New Mexico State University’s HSI STEM Resource Hub organized a culminating conference in Albuquerque titled “Adelante! Building Capacity for STEM Student Success at Hispanic Serving Institutions.” Participants from NMSU and partner institutions Doña Ana Community College and California State University-Northridge gathered together in the spring for the conference to highlight the last five years of achievements. (Courtesy photo)
Source: NMSU News Release
May 31, 2024
WRITER: Minerva Baumann, 575-646-7566, mbauma46@nmsu.edu
In 2018, New Mexico State University was among the first to receive a research award under the National Science Foundation’s Hispanic Serving Institutions Program. The five-year, $2.6 million grant funded a first-if-its-kind HSI STEM Resource Hub at NMSU, in collaboration with Doña Ana Community College and California State University-Northridge.
“Student success requires a strong support system and faculty are first line supporters who hold great responsibility for student well-being and degree completion,” said Elba Serrano, NMSU Regents professor of biology, the principal investigator for the NMSU arm of the project, which over the last five years has created a network to share best practices among 450 Hispanic-serving institutions to build capacity for STEM education.
In March, NMSU’s HSI STEM Resource Hub organized a culminating conference in Albuquerque titled “Adelante! Building Capacity for STEM Student Success at Hispanic Serving Institutions.” The conference celebrated achievements of HSIs and HSI STEM educators across the nation and provided a platform for collaborative engagement, fostering a collective vision for the future of the HSI community.
“It was inspirational to see so many colleagues from HSIs across the country passionate about their programs and the success of students at their institutions,” said Martha Desmond, NMSU Regents professor of fish, wildlife and conservation ecology and a co-principal investigator of the HSI STEM Hub. “The conference was uplifting and for me verified that the work the Hub is doing is needed and valued.”
Annual evaluation over the last five years tracked steady growth of NMSU’s HSI STEM Resource Hub, provided recommendations for improvements, and confirmed more than 3000 faculty and staff from 40 states and Puerto Rico have attended and benefited from Hub events that build institutional capacity in support of STEM students. Hub participants collectively have taught and/or mentored more than 1 million students. In addition, the Hub supported STEM education grantsmanship success by faculty and staff at community colleges, four-year, master’s degree and Ph.D.-granting institutions.
“Most importantly, we established a national community that united faculty and staff from HSIs in support of a shared mission to increase STEM student degree completion and career pathways,” said Serrano. “We also presented our work at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and other national conferences.”
The 2020 pandemic raised the value of online resources for educators and social media and HSI website efforts grew the Hub’s presence by 2021, keeping the HSI community up to date as members worked on their own STEM grants.
Participants at the conference had the opportunity to showcase their research, delve into the impacts of NSF funded awards and share their experiences leading transformative programs. The conference facilitated networking, enabling attendees to establish new collaborations, address the latest HSI developments and cultivate fellowship within their professional community.
“I was inspired and humbled by the stories and passion of the committed faculty and staff in attendance who work on behalf of HSI STEM students in classrooms, as research advisors and as program leaders,” said Serrano. “We shared our successes and struggles working to advance change within STEM fields, dismantling outdated teaching methods, and fostering enhanced opportunities for our students to thrive while staying true to themselves. We will continue to do so, made stronger by the insights gained and the new partnerships formed during this event.”
During the grant period, the NMSU Hub offered webinars, workshops, virtual cafecito networking meetups and open access (webpage) resources to help faculty members across the U.S. learn more about grant writing, inclusive practices in the classroom and evidence-based teaching. In general, these efforts assisted faculty and staff to explore new and innovative information around STEM education and research.
“The success of this conference was possible due to the combined efforts of an amazing team in addition to the co-principal investigators (Jon Juarez, Dona Ana Community College Regents professor and head of computer technology; Martha Desmond, NMSU Regents professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Mónica Torres, interim NMSU President; and Gabriela Morales NMSU Assistant Professor in Communication Studies), Hub staff and graduate assistants, NMSU Creative Media Institute collaborators and our partner team at California State University-Northridge,” Serrano said.
NMSU’s NSF grant will end in August 2024 and is not eligible for renewal. The team is now in the process of a large-scale evaluation of the last five years that will capture the cumulative outcomes, which will be published. The group is working on ways to continue some of the activities that have been established through the Hub.
