An NSF AGEP Program's Unintended Effect on Broadening Participation: Transforming “Non-STEM” Graduate Students into Engineering Education Faculty, Researchers, K-12 Educators, and Advocates

Abstract

Her research, teaching, and service address achievement motivation, the scholarship of teaching and learning, mentorship models for undergraduate and graduate students, and professional support of all students, with special emphasis for those from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM and beyond. She has enjoyed collaborations with colleagues from multidisciplinary backgrounds toward solving special challenges in teaching and learning. Her ongoing collaborations analyze 1) the experiences of participants in STEM professional development programs for retention and success in academia and 2) similarities, differences, and gaps in the expectations of STEM faculty and students toward successful undergraduate course completion.Ms. Shawnisha Shonté Hester, University of Maryland Baltimore County Shawnisha S. Hester is an Evaluation and Assessment Coordinator. She earned both her BA in Psychology and MA in Applied Sociology from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She went on to complete her MSW from University of Maryland School of Social Work. Her research interests focus on using qualitative research methods that measure various phenomena and making connections via an interdisciplinary approach, qualitative evaluation and assessment measurements, increasing the number of minorities in STEM fields, and program development at the graduate level. She has had the opportunity to present at a regional and national conference and she has conducted research internationally. In addition, Ms. Hester is a licensed graduate social worker (LGSW) IntroductionThe National Science Foundation's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program has a focus on increasing the numbers of underrepresented minorities (URM) who will get STEM PhDs and go on to become professors and enhance the nation's competitiveness.1 By examining the roles that graduate student AGEP participants from disciplines other than science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) play in engineering education in general, and to become engineering education faculty, researchers and advocates in particular, it is imperative to know and understand the motives which drive this phenomena.Historically serving students within STEM fields, the AGEP for our state, PROMISE: Maryland's AGEP, has taken the initiative to broaden its reach to include participants from various disciplines that include science, education, and the humanities, in addition to opening up professional development activities to all graduate students regardless of race, class, discipline and culture. Founded in late 2002, with programmatic activities beginning in 2003, the PROMISE AGEP was led by one of the universities that had special emphases on diverse student recruitment and retention in STEM fields, with partnerships with the state's flagship campus, and the medical campus.2 These schools, the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP), and the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB), are institutions within th...

Global Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering Education: Developing Platforms toward Global Alignment

“…Looking more closely at the LSAMP Philadelphia alliance allows us to understand more about the direct implementation of the program within context. The goals for the Philadelphia LSAMP program are as follows [60]: Increase the minority STEM B.S. degree production to, at minimum, 700+ degrees annually, increase the number of students participating in undergraduate research from 50 to100 students annually, move at least 30% AMP graduates (210 students) into graduate STEM education, directly serve at least 90% of minority undergraduate STEM population, continue to increase Alliance minority progression and retention rates in STEM, and to document, publish, and disseminate effective practices, and the results of Alliance activities.…”

“…The analysis indicates that the $21.9 million in NSF funding resulted in $2.2 billion in income capacity of the graduates, illustrating a solid return on investment. [60]. The LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate grant is awarded to LSAMP alliances or groups of institutions that have had at least 10 years of successful recruitment activities, professional development programming, and retention of underrepresented STEM undergraduate students.…”

“…The LSAMP BD initiative is assisting with increasing the number of STEM PhDs. The production of doctorates from LSAMP programs are shown in Table VII, however, those numbers are growing as there are more students in the pipeline who are slated to finish their doctorates over the next five years [60]. …”

How do Black engineering and computing doctoral students analyze and appraise their (depleted) STEM diversity programming?

“…One such example of equity-minded mentorship within diversity programming is Maryland's Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) and the AGEP-T program in Texas, both of which focus on equity-minded mentoring (Tull et al, 2015;Institute for Broadening Participation, 2018;Moreira et al, 2019). Part of the mentoring within these programs equips students with the tools they need to network effectively (Moreira et al, 2019).…”

“…The most frequently mentioned program was the NSF's AGEP. The AGEP program seeks to improve pathways to the professoriate for minoritized doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty, especially African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders, in specific STEM disciplines and/or education research fields (Jones, 2014;Tull et al, 2015;Russell et al, 2018;Moreira et al, 2019). This program allowed some students to connect with equity-minded faculty mentors who offered more support than their doctoral advisors.…”