2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Five 2-year HSIs Collaborate to Provide Culturally Responsive IT Work-Based Experiences

Presented at Engineering and Engineering Technology Transfer and the Two-Year College Student Part 2

Five 2-year Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) recently joined forces to provide culturally responsive work-based experiences (WBEs) in a five-year program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The goal of the WBE initiative is to intentionally serve Latinx and other non-traditional students in Information Technology (IT) programs of study. During the pandemic, a 2-year college in a large urban district launched and led the program in its first two years with the intent of developing a model and processes for IT WBEs to later adapt and implement at four other 2-year HSIs. In year three, two urban colleges in the same district as the lead, and two rural colleges in the same state joined the initiative. This paper discusses how intentionality and servingness were infused into the WBE model, processes, and practices, highlighting differences in rural and urban contexts. Faculty, support staff, and work-based experience coordinators collaborated within each institution and across participating institutions to make this happen, under the guidance and facilitation of the Center for Broadening Participation in STEM at Arizona State University. Surprises and challenges encountered in implementing the WBEs with intentionality to serve non-traditional IT students are described in the paper. The implemented WBEs provided benefits to the students who actively participated in paid IT job assignments under the mentorship of faculty, industry employers, and peers in the form of cultural learning, career preparedness, teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and real-world experience that supplemented the students’ technical learning. Whenever possible, student’s existing work and course schedules were accommodated through flexible work arrangements. A catalog of powerful stories that convey value and impacts for students throughout their WBE journey and continuing into placements with employers is beginning to emerge. Quantitative data summarizes participants’ demographics demonstrating intentionality in recruiting, retention, and completion of WBEs in the first three years of the program. Longer term impacts to retention and completion of Latinx and other non-traditional students in IT programs at participating institutions remains under study.

Authors

Cynthia Kay Pickering http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8148-098X Arizona State University [biography]

Cynthia Pickering is a PhD Candidate and Researcher for the Center for Broadening Participation in STEM at Arizona State University. Cynthia has 35 years of experience working in industry with demonstrated technical leadership in software development, artificial intelligence, information technology architecture / engineering, and collaboration systems research. Cynthia is currently studying Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society in ASU’s College of Global Futures. She practices Socio-technical Integration Research as an embedded social scientist who collaboratively works with technologists (STEM students, STEM faculty, and Tech Companies) to increase reflexive learning during technology development and implementation to pro-actively consider the impact of technology decisions on local communities and society at large. This work creates spaces and processes to explore technology innovation and its consequences in an open, inclusive and timely way.
Mara Lopez Arizona State University [biography]

Dr. Mara Lopez is a full-time Research Program Manager working at the Center for Broadening Participation in STEM at ASU. In her work at the Center, she works to develop culturally responsive practices and increase the intentionality with which institutions work with Latinx students in STEM. She has taught First-Year Success courses at ASU since 2019. She recently graduated with her Doctorate in Education from ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College with an emphasis in Leadership and Innovation. Her research is centered on curriculum redesign, career decision-making self-efficacy, equity in education, social justice in education, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Through her research she has developed a Curriculum Interrogation Checklist through a Culturally Responsive Lens, Culturally Responsive Recruitment and Retention Framework and a Culturally Responsive Curriculum Evaluation Framework. She has presented at several conferences, spoken on several podcasts and written several papers all related to these research topics. She has worked in research for over 14 years on NIH, NSF, DoD, and DoE grants. She earned her BA in Psychology from San Diego State University and an MA in Organizational Leadership from Point Loma Nazarene University. She hopes to continue to affect change within institutions of higher education, provide mentorship for students who have been historically marginalized in academia and use research to be an agent of change.
Caroline VanIngen-Dunn Arizona State University [biography]

Caroline VanIngen-Dunn is Director of the Center for Broadening Participation in STEM at Arizona State University where she is leading the Center’s effort to create inclusive STEM environments for students who use the community college system and to provide access along their pathway to achieving their credentials, degrees, and jobs. She is Principal Investigator of a $10M NSF INCLUDES Alliance to Accelerate Latinx Representation in STEM Education (ALRISE) with institutional intentionality and capacity building for experiential learning. She serves on the University of Iowa College of Engineering Advisory Board, and on several Workforce Development and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committees.
Katy M. Pinto
Gloria Gonzalez
Marcus Jerome Garcia Phoenix College
Paul Ross Phoenix College

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