Validation and Engagement in Hispanic-Serving Institutions STEM Transfer Pathways

• In Event: Community Colleges as Sites to Foster STEM Pathways for Latina/o/x Students

Abstract

Purpose.
This study highlights the narratives of 29 Mexican Americans who successfully navigated STEM transfer pathways at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and their experiences with faculty. One of the major factors that can promote student’s transitions within STEM pathways is engagement with faculty (Bensimon, Dowd, Stanton-Salazar, & Dávila, 2019; Zeledón-Pérez, 2019), which can impact on learning and lead to other successful outcomes. Although research indicates student-faculty relationships are an important component of student success, “there is little understanding of the process by which such interactions take place” (Cox & Orehovec, 2007, p. 344) and how institutional contexts play a role in promoting student engagement. This research seeks to expand our understanding of STEM students’ opportunities for meaningful interaction with faculty within HSI.
Theoretical Frameworks
Guided by Stanton-Salazar (2011) conception of institutional agents as those who “occupy relatively high positions in the multiple dimensional stratification system, and … are well positioned to provide key forms of social and institutional support” (p. 15), we focus on faculty at two- and four-year HSIs. Furthermore, Garcia, Núñez, and Sansone’s (2019) multidimensional conceptual framework of HSI servingness, allows us to consider how faculty contribute to institutional structures for serving that impact Latinx academic and nonacademic outcomes.
Research Design
Data was collected through focus groups (n=29) and semi-structured follow-up interviews with a sub-sample (n=9). Participants who were at various stages in their college careers, including undergraduate transfer students (n=22), graduate students (n=5) and alumni (n=2). Nearly two-thirds of participants identified as male (n=17), 11 female, and 1 non-binary and most were first generation college students (n=22). On average, students attended two community colleges and took about four years (range: 2.5-9 years) prior to transfer to a four-year college. Interview transcripts were coded and analyzed in NVIVO utilizing theoretically-informed queries to determine intersections between themes and attributes with attentiveness to structural power dynamics to deepen our interpretations of participant narratives.
Results and Conclusions
Findings illustrate the significance of interactions faculty they served as institutional agents, whether they were positive institutional agents or gatekeeper agents, as well as where there was a lack of or potential for empowerment agents. Our data allow us to further define the five types of key support identified by Stanton-Salazar (2011)—direct support, integrative support, system developer, system linkage and networking support—within the context of HSI transfer pathways for Latinx students in STEM. Thus, in addition to describing specific STEM transfer supports, we build off of previous HSI scholarship (Garcia & Ramirez, 2018), to uniquely interrogate HSI institutional structures and the potential for faculty to be more intentional in supporting minoritized students in STEM.

Scholarly Significance
The study highlights the opportunities for faculty to contribute to HSI servingness by validating and supporting Latinx students within STEM. Additionally, there are important implications for faculty, staff, administrators, and other higher education stakeholders in further aligning the role of STEM transfer agents within the context of HSI “servingness” (Garcia, Núñez, & Sansone, 2019).

Authors

• Felisha Herrera, San Diego State University

• Victoria Rodriguez-Operana, San Diego State University