Recipient Organization
TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
601 UNIVERSITY DRIVE
SAN MARCOS,TX 78666
Performing Department
Agricultural Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Mentorship and Promotion of Women and Minorities in Agriculture (MPOWA) encourages persistence of underrepresented students, with an emphasis on rural Latina and Black females, in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) degrees and careers within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) community.This project addresses two national education issues: 1) ethnic and gender disparities in STEM and 2) a deficit in the number of STEM graduates to fill requisite FANH positions. Latina and Black women are less likely to graduate with a B.S. STEM degree than White students. Women, in general, are less likely to have a STEM career than men although they graduate with a B.S. STEM degree. Further, the 2020-2025 USDA Employment Outlook projects a deficit in students graduating with Science & Engineering focused degrees within FANH.Our approach is to employ near-peer and traditional mentoring, complemented by professional development, with underrepresented high school students to develop their science identity and career intention. Science identity is the personal feeling that one is a scientist and that others view one as a scientist. Lacking science identity is pronounced in underrepresented students (i.e., ethnic minorities, females) and is linked to dropping out of STEM. Over three years, we recruit 20 Latina or Black female high school students and place them in one-semester near-peer mentoring relationships with undergraduates from similar backgrounds. Undergraduate mentors provide high school mentees support through biweekly meetings. Traditional mentorship is also provided through faculty-high school student meetings and STEM professionals giving monthly seminars to students in the project.We collect data on changes in attitude, behavior, and action in high school students and undergraduates with a specific emphasis on science identity. We also employ an Evaluation Plan to develop this project into a model that could be adopted by others. Through data collection and dissemination, we aim to transform STEM education within FANH and diversify the STEM community, thus addressing our above identified national education issues.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal is to increase diversity in the STEM workforce within FANH and deliver equity in STEM degree and career pursuit for all people. To achieve this goal, we have developed the following objectives:1) 90% of students involved in the project will improve their science identity and/or gain marketable skills2) 90% of students involved in the project will improve their science career intentions3) 100% of faculty involved in the project will improve their understanding of DEI mentoring and supporting underrepresented students in STEM within FANH4) Three other academic units (e.g., departments or schools in higher education institutions) will be educated on the value of the project model
Project Methods
The project is advertised to prospective high school students. Eligible students who apply are invited to a virtual interview with the PI team. Applications are scored by the PI team using a rubric. High school students are invited to participate in the project in February and September of every semester from spring 2023 to spring 2025. Activities then commence as described below. Undergraduate students will be intentionally invited to the project. Applications will not be solicited as the undergraduates we invite will be determined by the background (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, and values/beliefs) of our high school students. Once high school students are enrolled in the project (n=4/semester; n=20 total), they participate in two "getting to know you" sessions with the PI team during the first two weeks. The PIs consult each other and place the undergraduate with a tentative graduate student mentor (n=4/semester; n=20 total) who has a similar background and area of academic interest. Undergraduate mentors are not placed with more than one undergraduate mentee to ensure they are not over-committed and can provide intentional mentorship. High school students and undergraduates are formally introduced by PIs and participate in two "getting to know you" sessions over the following two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, the PI team consults with each student to ensure the pair is "a fit" and believes they can have a harmonious working relationship. If so, the mentor and mentee develop and sign a contract clarifying their behavior expectations to establish a deep social bond. If not, the matching process begins again. Near-peer pairs meet every other week. Meetings are semi-structured, could be remote or in-person, and include "prompts" from the PI team (e.g., normalizing struggles associated with college, introducing research and scientific inquiry concepts, discussing relevant agricultural topics) and a report, to be completed by both the mentor and mentee and turned into the PI team. To cultivate ongoing psychosocial support, the PI team encourages near-peer pairs to meet in-person at least monthly, including a visit to TXST. The formal near-peer mentoring program spans the entire semester. Traditional mentoring is provided by monthly faculty-high school student meetings with at least one member of the PI team. Meetings are not structured. At the end of the semester, we will invite all students to attend a field trip to a ranch managed by the university. Virtual seminars are given by professionals in a leadership or advanced role in a STEM career (n=4/semester, n=20 total). STEM professionals are members of the female, Latinx, and/or Black communities. We will administer a quantitative survey instrument through Qualtrics to understand development of science identity in underrepresented high school and undergraduate students. The survey will be administered as a pre-test, at the onset of the student's participation in the project, and a complementary post-test, administered at the culmination of participation. Prior to survey administration, IRB approval will be received and we will establish construct, face, and content validity. The survey will contain three constructs: science personal identity, science social identity, and science career identity as guided by the science identity and belonging theoretical framework. We will also conduct semi-structured interviews with all students following their completion of the project. Students will be interviewed for ~20 mins. The interviewer, our External Evaluator, will remain flexible in their questioning, probing students and clarifying answers for more detail or discussing other relevant topics. Each interview will be transcribed and coded using an iterative, hybrid emic and etic thematic coding procedure.