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Group of hispanic students during graduation.
Conversations at Consejos Colectivos: Improving STEM Success at HSIs will help inform the National Science Foundation’s new Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program as it finds ways to bolster the quality of undergraduate STEM education. | Image: Texas A&M Engineering

The National Science Foundation (NSF) issued one of the first awards through its new Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program to the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). With the grant TEES, in partnership with seven institutions of higher learning, will host Consejos Colectivos: Improving STEM Success at HSIs—a regional conference for stakeholders in undergraduate Hispanic STEM education—at El Centro College in Dallas Feb. 27-28.

“This conference will identify challenges and opportunities for improving STEM education at HSIs. Specifically, we will explore opportunities to improve STEM education for Latinx students, to build capacity and increase Latinx student participation in research, and to create effective institutional change addressing barriers to Latinx student success in STEM,” said Dr. William Kitch, principal investigator for the grant and professor and chair of the David L. Hirschfeld Department of Engineering at Angelo State University.

Conversations at Consejos Colectivos: Improving STEM Success at HSIs will also help inform the NSF’s new HSI Program as it finds ways to bolster the quality of undergraduate STEM education.

“For over 100 years, TEES has served the citizens of Texas through engineering and technology-oriented research and educational collaborations. For the Consejos Colectivos conference, TEES is collaborating with seven educational institutions from across Texas to discover solutions for big-picture concerns while opening doors to new opportunities,” said Cindy Lawley, assistant agency director for workforce development at TEES. “The conference’s impact will extend well beyond the two-day event in Dallas as those who attend urge their institutions to respond to the challenges identified. We hope participants seek out new collaborations and work together to implement changes that will improve Latinx STEM student recruitment, retention and advancement in the STEM workforce pipeline.”

Registration for Consejos Colectivos: Improving STEM Success at HSIs is now open. Conference organizers are also accepting travel grant applications and poster presentation proposals. 

Conference organizers include TEES and five TEES regional division members—Angelo State University, Del Mar College, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas Woman’s University and West Texas A&M University—as well as Texas Tech University and El Centro College.

This conference is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1764268