Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Enriching Learning, Programs, and Student Experiences

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H ispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) are a n important component of the nation’s higher education ecosystem and play a critical role in realizing the National Science Board ’s vision for a more diverse and capable science and engineering workforce 1,2 . Aligned with this vision and the NSF Strategic Plan 3 , t he goals of the NSF HSI Program are to: Enhance the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at HSIs . Increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM at HSIs . Meeting these goals require s institutions to understand and embrace their student s’ strengths, challenges , and lived experiences . While this can happen in many ways and across many parts of an institution, the Hispanic Serving Institutions: Enriching Learning, Programs, and Student Experiences (HSI:ELPSE) solicitation is specifically focused on studying and improving the student experience in the following settings : STEM course s , particularly for students pursuing STEM degrees; C ertificate, minor, and/ or degree programs ; Academic departments or divisions ; and S chools and colleges that represent a part of the entire institution (e.g., a S chool of E ngineering or a C ollege of N atural S ciences). Institutions are encouraged to consider how their mission and designation as an HSI could reimagine and/or strengthen courses, degree programs, departments, or divisions. The HSI: ELPSE solicitation welcomes projects that look to implement, test and refine promising practices and/or conduct research related to broadening participation or improving recruitment, retention, graduation and other positive outcomes for undergraduates in STEM. The HSI: ELPSE solicitation support s projects that are purposefully designed to meet students where the y are, accounting for both their assets and the challenges they may face. I dentities and experiences are not d etermined solely by membership in a single monolithic population of students (e.g., Hispanic, first-generation, commuter, etc.). Consequently, institutions are expected to use institutional data to identify equity gaps , identify areas of need, and unpack the factors that shape students’ individual realities and shared experiences. Perspectives gained from these data should be central to the design of the project . Th is solicitation includes the following tracks: Implementation and Evaluation Projects (IEP) : Levels 1 and 2 Educational Instrumentation (EI) Please see below for specific information about each track. Generally, proposals to the IEP track will center on one or more of the following: courses; curricular improvements; pedagogy; support structures inside and outside of the classroom ; degree programs; and student pathways . The HSI:ELPSE solicitation will also consider proposals designed to increase access to computing resources and/or laboratory instrumentation needed to provide high-quality undergraduate STEM education at the following types of institutions: (1) HSIs in EPSCoR jurisdictions; and (2) HSI Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) in all other (non-EPSCoR) jurisdictions.Please see the discussion of the Educational Instrumentation Track below for specific details.