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1. 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. 

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2. Centering Hispanic-Serving Institutions' strategies to advance computer science attainment

   https://doi.org/doi/full/10.1080/25729861.2020.1842582  

   Núñez, A.-M. (January 2021, Tapuya)

   Rodriguez Medina, L. (Ed.)

   Hispanics have become the largest ethnic minority in the US Better serving Hispanics to succeed in tertiary education and scientific fields like computing is critical to build equitable life opportunities and strengthen the US workforce. Typically, the most selective postsecondary institutions are emphasized as exemplary models for developing human capital in the US. Yet, due to the nation’s tertiary education institutional stratification, relatively low numbers of Hispanics are enrolled in these institutions. We examine how Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), federally designated institutions in the US that enroll at least 25% Hispanics, develop strategies to raise Hispanic attainment in computing fields. Specifically, we explore the activities of HSIs in the Computing Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), a network of over 60 HSIs and other stakeholders that are committed to raising Hispanic attainment in postsecondary computing. We address the question: How do HSIs in CAHSI employ strategies to develop talent in computing among Hispanics? Specifically, we examine how CAHSI institutions apply values that are grounded in Hispanic communities, including emphases on confianza, respeto, and familia, to support Hispanic students in computer science. Our findings indicate the importance of centering Hispanic cultural assets to improve Hispanic success in computing. 

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3. Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the South-Central United States: A Research Report for Los Barrios de Amarillo

   Preuss, M. D. (January 2019, West Texas Office of Evaluation and Research)

   Nearly two-thirds of the Hispanic/Latinx college students in the United States attend Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI). Yet, very little research has been conducted regarding these colleges and universities. To address this concern, a sequential, exploratory investigation was conducted with funding from the National Science Foundation (award 1764268). Material from the literature and qualitative data gathered in focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to create surveys that were administered to employees and students at HSIs in a seven-state region of the south-central United States. This research report presents findings from the survey of faculty, staff, and administrators completed as part of the investigative process in the late spring of 2018. The survey was distributed to 119 Hispanic-Serving Institutions. A total of 494 persons from Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas accessed the survey. There were 403 complete response sets representing as many as 60 of the HSIs. Results are presented in a wide variety of topic areas as there were 68 questions on the survey, many of which were multi-part queries. Major content areas are as follows: (1) an overview regarding Hispanics in the United States and in higher education, (2) discussion of the importance of HSIs to and Hispanic/Latinx students in higher education, (3) commentaries regarding key topic areas in the report, (4) institutional characteristics of the HSIs in the sample (e.g., staffing, facilities, key program offerings), (5) perceptions the faculty, staff, and administrators had of Hispanic/Latinx cultural values and Hispanic students, (6) academic, student support, and career placement systems present to aid students, (7) STEM outreach offerings, (8) patterns of intra- and inter-institutional collaboration, (9) perceived limitations for HSIs, (10) practices relevant to evaluation of institutional processes and programming, and (11) grant-seeking activity. Appendices include information about the conference at which the research was initiated, a detailed description of the research methodology, the focus group and interview question sets, the full survey, and detailed data tables listing the results of statistical analyses completed. Conclusions are stated for the six topic areas in which the most information was gathered. These are the characteristics and qualifications of the employees at the HSIs, differences found between community colleges and four-year institutions, employees' understanding of Hispanic/Latinx cultural values and students and, in particular, differences in this area found along ethnic lines, the levels of support programming offered specific to Hispanic students, patterns of intra- and inter-institutional collaboration noted, and staffing, practices, and programming related to grants. 

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4. Competence of Faculty, Staff, and Administrators in Hispanic Culture: Evidence from Three Surveys of Personnel and Students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

   Preuss, M. (December 2019, International Journal of Research in Education and Science)

   Noroozi, O (Ed.)

   Survey data were gathered from college and university faculty, staff, and administrators at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) regarding Hispanic culture and Hispanic students as part of an NSF-funded investigation that focused on the characteristics and programming of HSIs as well as the background and experiences of their students. Two surveys of students were also conducted. A minimum of 44 HSIs in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado were represented in the 393 usable responses gathered from faculty, staff, and administrators. Fourteen HSIs in New Mexico and Texas were represented in student survey data gathered in 2018 and three in north Texas in a survey completed in 2019. Responses from 213 Hispanic students were isolated from the 2018 student survey and 307 from the 2019 data. This material was used to verify and expand on the findings from the survey of faculty, staff, and administrators. A consistent and strong difference of opinion was found between Hispanic faculty, staff, and administrators at the HSIs and their non-Hispanic peers regarding information available to higher education professionals about Hispanic culture, the elements of Hispanic culture, and the characteristics and background of Hispanic students. Survey responses of Hispanic students confirmed, at many points, that the perspective of the Hispanic faculty, staff, and administrators was accurate. It appears, based on this information, that the non-Hispanic employees at the HSIs were less well informed about Hispanic culture and a major portion of their student population than would be desirable. The findings, while from the south-central United States, can inform multiple academic and support services at Hispanic-Serving Institutions and other colleges and universities as they include information about how Hispanic culture is understood by Hispanics, detail gaps in competence regarding Hispanic culture among faculty, staff, and administrators at HSIs, and describe characteristics and the cultural orientation of Hispanic students attending the HSIs in the sample. 

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5. Attending to STEM education in servingness at Hispanic-serving institutions: a systematic review of more than a decade of scholarship

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-024-00489-0  

   Ro, Hyun_Kyoung; Aguilar-Smith, Stephanie; Anderson, Shirley_Yang; Rodriguez, Tricia; Ramon, Elizabeth_J; Javier, Damaris (July 2024, International Journal of STEM Education)

   Abstract Background, context, and purpose of the studyEnrolling over 60% of all Latinx undergraduate students, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are poised to play a critical role in diversifying and strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and the STEM workforce. However, how HSIs serve STEM students is not well understood. Accordingly, guided by Garcia et al. (Review of Educational Research 89:5–745, 2019) multidimensional servingness framework, we conducted a systematic review of the research on STEM education within the HSI context. By attending to STEM education in conversations around how HSIs may serve Latinx students and their campus communities, our ultimate aim is to improve STEM education particularly at HSIs and advance STEM servingness more broadly. Results, main findingsThrough our systematic review of STEM education research at HSIs, we identified (under)studied components of servingness and gaps within this literature base. Specifically, among the 128 qualifying articles, nearly two-thirds focused on student outcomes but overlooked institutions’ organizational context, raising questions about the effect(iveness) of the studied interventions. Additionally, we identified three thematic gaps in this literature: ghosting the HSI context (i.e., relying on HSIs as research sites without considering the unique HSI context); ghosting Latinx culture (i.e., decentering Latinx students and the Latinx community’s sociocultural aspects and assets), and ghosting people and places (i.e., under-examining certain student populations like Latino men in STEM and places like Hispanic-serving community colleges). Ultimately, our study extends the field’s understanding of servingness by attending to STEM education within the context of HSI institutions. Conclusions, brief summary, and potential implicationsBy systematically reviewing studies on STEM education at HSIs, we identified (under)studied components of servingness and patterned gaps within this literature. In doing so, we highlight opportunities to advance STEM servingness at HSIs through future research, policy, and practice. Collectively, these avenues hold the promise of improving STEM education and diversifying the STEM workforce. 

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