentorship from those who identify as NA are often considered important components recruiting and retention in STEM fields. For example, Smith and colleagues (2014) found that factors such as communal goal orientation influenced NA engineering students’ motivation and academic performance. However, very few studies account for differences in NA identity or provide a nuanced account of successful NA STEM professional experiences (Page-Reeves et al., 2018). This research paper presents findings from an exploratory study aimed at pinpointing the factors that influence NA entry and persistence in engineering faculty positions. 

   more » « less
3. Work in Progress on a Model to Improve the Preparation and Transition of Hispanic STEM Doctoral Students into Community College Faculty Positions - Lessons Learned

   Velez-Reyes, Miguel; Santiago, Ivonne; Garcia, Victor M.; Torres-Catanach, Irma Y.; Horton, Dawn M.; Mejia, Yajaira; Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Barba, Joseph; Aklog, Fenot; Moshary, Fred; et al (July 2021, 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access)

   This work in progress (WIP) paper shares experiences and lessons learned from the first three years in the development and implementation of a model to improve the preparation and transition of Hispanic STEM doctoral students into community college (CC) faculty positions by the Hispanic Alliance for the Graduate Education and the Professoriate (H-AGEP). This is a collaborative effort between the City College of New York (CCNY) and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in partnership with El Paso CC (EPCC), LaGuardia CC (LaCC), and Queensborough CC (QCC). The proposed model addresses the important need of recruiting more Hispanic faculty at CC who can serve as outstanding teachers, mentors and role models to students at CC. Over 50% of Hispanics start their college journey at a community college while less than 5% of faculty in higher education is from Hispanic backgrounds. Increasing the can increase the number of Hispanic who receive degrees from community college and who transfer to 4 year institutions to obtain degrees in STEM. Higher representation of faculty from Hispanic and other racial/ethnic groups on campus have a positive impact on underrepresented minority student’s success when measured in grades and course completions as well as retention and degree completion. The lessons learned came from a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis performed as part of a self-study conducted in December 2020. The study included H-AGEP fellows, CCNY and UTEP participant faculty, dissertation advisors, and CC faculty mentors. The lessons learned provide important feedback for program improvement as well as information to teams who may be interested in developing alliances and collaborations with similar goals. A key result of the assessment is the value that CC partners bring in supporting teaching training and in providing a positive perspective on careers at community college to the participating doctoral students. The paper presents a brief summary of the H-AGEP model. Then it summarizes the findings from the self-study and concludes with the lessons learned from the process. 

   more » « less
4. 2018 APLU INCLUDES Summit Report: Developing a diverse STEM professoriate through collective impact

   York, T. T. (November 2018, 2018 APLU INCLUDES Summit)

   The second INCLUDES Summit, held in Alexandria, VA, on April 24–25, 2018, again brought together institutional leaders and context and content experts from various institutions and organizations to participate in the INCLUDES initiative on broadening the participation of women and underrepresented minorities within STEM faculty and student bodies. This second summit, made up of researchers, administrators, and policymakers, focused on the exchange of campus program experiences, insights and successes from Diversity initiatives, strengthening cross-institutional relationships, and developing guiding principles and articulated speaking points to drive the case for diversity and inclusion in STEM faculty hiring and student recruitment. In sum, 83 registrants from over 50 institutions and 15 partner organizations were represented at the summit. This report details the lessons learned and future directions of the APLU INCLUDES project. 

   more » « less
5. Boosting Professional Participation in Computing Through Greater and Wider Conference Access

   Hug, Sarah; Morreale, Patricia; Gates, Ann Quiroz; Rivera, Brianna; Alvarez, Bianca; Thiry, Heather (July 2025, ACM Proceedings of the 2025 Conference on Research on Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT '25))

   In this paper, we describe efforts of an alliance to increase Pell-grant eligible and first-generation student access to active conference participation by systematically including considerations for student basic needs as well as developing professional science skills and knowledge that aligns with industry and graduate school pathways in computer science. We describe how an alliance creates the structure and flexibility for systematic care for student needs and local innovation to improve educational practice regarding conference participation. We describe our lessons learned for improving access to conferences as well as provide recommendations for increasing student access to professional conference benefits. 

   more » « less