The University of Texas at San Antonio received $3 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, which will go to Hispanic students in STEM disciplines.
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) obtained 3 million dollars from the National Science Foundation (NSF), specifically to support Hispanic and underrepresented students in STEM disciplines (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics, for its acronym).
UTSA is a particularly special university for the Hispanic community in Texas, as it has a majority of Hispanic students currently enrolled, with 57% of Fall 2021 students being Hispanic. Likewise, of the 7,741 degrees awarded by this institution in the academic year 202-2021, 56% were awarded to students of Hispanic origin.
NSF funding is intended to promote the creation of a university model for student success, as well as to advance research and public education. "I deeply believe that education is the primary driver of social mobility, and this award greatly enhances UTSA's efforts to develop even more innovative programs to support future Roadrunners and students of all backgrounds across the country," said UTSA President Taylor Eighty.
He also highlighted the importance of UTSA being a founding member of the Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Research Universities. “We are incredibly honored to be recognized for our commitment to promoting the success of Latino students in San Antonio and beyond,” he explained.
To promote this program, the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of the University, Heather Shipley, was named principal investigator of the project: “Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Institutional Transformation Project: Undergraduate STEM Education through a Framework of Success for Hispanic Students”. The goal of the project is to develop an HSI Student Success Service Framework that can be replicated at other HSIs in the United States.
“While colleges are federally designated as HSIs based on enrollment demographics, 'serving' is a multifaceted approach to understanding how well colleges are truly supporting their Hispanic students and developing organizational change to improve that support,” Shipley explained.
In this way, UTSA is committed to increasing the representation of Hispanic students in STEM degree programs and later in the workforce of this sector that is so relevant at the academic, production and research levels.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
