inhibit Hispanics from degree attainment. Recent survey data shows that
Hispanic parents place high value on
going to college; however, a large number of their children tend to drop out
of school. This paradox may be due in
large measure to poor socioeconomic
conditions, the challenge of mastering the English language with little
support, and the lack of role models.
To make a difference, it is essential to
have more Hispanic faculty in computing programs who can serve as exemplars and models at the community
college and four-year institutions, to
provide opportunities for development
and growth, and to inform families
about financial support structures for
attending college.
The Role of hispanic-
Serving institutions
With these issues in mind, we cannot
ignore the role of Hispanic-serving
institutions (HSIs) in educating His-
panics who become future leaders
in the work force. Indeed, any effort
to increase the number of Hispanics
who attain STEM degrees will depend
on the institutional capacity of com-
munity colleges and HSIs to educate
and graduate Hispanics, in particular
those who graduate in STEM fields.
This claim is supported by a March
2010 report by Dowd et al. 2 from the
Center for Urban Education that indi-
cates a greater share of Hispanic stu-
dents enrolled at HSIs earn degrees in
key majors, such as computer science,
mathematics, and engineering, than
do their counterparts at non-HSIs.a
The NSF Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (REU) program has
been a critical factor in providing stu-
dents with research opportunities that
a National Center for Education Statistics study
(NCES 2007-161) reports that only 10% of four-
year institutions of higher education in the
U.S. enroll the majority of Hispanic under-
graduates.
The report also states that Hispanic
community college transfers who first
earn associate’s degrees have lower
access to STEM bachelor’s degrees
at academically selective and private
universities than their counterparts
who do not earn an associate’s degree
prior to the bachelor’s. Dowd’s data
shows that Hispanics, who are community college transfers and who first
earn associate’s degrees, have lower
access to STEM bachelor’s degrees
at academically selective and private
universities than their counterparts
who do not earn an associate’s degree prior to the bachelor’s. On the
other hand, transfer students were
more likely to graduate from HSIs and
from public four-year institutions, but
they were less likely to graduate from
academically selective institutions or
from research universities. To make
a difference, it is essential to support
programs and initiatives that provide
educational opportunities for Hispanics in STEM fields at HSIs and that target community college students and
their successful transfer to four-year
colleges.
f Y2008 R&D Expenditures for hispanic-serving institutions without a medical school.*
Ranking institution
R&D Expenditure
(Dollars in thousands)
Percent hispanic
Enrollment**
32 Nm State u. main campus 138,427 44.08
73 u. TX El Paso 48,906 74. 94
93 CuNY The City C. 34,452 31. 15
95 u. TX San Antonio 33, 106 43. 57
113 u. Pr rio Piedras Campus 22,662 99. 94
118 u. Pr mayaguez Campus 20,763 100
129 u. CA, merced 16,802 26.08
133 CA State u. long Beach 14,971 25. 44
* NSF/division of Science resources Statistics, Academic Research and
Development Expenditures: FY 2008.4
** IPEdS Spring 2007 survey.
motivate and prepare them for graduate studies. An SRI International evaluation of NSF support for undergraduate research opportunities found that
students who participated in undergraduate research were twice as likely
as those who did not do research to
have pre-college expectations of obtaining a Ph.D. 6 In addition, participation in undergraduate research had
strong positive effects on the students’
understanding of the research process,
confidence in their research-related
abilities, and awareness of academic
and career options in STEM. In regard
to improving research opportunities,
a common suggestion that arose from
the study was the need for more effective faculty guidance and the key role
of developing interpersonal, organizational, and research skills.
The Computing Alliance of HSIs, a
consortium of 10 HSIs focused on the
recruitment, retention, and advancement of Hispanics in Computing, has
played an important role in involving
students, in particular Hispanics, in
research throughout the academic
year using the Affinity Research Group
(ARG) model and working with the
students to apply for REU opportunities. ARG is focused on training faculty
mentors on the ARG philosophy and
how to structure in research groups
the deliberate and intentional development of technical, team, and professional skills and knowledge required
for research and collaborative work.
Arguments against having doctoral
programs at minority-serving institutions (MSIs), such as those made by
Richard Tapia in the March 2010
Communications Broadening Participation
column, 7 often center on the low probability of individuals who do not graduate from top research institutions
becoming a faculty members at those
institutions and the supposed “lack
of rigor” of MSI graduate programs,
which make them less able to compete
with the caliber of programs at top research institutions. Data reported in
NSF 06-318 certainly supports the former argument, 1 although fewer than
half of Hispanic faculty members who
earned doctorates at top research institutions were employed at these institutions. The reasons are varied as are the
reasons for graduates of top research
institutions who choose to teach at