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In this issue:
Latinos in STEM Report
CUE & WICHE Partnership
AAHHE Keynote Stresses HSI Mission
Join CUE in D.C.
CUE's Congressional Testimony
Open House/Art Exhibit Reception
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Open House & Art Exhibit Reception
On Feb. 16 we hosted "Breaking Down Barriers," an art exhibit reception featuring the powerful work of María Teresa Fernández, a Mexican-born photographer. She has been documenting the construction of the border fence that runs along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2001. Click here to view images from the exhibit. You can also read about the event here.
Dr. Alicia C. Dowd, Dr. Dominic J. Brewer, Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon and Dr. Karen Symms Gallagher, Dean of the Rossier School of Education, from left.
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Join us...
CUE to Host a STEM Policy Briefing in D.C. on April 19th
As part of the USC Rossier School of Education Centennial Congressional Policy Briefing Series, CUE and other distinguished panelists will discuss the issues surrounding Latinos in STEM and present findings from our NSF-funded study. The briefing will take place at 121 Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C. on April 19th from 10 to 11:30 a.m. For more information on the briefing, you can contact us at rsoecue@usc.edu. |
The Center for Urban Education (CUE) leads socially conscious research and develops tools needed for institutions of higher education to produce equity in student outcomes.
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Join us for a conference call...
Improving Latino Access to STEM through the America COMPETES Act - April 6th at 10 a.m. (PST)
For our nation to meet the demand for building a highly educated and skilled workforce for the 21st century, we must prepare the new Latino majority to take the place of the highly educated but soon-to-retire baby boomer generation. During the call we will discuss our new brief and how to use data and design policy incentives to increase Latino access and success in these fields.
The presentation will be followed by a discussion among invited experts and callers will have the opportunity to ask questions.
The panelists are: Michele Siqueiros, Campaign for College Opportunity Executive Director; Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon, Co-Director of the Center for Urban Education and Higher Education professor; Dr. Alicia C. Dowd, Co-Director of the Center for Urban Education and Associate Professor; Dr. Lindsey E. Malcom, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside; Dr. Mark W. Rocha, President of West Los Angeles College; Jennifer Cano, Director of Education Programs, Great Minds in STEM.
Click here to read media coverage of the newly released report in Inside HigherEd.
The call-in number is 800-895-0198. The conference ID is 7CUE. The program title is CUE STEM. To RSVP, please contact Marty Trujillo, The Campaign for College Opportunity's Communications Director at 213-817-6034 or marty@collegecampaign.org.
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CUE & WICHE to Jointly Advocate for Equity Using the necessary tools and resources to elevate postsecondary achievement and outcomes, CUE is partnering with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) to dramatically increase the number of traditionally underrepresented students with college degrees and credentials.
CUE and WICHE will combine their expertise to improve college remediation, transfer and graduation rates for underrepresented students. With funding from The Ford Foundation, cost-effective and sustainable strategies will be used to make racial equity a priority in achieving college completion goals in the 15 WICHE member states. Over the past decade, CUE has created tools to assist states, systems, and institutions with making sense of college data and using it to positively transform educational outcomes.
In use at a number of institutions around the country, the CUE Equity Model takes a sensible, systematic and accessible approach to data-based decision-making.
"Our Center is adept at creating the capacity for data-informed decision making by working with practitioners," said Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon, co-director of the Center for Urban Education and a professor of higher education.
"Having the right data - disaggregated by race and ethnicity - is important but it's not enough. We have the tools that can help states, systems, and institutions make the numbers real and see how routine practices contribute to the opportunity gap facing African American, Latina and Latino students. This allows individuals invested in equity to change structures, practices and policies step by step."
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Bensimon AAHHE Keynote Speech Stresses HSI Mission
Addressing the topic "Promoting Latina and Latino Success at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)," Dr. Bensimon asked the audience, "What does it mean to be an HSI?" and "What do HSIs do to promote college success for Latino and Latina students?" She emphasized the important difference between Hispanic enrolling and Hispanic serving institutions and described several concrete ways that Title V funding, which is reserved only for HSIs, can be better utilized.
Dr. Bensimon's recommendations touched on the following critical strategies to create incentives for HSIs to be Hispanic serving institutions:
National Data. National databases can be structured to provide outcome data on basic indicators of access and success for Latino students at two- and four-year HSIs.
Institutional Accountabilty. Require basic indicators of Latino student outcomes as part of Title V funding so HSIs can assess their effectiveness (and are required to).
Incentives. Reward institutions that have a data-based process for monitoring and documenting Latino access to key resources and opportunities.
Mission Intentionality. Require institutions to discuss specific strategies or methods they have used or are planning to use to integrate their Hispanic Serving identity into their core processes and policies.
To view Dr. Bensimon's AAHHE PowerPoint presentation, click here. |
Dowd Testifies Before Congress
 Dr. Alicia C. Dowd was one of the five witnesses who testified before members of Congress during a hearing on broadening participation for underrepresented students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The hearing, convened by the House Subcommittee on Research and Science Education in Washington, D.C., was held on March 16th.
Researchers at CUE are at the forefront of this issue and working to demonstrate that the most important starting point for broadening participation in STEM is to reframe the lack of diversity as problems of institutional practices and practitioner knowledge. Campuses can unwittingly create a negative racial climate harmful to students from racial-ethnic minority groups.
