Collaborative Research: HSI-Hubs: Intersectionality as Inquiry & Praxis: Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity for Student Success in STEM

Cuny City College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this HUB Project aims to convene The University of New Mexico (UNM), New Mexico State University (NMSU), Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), City College, The City University of New York (CCNY-CUNY), Lehman College (Lehman-CUNY), Hostos Community College (Hostos-CUNY) to re-envision data and equity metrics, convene communities of practice and transform narratives about advancing equity in STEM. Institutions of higher education define underserved students using one-dimensional status metrics (e.g., first-generation college, PELL, gender, Native American, African-American and Hispanic/Latinx, etc.). Yet, research shows this is insufficient for documenting and eliminating inequities (McCall 2001; Irizarry 2015; López, Erwin, Binder & Chavez 2018). There is an urgent need to operationalize intersectionality as a new angle of vision for strategic planning and equitable distribution of resources (e.g., admissions, degrees earned, department/institutional culture shift, state-level funding formulas/distribution of resources, federal data collection and accountability metrics/IPEDS, etc.). Intersectionality (attention to the mutual constitution of race, gender, class, ethnicity and other axes of inequality as analytically distinct and simultaneous systems of power, oppression, resistance in a given sociohistorical and institutional context) is a powerful tool for making inequities visible and helping institutions of higher education create effective actions for advancing undergraduate student success in STEM and beyond. Our HSI-hub is a multi-faceted resource, connector and catalyst for enduring system-wide equity transformations that incubate the promise of intersectionality for knowledge production and policy for equity impact. Our synergistic and phased deliverables include: 1.) HSI STEM Data and Policy Network for Action; 2.) HSI STEM Communities of Practice: Faculty Fellows and Stakeholders Advancing Equity Through Intersectionality; and 3.) HSI STEM Centering Intersectionality as Equity through Narrative Change, Communication Strategies and Publications. Our deliverables include a dedicated website, policy briefs, and academic. Project products will be archived in the UNM digital repository, tagged under the following subjects: “Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs),” “Intersectionality,” “Equity,” “Higher Education,” “Student Success,” and “Metrics.” The repository is accessible to anyone with internet access. In order to increase visibility and impact, select data and project materials, will be converted to a format suitable for upload to JSTOR-FORUM and OMEKA databases and catalogued in WorldCat. Acknowledging the importance of intersectionality for advancing equity, without a strategic plan to remove barriers and redistribute resources for advancing student success, is a missed opportunity. “Taking a truly intersectional approach will enable us to think and act differently to remove systemic barriers to education” (Harpur, Szucs & Willox 2022:14). The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.