In September, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Concordia would receive a third Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) grant, in the amount of $3 million over five years, beginning in October. The grant funds Concordia’s Valerosos y Curiosos (Courageous and Curious) project which will provide academic support and supplemental instruction for undergraduate Hispanic and low-income students, and all undergraduate students, in mathematics, engineering, and the natural sciences. The third grant brings total federal funding for HSI-related projects at Concordia to $1.8 million for the 2023-24 academic year, and a total of $9 million from 2022 to 2028.
“Special thanks are due to Dr. Bret Taylor, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, who led a team of faculty in that school to develop the content of the grant; and Denise Mallett and Tom Stevick of Marygrove Consulting, who provided invaluable assistance in writing the grant and preparing our materials for submission,” Concordia president Dr. Michael Thomas wrote in announcing the new grant to the Concordia community.
Taylor says he and a team sought the grant because, “There is a lot of interest in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields and we asked ourselves, ‘What could we do to improve and make this a better place of belonging and of learning for the Hispanic community?” he says.
The grant’s funding will help to undergird Concordia’s approach to the sciences.
“We want people to engage with what some people call the two books God provided: his Bible and nature, which talk about who God is in different ways,” Taylor says. “Helping young people become the best scientists they can be through our STEM curriculum is the first goal; at Concordia, they also hear the good news of Jesus Christ and what he’s done for them. We help young people address the debates that come from the balance of those things, not just knowing math and science well but thinking through their implications and the framework they are set upon, to address the enduring questions our curriculum is trying to address: What is goodness, truth, and beauty?
According to Thomas, the Valerosos y Curiosos effort will implement an innovative, cohort-based STEM Scholars Program and build a community of undergraduate students steeped in the culture of STEM. The program will include a summer bridge opportunity, academic success coaching, tutoring, mentoring, supplemental instruction, and undergraduate research positions. In addition, Concordia will provide faculty and staff professional development to help build a “sense of belonging” for targeted students on campus and increase the number of students who transfer into Concordia’s STEM majors from other colleges.
The additional resources for homework assistance and instruction “will be transformative for students,” says Peter Senkbeil, vice president and special assistant to the president. “These are resources many of these students didn’t have before.”
Each of Concordia’s three HSI grants seeks to increase enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of Hispanic and low-income students. The STEM grant’s budget provides for a project director, who will be an additional full-time STEM faculty position; plus a full-time STEM academic success coach; stipends for current faculty to help with various aspects of the project; additional student peer tutors, mentors, and student research assistants, and equipment and supplies for Concordia’s STEM programs. The search for a project director has begun, and the other elements of the project will be implemented starting this academic year.