Dr. Dowd, who was also joined by The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Education and Human Resources Director Shirley Malcom, was invited to give the subcommittee a better understanding of the obstacles faced by students from different racial, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Congress is currently in the process of examining National Science Foundation (NSF) programs authorized under the 2007 America COMPETES Act. The goal of the act is to strengthen the foundation's research and education missions.
- Click here to read the entire story in USC News.
- Click here to view the webcast.
- You can also read Dr. Alicia C. Dowd's written and oral testimony.
- A story is also posted on the AAAS website.
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Upcoming Events
Access to Success Meeting at Education Trust
Baltimore, Maryland - April 12-13
Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon, Dr. Alicia C. Dowd and CUE Research Associate Loni Bordoloi Pazich will demonstrate how to use CUE's Benchmarking Equity and Student Success Tool (BESST) to take concrete and practical steps towards achieving college completion goals.
University of Wisconsin System's 2010 Annual Outstanding Women of Color in Education Award - Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon
Whitewater, Wisconsin - April 17
This award recognizes the positive effects achieved at the eleven University of Wisconsin institutions currently using the "CUE Equity Scorecard" as a multi-disciplined process of sustained inquiry. The UW institutions have been successfully using the Equity Scorecard to identify more refined pathways and strategies for eliminating inequities in educational opportunities and outcomes.
Pathways to Results Convening
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - April 22
Dr. Alicia C. Dowd will join Dr. Debra Bragg of the University of Illinois at a convening of educational leaders, administrators, and faculty involved in the Pathways to Results project, which is funded by the Illinois Community College Board and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Dr. Dowd will provide expertise on the steps necessary to maintain a focus on equity while pursuing improved outcomes in retention, certification completion, and degree attainment.
Click here to view the Office of Community College Research and Leadership's (OCCRL) project profile.
The Research & Planning (RP) Group for California Community Colleges Conference
Pomona, CA - April 22
Dr. Elsa Macias, CUE's Director of Professional Development, and CUE Research Assistant Debbie Hanson will present "Moving from Equity as an Ideal to Equity in Outcomes: Using Benchmarking as a Learning Process for Strategic Change."
Texas A & M University Enhancing Diversity Seminar Series
College Station, Texas - April 27
Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon will present "Strategies for Achieving Equity and Excellence in Educational Outcomes."
2010 AERA Annual Meeting
Denver, Colorado - April 30 - May 4
Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon, Dr. Alicia C. Dowd, CUE Research Associate Sandra Luca, CUE Research Associate Loni Bordoloi Pazich, CUE Research Assistant Megan Chase and USC Rossier School of Education doctoral student Misty Sawatsky.
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Saturday, May 1 - 8:15am - 10:15am Dr. Dowd will chair a working group roundtable From "Mixed Methods" to Transdisciplinary Research: Navigating Boundaries to Increase Equity in STEM Fields for Students of Color where she will be joined by Dr. Bensimon, Dr. Bill Trent of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne, Dr. Fran Stage and Dr. Steve Hubbard of NYU, and Dr. Lindsey Malcom of UC-Riverside. The group represents three research teams from four different universities who are using mixed methods research to understand how educational practices are promoting or inhibiting the participation on African Americans, Latinas, and Latinos in STEM fields. Dr. Fae L. Korsmo, Senior Advisor, Office of Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), will be the discussant, informing the deliberations of the working group based on NSF's funding priorities, programmatic initiatives, and goals for increasing racial-ethnic equity in STEM.
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Sunday, May 2 - 8:15am - 10:15am CUE Research Associate Sandra Luca will chair a symposium Critical Theoretical Approaches to Research in Higher Education, which convenes researchers involved in the ASHE Institutes for Equity and Critical Policy Analysis. Dr. Ana M. Martinez-Aleman of Boston College will present her Institutes commissioned paper "Critical Discourse Analysis in Higher Education Policy Research," which provides the foundation for this symposium. Several critical policy analyses will be presented, including a critique of global college rankings by CUE Affiliate and University of Virginia professor Dr. Brian Pusser and Dr. Simon Marginson of the University of Melbourne; a review of states' 2/4 transfer policies by Dr. Bensimon and CUE Research Associate Loni Bordoloi Pazich; and a reframing of the concepts of student effort and engagement by Dr. Dowd and USC Rossier School of Education doctoral student Misty Sawatsky. We are joined by discussant Dr. Greg Anderson, Dean of the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.
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Monday, May 3 - 8:15am - 10:15am CUE Research Assistant Megan Chase will be presenting "Benchmarking Equity in Transfer Policies for
Career and Technical Associate Degrees." In this paper, Chase critically examines transfer policies and how they could have a disproportionately adverse impact on the transfer of technical students. The purpose of this study is to conduct a transfer policy audit for technical student transfer and to identify equity-minded policy benchmarks that enable rather than disable technical student transfer.
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Semiannual BoardMeeting
Portland, Oregon - May 17-18
Dr. Estela Mara Bensimon will serve as a speaker for a session called "Preserving Equity in Tough Times" and share findings from the Wisconsin Transfer Equity Study. |
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Center for Urban Education (CUE)
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Waite Phillips Hall
Suite 702
Los Angeles, California 90089
Tel: 213.740.5202
Fax: 213.740.3889
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