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1. Barriers and Facilitators to Obtaining External Funding at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

   Escobar, Martha ; Qazi, Mohammed ; Majewski, Haylee ; Jeelani, Shaik ( August 2023 , Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research)

   Raju, P K ; Banu, E (Ed.)

   Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were established to further the education of Black Americans and have a long history of service to minority, first-generation, and low-income students. HBCUs are also struggling financially, due to federal and state underinvestment, small endowments, low alumni giving, and decreasing enrollment. Financial constraints not only have a direct impact on physical facilities and resources, but also on human resources. Faculty at HBCUs are tasked with heavy teaching loads and, in research-focused institutions, high research expectations, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, HBCUs can provide only limited support for these research endeavors; thus, faculty at these institutions need to pursue external grants and contracts to support their research. In the present study, we surveyed faculty at five research-focused HBCUs to determine the major difficulties they encounter when applying for external funding (barriers) and the things their institution could do to facilitate this process (facilitators). Time constraints and difficulties with internal functioning and policies emerged as the most relevant barriers, whereas providing training and mentoring and improving internal functioning and policies emerged as the most relevant facilitators. The PATHs program is proposed as a model of faculty support anchored around mentoring and institutional awareness, and which could be adapted to different institutions to increase their faculty’s success in attaining external funding. 

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2. Identifying Predictors of HBCU Success in Broadening Participation in STEM: A Case Study Approach

   Jaeger, E. ; McKayle, C. ; Engerman, K. ; Boncana, M. ; Joseph, C. ; Askew, K. ( July 2021 , The journal of Negro education)

   Taylor, O. ; Campone, F. ; Retland, N. (Ed.)

   Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are noted for their success in broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). A multiple case study approach was used to identify institutional and leadership characteristics that may drive the success of small HBCUs in broadening participation in STEM. Data on 15 HBCUs were obtained from websites, including institutional websites, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Factors common to many institutions included external STEM education funding, STEM-/research-focused missions, commitment of leaders to STEM education, partnerships to support STEM education, STEM faculty professional development, and STEM student support strategies. These characteristics also predicted the percentage of STEM graduates. Implications for future research include illuminating the pathways by which institutional and leadership factors influence student outcomes. 

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3. Same soup, different bowl: Understanding the mentoring attitudes of STEM doctoral faculty at HBCUs

   Merriweather, Lisa ; Douglas, Niesha ; Howell, Cathy ; Sanczyk, Anna ( August 2022 , ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   ackground: Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) have for decades played a pivotal role in producing Black scientists. Research found that HBCUs, despite being under funded and resourced, were responsible for over 10% of Black scientists with doctorates. Even though most earn their doctorates at Historically White Institutions (HWIS), understanding the experience of Black STEM doctoral students at HBCUs is of paramount importance to impacting opportunity for success for underrepresented population groups. HBCUs are recognized for approaches to learning and learning environments that are more relational, encouraging peer to peer and student to faculty relationships, particularly in the form of same-race and same sex mentorships, resulting in less negative racialized gendered experiences and less competitive atmospheres. In spite of what appears to be accepted truths, such as HBCUs offering more culturally affirming experiences, some researchers suggests that little empirical research exists on the quality of support structures available for graduate students at HBCUS in STEM academic fields, particularly mentoring. Increased understanding would provide essential framing necessary for developing more effective mentors at HBCUs, especially given that there are limited numbers of Black faculty in STEM, even at HBCUs. Theoretical Framework: Anti-racism and critical capital theory are employed as theoretical frameworks. Both are well suited for questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about the lived experiences of racialized others and for deconstructing systemic issues influencing common faculty practices. These frameworks highlight the contextual experiences of STEM doctoral learning. Research Design: The researchers were interested in understanding how STEM doctoral faculty at HBCUs perceive their role as mentors. An NSF AGEP sponsored social science research project explored the dispositions, skills, and knowledge of eight STEM faculty at a HBCU. Attitudes towards culturally liberative mentoring were explored through a qualitative case study. The participating faculty were involved in an institutional change program and were interviewed for an average of 60 minutes. Constant comparative data analysis method was used. Additionally, STEM faculty from participating departments completed two mentoring competency and attitude inventories. This case was drawn from a larger multiple embedded case study. Research Findings: The research findings indicate that STEM doctoral faculty mentors at HBCUs express attitudes about mentoring that are not all that different from their PWIS counterparts. They have a tendency to hold deficit views of domestic Black students and have minimal awareness of how culture inhibits or facilitates a positive learning experience for Black students. Further the culture of science tended to blind them from the culture of people. Research Implications: In order to enhance the learning experiences of Black STEM doctoral students at HBCUs, the Black student experience at HBCUs must be deromanticized. Understanding the impact of anti-Black racism even within an environment historically and predominantly Black is imperative. Recognizing the ways in which anti-Black attitudes are insidiously present in faculty attitudes and practices and in environments perceived as friendly and supportive for Black students highlights opportunities for STEM faculty development that can move toward a more culturally liberative framework. 

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4. Negotiating mentoring relationships and support for Black and Brown early‐career faculty

   https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21755  

   King, Natalie S. ; Upadhyay, Bhaskar ( September 2022 , Science Education)

   In this essay, we share historical and structural components of mentoring within institutions of higher education and grapple with technical and moral obligations of support. We argue for more humanizing approaches that embed personal, social, and cultural aspects of mentoring, and seek to disrupt the purposes of mentoring, and for whom? Using a critical approach, we promote justice-oriented and equity-driven models of mentoring that account for excessive teaching loads and service commitments for faculty at minority-serving institutions and Black and Brown faculty at predominantly White institutions. Current promotion and tenure publish or perish models neglect the intellectual and scholarly contributions made through teaching and service and therefore hold the same level of expectations for engagement in and dissemination of research. We share our own stories as Faculty of Color navigating institutional structures during the promotion and tenure process, while also negotiating incongruent cultures of our personal and professional lives. Furthermore, we address the need for mentoring and networking within exclusionary spaces to support the productivity and critical research agendas of Black and Brown faculty that often challenge the white heteronormative cultures of our institutions, professional organizations, peer-reviewed journals, and prestigious funding mechanisms. Implications of this essay include an acknowledgment of oppressive systems that early-career Black and Brown faculty often navigate and a call for diverse mentoring programs and supports that conform with and validate our lives and needs. Furthermore, we provide recommendations on evidence-based resources and approaches that are available to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics faculty and science educators. 

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5. Diversifying the genomic data science research community

   https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.276496.121  

   The Genomic Data Science Community Network ( July 2022 , Genome Research)

   Over the past 20 years, the explosion of genomic data collection and the cloud computing revolution have made computational and data science research accessible to anyone with a web browser and an internet connection. However, students at institutions with limited resources have received relatively little exposure to curricula or professional development opportunities that lead to careers in genomic data science. To broaden participation in genomics research, the scientific community needs to support these programs in local education and research at underserved institutions (UIs). These include community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges and universities that support ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically underrepresented students in the United States. We have formed the Genomic Data Science Community Network to support students, faculty, and their networks to identify opportunities and broaden access to genomic data science. These opportunities include expanding access to infrastructure and data, providing UI faculty development opportunities, strengthening collaborations among faculty, recognizing UI teaching and research excellence, fostering student awareness, developing modular and open-source resources, expanding course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), building curriculum, supporting student professional development and research, and removing financial barriers through funding programs and collaborator support. 

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