The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is requesting three years of support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further the professional development of STEM faculty, staff, and students at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) that have received grants from the NSF Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). The project is designed to strengthen the financial management, assessment, and evaluation of TCUP-funded projects; improve the capabilities of STEM faculty to better integrate culture into the curriculum as well as improve their mentoring/advising skills; and provide professional development opportunities in Washington, DC, for STEM faculty and students at TCUP grantees. To facilitate achieving these goals, QEM will conduct two workshops for STEM faculty, two workshops for TCUP Project staff, offer an annual nine-month fellowship for a STEM faculty who would be based at NSF, and provide ten-week summer internships for five students each year.
From 2008 to 2013, the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network, with support from National Science Foundation (NSF) Award #0832260, provided intensive professional development for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) faculty, staff, and students at the Nation’s Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). QEM’s project was designed to further the goals of the Foundation’s Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) in an effort to impact STEM educational experiences for Native American students nationwide. QEM provided opportunities for professional development through a series of workshops for faculty and staff from TCUs, faculty fellowships at NSF, and summer internships in Washington, DC for undergraduate students from TCUs. Since the project’s start in 2008, QEM has conducted six workshops for STEM faculty and staff at TCUP-supported institutions, as well as additional workshops that have allowed faculty from TCUP institutions to participate. Workshops focused on: professional development of STEM students; integrating Native culture into the curriculum content and instruction for STEM courses; proposal information and development; fundamentals of education research; assessment and evaluation of TCUP projects; and enhancing STEM research at TCUP institutions. QEM produced two publications through support from this grant. The first one, Scholarly Guideposts for TCUP Faculty, was published in April 2011 in an effort to provide STEM faculty and staff at TCUs, Alaska Native-serving and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions the opportunity to share their knowledge of STEM teaching and outreach with each other and the broader STEM community. The second report, Promising Practices in STEM Education and Research at Institutions Supported through the National Science Foundation’s Tribal Colleges and Universities Program, was completed in October 2012. The report described activities or procedures that have produced outstanding results and thus might be adapted to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and/or innovation in similar situations at other institutions. Through this project, two faculty members from TCUP institutions participated in six-month science policy-focused Faculty Fellowships at the National Science Foundation headquarters, based in Arlington, Virginia. The fellows learned firsthand how NSF functions, how to help shape programs and policies, and how to help ensure that STEM faculty at TCUs are included in the pool of potential reviewers and are aware of other STEM funding opportunities at NSF. Fellows engaged in relevant research, such as conducting a survey of mathematics programs at TCUs to better understand the strengths and needs of programs serving Native American students. From Summer 2009 to Summer 2013, twenty-two (22) students from TCUs or Hawaiian-serving institutions participated in a ten-week Science Education-focused Summer Internship Program in Washington, DC. Nineteen (19) of those students completed the entire ten-week program. The interns engaged in research projects pertaining to STEM education among Native Americans; were exposed to information about science and education policies that affect groups underrepresented in STEM fields; and were able to interact with STEM and education professionals from organizations such as the American Society for Engineering Education, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the National Science Foundation. The TCUP Summer Internship Program provided the students with opportunities for professional development through presentations and activities focused on skills development (i.e., writing, presentation, computer, networking, and time management), pathways to STEM careers, professionalism and ethics, research, leadership, and community outreach. Additionally, interns were able to broaden their experiences through visits to museums and other sites, as well as through externship assignments at various agencies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, National Medical Association, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education. The QEM TCUP Project supports the goals of NSF TCUP to increase the participation and success of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians in the STEM workforce. As the Nation’s need for STEM workers continues to increase, it is essential that the full potential of STEM talent be included in the STEM workforce as well as in public policy decisions regarding the contribution of STEM knowledge to address society’s needs. Under the leadership of President Shirley McBay, the QEM Network was established in 1990 as a non-profit organization in Washington, DC, dedicated to improving education for minorities throughout the nation. QEM works with minority and non-minority individuals, organizations, and institutions to help coordinate and energize efforts to improve the education of minorities, especially those from groups that have historically been underrepresented in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
