9550502 Riter The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a national leader in Hispanic education. Over 60 percent of its more than 17,000 students are underrepresented minorities and an estimated two-thirds are the first in their families to attend college. Approximately 85 percent of UTEP's students come from El Paso County, a fast growing urban region representative of many large southwestern cities that now have, or soon will have, a majority of their population composed of groups currently underrepresented in the science, engineering, and mathematics (SEM) workforce. UTEP, however, is unique in that it is the only major urban university in the Southwest whose ethnic distribution matches the demographics of the region it serves. The Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) program provides UTEP the opportunity to serve as a model for the urban university of the future, one with a mission to serve a multicultural population where minority students comprise the majority. UTEP's MIE project will address the major impediment to increasing the number of bachelor's degrees in SEM disciplines: the unacceptably high attrition of entering SEM students. UTEP proposes a dynamic approach to meeting the needs of entering students, needs that will change as local school improvement programs, such as the NSF-funded El Paso Systemic Initiative, improve area students' preparation in mathematics and science. UTEP's MIE plan will help first-year students understand how to succeed in college, reduce class size in first-year courses, and present a broad picture of what SEM disciplines are about and the opportunities that careers in these fields provide. Most importantly, through MIE, UTEP's faculty commit to the concept that they are responsible for more than classroom instruction, that they are also responsible for the development of the entire student and the creation of an on-campus environment that supports learning and personal development. Since many of these activities will utilize undergraduates a s mentors and peer instructors, an additional benefit will be the provision of meaningful work experiences for a student body composed of people with financial responsibilities they must meet while attending school. UTEP will also use MIE to accelerate the introduction of active learning strategies into all of its SEM courses. Such strategies include cooperative learning, computer-assisted instruction, the linking of English composition courses with SEM courses, and peer instruction. To make active learning and effective teaching a reality, MIE will serve as a catalyst for a change in thinking about the mission and responsibilities of faculty by working to modify the major determinants of faculty rewards from research to the promotion of learning. MIE will provide resources to enrich the quality and increase the quantity of SEM programs through addition of faculty and staff and the upgrading of infrastructure in the degree programs likely to yield the greatest increase in SEM graduates. A goal of MIE will be to ensure that every SEM student participates at least once in a professional enrichment experience by serving as a research assistant in an on-campus research project or as an intern or co-op student in government of industry. Finally, MIE will impact the university educational infrastructure by providing resources to improve UTEP's ability to advise students, track their progress, and evaluate the effectiveness of programs. UTEP will manage MIE through a unique combination of expertise in academic and student affairs. The Principal Investigator is a national leader in engineering education with experience managing large interdisciplinary programs. The Co-PI brings similar experience in the student affairs area. They will work with an advisory committee of key faculty, administrators, and regional SEM leaders from industry and government to change the very nature of SEM education at UTEP. 2 University of Texas at El Paso
