Institutional Grantees
12 Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) have been selected to participate in the three-year national “Models of Success” study sponsored by Lumina Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and USA Funds. Each of the twelve institutions selected has identified “success stories” of programs and/or practices at their institutions that have made significant contributions to student retention, student learning, and student degree attainment.
With the overarching aim of portraying and communicating these success stories in the literature, the media, and across our colleges and universities, the researchers have conducted campus visits to each of the 12 institutions. In addition to participating in the study, each institution will receive a grant for $50,000 to build infrastructure and capacity on their campus.
Learn more about the work of the Minority-Serving Institutions:
Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)
TCUs
To address the challenge of preparing students to be successful in college-level mathematics courses, Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC) has experimented with series of innovations over the past decade. After initial success with a self-paced, computer-assisted approach to remedial mathematics education, the college has developed a hybridized math emporium where students work on their own, in small groups, and as a class to master the mathematics they need to succeed in their education. This approach combines an emphasis on problem-solving with constant feedback from faculty, software, and peers. The emporium provides students a safe space in which to learn mathematics and at the same challenges them to use mathematics in real-world problem-solving.
A decade ago, the College of Menominee Nation (CMN) made an investment in STEM education, recruiting Native students into STEM careers and retooling STEM teaching. At the center of this investment are two models of success that have dramatically increased student retention and persistence of American Indians in STEM fields. The first, the STEM Scholars Programs, provides students with limited academic preparation a point of access to STEM programs. This cohort-based program connects students who begin college with developmental education needs to mentors, customized academic support, and extracurricular activities. The STEM Scholars community draws students into academic programs and careers. The second model, STEM Leaders, is a program that prepares high-achieving Native American students to succeed in advanced STEM education and to bring the benefits of their STEM education back to their tribal communities. At CMN, STEM Leaders meet regularly with mentors and tribal leaders and complete service projects, and they also go off campus to national meetings of Native American STEM students and complete a summer internship at a university or research laboratory in their field of study.
The first TCU accredited in the Northwest, Salish Kootenai College (SKC) is redesigning the college experience, at once helping underprepared students move into academic programs and guiding students with an interest in STEM on to careers. The Department of Academic Success (DAS) serves as a hub for developmental education, coordinating a bridge program and student success courses and workshops and assessing student progress to ensure faculty and staff know what support students need—from tutoring to career advising to advice in course selection—and how to access that support. The cluster of science programs at SKC are fast becoming a regional center for science education that incorporates a Native worldview. Across these programs, students learn science through daily interaction with faculty as they work together on real projects in cutting-edge laboratories. Their course work—which typically includes a summer internship at a regional research university—is linked to solving real-world problems on the Reservation and to jobs as STEM professionals.