More Like this

1. Sustaining Student Engagement and Equity in Computing Departments During the COVID-19 Pandemic

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3408877.3432381  

   Thiry, Heather; Hug, Sarah T. (March 2021, SIGCSE '21: Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education)

   In spring of 2020, almost all campuses across the United States abruptly closed and shifted to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students and faculty rapidly adjusted how they engaged in learning in a time of great social and economic upheaval. In this paper, we use the lens of equity-oriented student engagement to examine how computing departments facilitated student participation in educationally engaging activities during the campus closures. The National Science Foundation-funded INCLUDES Alliance, the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), is a network of computing departments dedicated to increasing the representation of Hispanics in computing education and careers. We present results from a survey administered in spring 2020 to over 900 CAHSI students in 14 computing departments at Hispanic-Serving Institutions and interviews with 30 faculty, department chairs, and leaders. Though students reported increased financial and mental health struggles, they reflected on the myriad ways that faculty and peers supported their learning and sustained their engagement in coursework and co-curricular opportunities. In response to the pandemic, faculty and student leaders structured supports, such as peer-led team learning sessions and student clubs, to operate effectively in remote environments to promote student engagement. 

   more » « less
2. WIP: Embracing Challenges for Transformative Change in Research Capacity at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE61694.2024.10893491  

   Gates, Ann Q; Hall, Elizabeth F; Moghadam, Sepi Hejazi (October 2024, IEEE)

   This work-in-progress innovative practice paper describes an approach and presents preliminary results of an effort by the NSF-funded Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) to build research capacity of faculty at HSIs and students from underserved populations. A key factor in our nation's ability to innovate solutions to grand challenges and compete in a technology-enhanced world that rapidly changes is the involvement of individuals with different perspectives, experiences, and disciplinary knowledge. Diversifying representation in research cannot be achieved without involvement of HSIs, which enroll significant numbers of minoritized students in U.S. higher education. This paper describes a CAHSI-Google Institutional Research Program (IRP) that builds research capacity through partnerships between computing doctoral-granting CAHSI institutions and computing non-doctoral granting CAHSI institutions. This paper describes the IRP and its well-defined process to support faculty as they develop and refine research ideas and submit competitive proposals for funding through the IRP that includes a collaboration plan outlining coordination mechanisms and student professional development efforts. 

   more » « less
3. Using DEA to Identify Hispanic Serving Institutions for Best Practices in Increasing STEM Degrees Awarded to Hispanics

   Lopez, O S (September 2024, Springer Nature Switzerland AG)

   Emrouznejad, A; Thanassoulis, E; Toloo, M (Ed.)

   Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, this article showcases the findings of a two-year study using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) at the National Center for Education Statistics, to effectively measure the efficiency of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) graduating Hispanics with STEM degrees. The guiding research question was: On what input measures do we select efficient HSIs to serve other HSI institutions as possible benchmarks for program improvement in graduating Hispanics with STEM degrees? An outcome of this work is a framework for investigating and organizing best practices at HSIs for increasing Hispanics earning STEM degrees. The project notably advances knowledge within the field of HSI research. Of the HSI studies published between 1978 and 2021, none used DEA and therefore, the proposed project has the potential to sprout a new branch of HSI research. The proposed project also has the potential to broadly impact desired American societal outcomes. Scientific literacy is one of the benefits from earning a STEM degree. Increasing Hispanics graduating with STEM degrees will here too, result in more voices that can purposefully engage in informed public discourse on science and technology policy, and especially on issues relevant to the Hispanic community. 

   more » « less
4. HSI Students' Experience with "Servingness" During COVID-19

   Hug, S.; Jurow, A.; Thiry, H. (January 2021, Dialogues in social justice)

   In March of 2020, higher education institutions across the U.S. closed their doors and converted to remote and online learning due to the COVID-19 health crisis. As the country adjusted to the “new normal” of living and working at home, the economic and psychological impact of self-isolation and business closures were felt strongly by those who were most economically and socially vulnerable. In this context, the evaluation team of the Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) implemented a survey of students studying computer science at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) across the country to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. In this paper, we identify the contexts in which students at HSIs continued (or failed to continue) their academic pursuits under great hardship. Our analysis highlights how the multidimensional framework of “servingness,” defined as a critical organizational, interactional, and ideological approach that many HSIs use to support their students, was experienced by students during the pandemic (Garcia et al., 2019). We argue that the practices and structures of servingness contributed to sustaining students’ well-being, dignity, and learning amid uncertainty. 

   more » « less
5. Expanding Pathways for Hispanic Students to Enter and Succeed in Computing Graduate Studies

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343367  

   Rivera, Jessica; Gates, Ann Q; Villa, Elsa; Morreale, Patricia (October 2023, 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE))

   Involving diverse individuals who bring different perspectives, experiences, and disciplinary knowledge in solving problems is critical to our nation's ability to innovate and compete in a global economy. Unfortunately, the trends in the number of graduates with advanced degrees, particularly ethnically and racially diverse citizens and permanent residents, are insufficient to meet current and future national needs. This is exacerbated in computing, which is one of the least diverse fields. Despite the growth in numbers of Hispanics nationally and their representation in undergraduate studies, the number of Hispanic citizens and permanent residents who enter and complete graduate computing studies is disturbingly low. Studies report that Hispanic graduate students across all fields of study feel isolated and alienated, face a lack of support, experience low expectations from faculty, and a negative racial/ethnic climate. Students often encounter a STEM culture centered on competition and selectivity, and this must be addressed to increase pathways to the doctorate to support our nation's economic and national security goals. This paper describes a collective effort of institutions with high enrollments of Hispanic students that have built partnerships among non-doctoral-granting and doctoral-granting institutions to increase the representation of Hispanics in graduate studies. Led by NSF's Eddie Bernice Johnson Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), the collective employs evidence-based practices grounded in the Hispanic-servingness literature to address the root causes. 

   more » « less