Mentoring and Advising Students in an S-STEM Project: Strengths Training from a Social Justice Perspective in Engineering & Computer Science as Context – Initial Implementation
- Conference
- Location
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Virtual Conference
- Publication Date
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July 26, 2021
- Start Date
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July 26, 2021
- End Date
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July 19, 2022
- Conference Session
- Tagged Topics
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Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
- Page Count
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13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--37499
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/37499
- Download Count
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258
Paper Authors
Jane L. Lehr California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Jane Lehr is a Professor in Ethnic Studies and Women's and Gender Studies and Director of the Office of Student Research at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She is affiliated faculty in Computer Science and Software Engineering and Science, Technology and Society. She is also the Faculty Director of the California State University (CSU) Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) in STEM Program at Cal Poly. She previously served as elected co-chair of the Science and Technology Taskforce of the National Women's Studies Association, and as a Postdoctoral Research Officer at the Centre for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS) at King's College, University of London. Most recently, she served as the 2019-20 Inclusive STEM Initiatives Fellow in the Colleges of Engineering, Science and Mathematics, and Liberal Arts at Cal Poly. Her graduate training is in Science and Technology Studies and Women's Studies at Virginia Tech.
Daniel Almeida
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
orcid.org/0000-0003-4679-7185
Dr. Daniel Almeida is an Associate Professor in Higher Education Counseling/Student Affairs at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He is Lead Principal Investigator for the NSF-funded California State University Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Alliance for Diversity and Strengths of STEM Faculty: A Culturally-Informed Strengths-Based Approach to Advance Early-Career Faculty Success. Dr. Almeida is also Co-Principal Investigator for the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (S-STEM) grant, Engineering Neighbors: Gaining Access Growing Engineers (ENGAGE). Dr. Almeida’s graduate training is in Urban Education Policy – Higher Education from the University of Southern California.
Dominic J. Dal Bello Allan Hancock College
Dom Dal Bello is Professor of Engineering at Allan Hancock College (AHC), a California Community College between UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He is Chair of the Mathematical Sciences Department, and Principal Investigator of the NSF S-STEM grant at AHC. He serves as Chair of the Two-Year College Division of ASEE, and Vice Chair/Community Colleges for the Pacific Southwest Section of ASEE.
Jeff Jones P.E. Cuesta College
Lizabeth L. Thompson California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Lizabeth is a professor at Cal Poly, SLO in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She has been teaching for 22 years and has continued to develop innovative pedagogy such as project based, flipped classroom and competency grading. Through the SUSTAIN SLO learning initiative she and her colleagues have been active researching in transformation in higher education.
Eva Schiorring StemEval
Eva Schiorring has almost two decades of experience in research and evaluation and special knowledge about STEM education in community colleges and four-year institutions. She presently serves as the external evaluator for four NSF-funded projects. These include evaluation of a first year experience in a majority-minority engineering college and an initiative to increase diversity in a predominantly white elite engineering college through collaboration with local community colleges. Ms. Schiorring is also evaluating an ATE project to bolster recruitment and preparation of diverse STEM teachers. Past projects include evaluation of an NSF-funded project to improve advising for engineering students at a major state university in California. Ms. Schiorring is the author and co-author of numerous papers and served as project lead on a major study of transfer in engineering. Ms. Schiorring holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University. She is a graduate of NSF's I-Corps program for educators.
Fred W. DePiero California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Dr. Fred DePiero received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University in 1985 and 1987. He then worked as a Development Associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory until 1993. While there he was involved in a variety of real-time image processing projects and several laser-based ranging systems. Fred began working on his Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee while still at ORNL, and completed it in May 1996. Fred joined the faculty at CalPoly in September of 1996. He previously served as the Associate Dean for Student Success in the College of Engineering and now has returned to the Electrical Engineering Department as a faculty member.
Christina Sholars Ortiz Cuesta College
Christina Sholars Ortiz is a Financial Aid Specialist at Cuesta College and a Masters Candidate in the Higher Education Counseling and Student Affairs (HECSA) program at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Christina Sholars Ortiz serves as the liaison for the NSF S-STEM Engage grant and Monarch Dream Center at Cuesta College. She is a member of the Equity and Student Success Committee at Cuesta College, Co-Advisor to the Black Student Union at Cuesta College, and the Vice-President of the Latina Leadership Network Staff and Faculty Chapter at Cuesta College.
Abstract
This work-in-progress paper/poster describes the development and initial implementation of a new approach to mentoring and advising students that we call “strengths training from a social justice perspective in engineering and computer science as context.”
This approach to mentoring and advising is part of a larger California-based Multi-Institutional S-STEM project called “Engineering Neighbors: Gaining Access, Growing Engineers” (ENGAGE, NSF DUE 1834128, 1834154). ENGAGE is designed to increase the number of low-income, academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who begin their engineering education at two Hispanic-Serving California Community Colleges; transfer to a highly-selective, predominantly white public institution; and then are retained in and graduate with a B.S. degree in engineering, and enter the STEM workforce or graduate program. The broader project also seeks to transform our institutions and the relationships between them to prioritize transfer student success via the utilization of the Essential Transfer Practices framework created by the Community College Research Center at Teachers College and the Aspen Institute [1]. The identified Essential Transfer Practices are designed to strengthen the implementation of practices that 1) make transfer student success a priority; 2) create clear programmatic pathways with aligned high-quality instruction; and 3) provide tailored transfer student advising to create sustainable change.
As part of describing the development and initial implementation of this new model of mentoring and advising, this work-in-progress paper/poster shares information about student and faculty workshops and ongoing grant-related activities and support systems for mentors and mentees. Preliminary results related to student experiences and outcomes utilizing the “strengths training from a social justice perspective in engineering and computer science as context” framework during COVID-19 are included. The approach to ongoing research focused on the intersections of strengths, social identity, context, and social networks as related to this model of mentoring and advising is introduced.
Lehr, J. L., & Almeida, D., & Dal Bello, D. J., & Jones, J., & Thompson, L. L., & Schiorring, E., & DePiero, F. W., & Ortiz, C. S. (2021, July), Mentoring and Advising Students in an S-STEM Project: Strengths Training from a Social Justice Perspective in Engineering & Computer Science as Context – Initial Implementation Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37499
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