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1. Work in Progress: Evaluating Teaching Self-Advocacy to Historically Minoritized Graduate Students in STEM

   Carmen M. Lilley Gregory Larnell (June 2023, 2023 Association for Engineering Education National Conference)

   Many historically minoritized graduate students, here defined as Women, Latinx and Black/African American students, in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) experience unwelcome or even hostile ecosystems or environments. Many of the social expectations are that historically minoritized graduate students in STEM should assimilate or acclimate to the cultural, where assimilation/acclimation are defined as cultural conformation vs. social acceptance of a student authentic self/identity. They may also experience forms of continuous microaggressions and isolation. The effects of chronic external stressors, such as experiencing discrimination and social isolation, on increased mental health disorders and decreased physiological health is well known [1-3]. Yet, evidence-based practices of support systems specifically for graduate students from historically marginalized communities to reduce the effects of climates of intimidation are not common. Indeed, researchers have found that such students “would benefit if colleges and universities attempted to deconstruct climates of intimidation [4]” and it has also been shown that teaching underrepresented minority students empowerment skills can improve academic success [5]. Self-advocacy originates from the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the Learning Disabilities (LD) communities for effective counseling that promotes academic success and is based on a social justice framework [6]. The underlying principle of self-advocacy is that supporting skills and knowledge development in the three areas of self-advocacy leads to a student’s long term participation and ultimately academic success in areas such as post-secondary education and STEM. The pillars of the self-advocacy program are centered on (i) Empowerment, (ii) Promoting self-awareness and (iii) Social Justice and programming in the GRaduate Education for Academically Talented Students (GREATS) is aligned and repeated along these three pillars. The current professional development program is in its third year of implementation and to date twenty-seven students have participated in the program. This work in progress paper outlines the evaluation of a self-advocacy program for historically marginalized graduate students in STEM at the University of Illinois Chicago is a minority serving institution as both an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). [1] S. Stansfeld and B. Candy, "Psychosocial work environment and mental health--a meta-analytic review," ed, 2006. [2] E. M. Smith, "Ethnic minorities: Life stress, social support, and mental health issues," The Counseling Psychologist, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 537-579, 1985. [3] D. M. Frost, K. Lehavot, and I. H. Meyer, "Minority stress and physical health among sexual minority individuals," Journal of behavioral medicine, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2015. [4] R. T. Palmer, D. C. Maramba, and T. E. Dancy, "A Qualitative Investigation of Factors Promoting the Retention and Persistence of Students of Color in STEM," The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 80, no. 4, pp. 491-504, 2011. [Online]. Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41341155. [5] A. R. Dowden, "Implementing Self-Advocacy Training Within a Brief Psychoeducational Group to Improve the Academic Motivation of Black Adolescents," The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 118-136, 2009/04/28 2009, doi: 10.1080/01933920902791937. 

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2. Work in Progress: Self-Advocacy as a Framework for Supporting Academic Success of Minoritized Graduate Students

   Lilley, Carmen Larnell (June 2022, ASEE 2022 Annual Conference)

   This work in progress paper outlines the initial evaluation results for a professional development program that is focused on strengthening self-advocacy among historically minoritized graduate students in science, engineering, technology and math (STEM). The program’s framework for self-advocacy is adapted from existing frameworks developed by the American Counseling Association and the Learning Disabilities communities to educate students on skills that support academic success. The American Counseling Association (ACA) published the Advocacy Competencies between the three areas of client/student, school/community, and public arena advocacy as part of their guidelines for effective counseling of minoritized students (Lewis, Arnold et al. 2002, Toporek and Daniels 2018) and is based on a social justice framework (Ratts and Hutchins 2009). The three skills with self-advocacy are: empowerment or a sense of agency (having control over decisions and life events), strong self-awareness (knowing what is right for oneself and setting goals based on this criteria), and social justice (knowing how to identify and challenge negative social climates and systems of oppression) (Test, Fowler et al. 2010). Within the different forms of practicing and teaching advocacy, working with students by teaching them the skills within a counselor and student or mentor and student group structure was found to help minoritized students reach academic success (Dowden 2009, Ratts and Hutchins 2009, Roberts, Ju et al. 2016). 

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3. Exploring Servingness for Low-Income Academically Talented Students (LIATS) Through Individual Development Plans (IDPs)

   https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE58773.2023.10343399  

   del_Puerto, Carla López; Jimenez, Manuel; Santiago, Nayda G; Quintero, Pedro; Bartolomei-Suárez, Sonia; Guillemard, Luisa; Suárez, Oscar Marcelo; Cardona-Martínez, Nelson; Santiago-Román, Aidsa (October 2023, IEEE)

   This paper analyzes, from a servingness perspective, the experiences of students in a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) implementing personalized mentoring strategies as part of an NSF-funded, S-STEM program. The program objective was to increase the retention and success of low-income academically talented students. We discuss the results of using Individual Development Plans (IDP) to help students establish post-graduation goals and action plans to reach them. The IDPs also maintained a flexible structure that allowed students for morphing both their plans and envisioned outcomes, as they progressed in their chosen academic programs. Student outcome expectations were assessed at three stages of their development: in their first year, as juniors in what can be considered a mid-point of their development, and during their fourth year of program participation. 

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4. Racially-Affirming Community in Instructional Servingness for Latin* Students’ Gateway Mathematics Classroom Participation

   https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251367037  

   Leyva, Luis_A; Mitchell, Nicollette_D; Posada-Castañeda, Rocío; Byrne, Martha_H; Luna-Bazán, Ronimar; Ashkenazy, Yamit; Abreu-Ramos, Enrique (September 2025, AERA Open)

   Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) advance servingness (i.e., racially-affirming support for Latin* students through campus programs and services) to promote academic success. However, the role of mathematics instruction in servingness is underexamined. Given how gateway mathematics courses filter out racial diversity in STEM majors, insights about Latin* students’ experiences of instruction in these courses can enhance servingness. This study analyzed 27 undergraduate Latin* students’ experiences of servingness through classroom participation in gateway mathematics courses at an HSI. We focused on classroom participation due to its well-documented influence on Latin* students’ mathematics identities and STEM persistence. Latin* students largely reported supportive instruction that reduced risks of participation. However, cultivating a racially-affirming community (a key aspect of servingness on the broader HSI campus) was also necessary to disrupt racialized influences and ensure Latin* students’ equitable access to participation. We conclude with implications for research and practice to advance servingness through STEM education across HSIs. 

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5. Voices of experience: Enhancing learning on resilient infrastructure and sustainability through servingness

   Leoncio-Cabán R., Sotomayor R. (June 2022, American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference,)

   In Puerto Rico, the exposure to extreme environmental conditions has become part of a new normal. Because of this, the education of professionals to face this new reality is part of the demands of the academia of the present, and to the core of it the concept of servingness as a tool contribute to the formation of students’ and faculty sensibility to social dynamics connected to the educational experiences. The Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainability Education – Undergraduate Program (RISE-UP), funded by the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been conceptualized including elements of servingness by addressing aspects connected to the learning experience, leadership identity, critical consciousness, academic and research aspirations, and civic engagement all in the context of Puerto Rico’s current infrastructural needs. This paper addresses those dynamics by means of the voice of RISE-UP participants, accounting for how the experience generated by the crossroads that the program creates between the professional interdisciplinarity, the approach to infrastructure’s sustainability, and the concept of resiliency, have impacted the experience of servingness for students in the program. 

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