HSI Grants

Due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, various Minority Serving Institutions and Hispanic Serving Intuitions received CARES Act Federal Funding as part of a COVID-19 grant in the Spring/Summer of 2020. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion reached out to various departments, faculty, and staff for recommendations on programs and activities that meet the funding guidelines for the grant. Of the 22 ideas proposed, 11 were awarded that met the guidelines of focusing on students, technology, pedagogy, accessibility, operations, and programs.  

We wanted to make sure that students received as much as they could from the grant by supporting students in their roles as Learning Assistants, Teaching Assistants, and Transfer Peer Mentors. Through these opportunities, students in these roles also contributed to supporting faculty in the classrooms to improve student experience as faculty switched their curriculum to online/hybrid formats. Faculty also had the opportunity to participate in the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) full academic-year course. The course assisted faculty with inclusive online teaching tools that also helped with the transition online. Because of Teaching Assistants, we saw an increase in student retention of 3.37% in those who participated. Additionally, the Transfer Peer Mentor program had a caseload of 2,760 during the 2020-2021 academic year. From Fall 2020 through Fall 2021, the Learning Assistants program saw 122 Learning Assistants support 81 different faculty members in 149 courses. Finally, through the CARES funding, we also provided books and supplies for students that participated in the Admissions and Center of Equity and Student Achievement’s mentoring program as well as the School of Education’s Roadrunner Diversity Scholars program.  

Since the pandemic required faculty/staff/students to transition from in-person to online and hybrid formats, we used CARES funding to support students using online tutoring programs such as TutorMe. Based on the fall student impact survey, students reported having outdated hardware and no laptops to complete their course assignments. 52 students, including student employees, benefited from laptops purchased using HEERF funding for the spring 2021 semester. We were also able to provide additional Zoom services for affinity group graduations for students, faculty, staff, and families to be able to celebrate the accomplishments of their students.  

Lastly, as a Hispanic Serving Institution that is intentionally finding ways to serve our students, we believe translating website content and university documents into Spanish illustrates our continued dedication to our Hispanic/Latina/o/x students and families from Spanish speaking homes and values the knowledge and skills of our current staff and faculty. Remaining HEERF funding were allocated to lost revenue to continue to fund some of the programs such as Teaching Assistants, ACUE Cohort, Spanish translation, and Transfer Peer Mentors for the remaining of the spring 2022 semester. 

• 2021
• Total Award Amount: $299,999
• PI: Dr. Brooke Evans
• Description: This grant is in collaboration with the Community College of Denver and will examine the benefits of a shared Learning Assistant (LA) experience to promote transfer from the community college into a STEM bachelors granting institution. The LA program at MSU Denver has shown to increase retention, learning outcomes, and sense of belonging for students in STEM programs, especially for underrepresented minority students. The Learning Assistant Transfer Pathway (LATP) Pilot Program will explore the use of near-peer content-specific role models and mentoring as a way to create a strong foundation for successful transfer experiences as well as increased retention and learning outcomes in STEM programs.

• 2021
• Total Award Amount: $1,000,000
• PI: Dr. Hsiu-Ping Liu
• Description: This proposed project is grounded in the University’s focus on equitably reshaping existing structures and programming with a focus on diversity. A unique collaboration on the Auraria Campus including the Center for Advanced STEM Education (CASE), Classroom to Career Hub (C2 Hub), Undergraduate Research & Creative Scholarship (UR&CS), and Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) at MSU Denver, and the Community College of Denver (CCD) provides transformative infrastructure and programmatic support for BUILD. This strong foundation for a successful BUILD project will contribute to achieving the goals of increasing the number of underrepresented minority students enrolled in STEM majors, building STEM identity through Competence, Performance, Recognition, and Transformative Co-Curricular Engagement by leveraging wide-ranging campus, community and industry partnerships. BUILD is well positioned to make a substantial impact in equitable STEM education in Colorado

• 2020
• Project Title: US Dept of Education – Space Tech Scholar’s
• Total Award Amount: $2,931,456
• PI: Dr. Jeff Forrest
• Description: To address the demonstrated need for aerospace and engineering technicians in Colorado (and the United States at large), as well as the lack of diversity in this industry, SpaceTech Scholars will increase the recruitment, retention, graduation, and career placement rates of Hispanic and other underrepresented students as level-entry technicians in the domains of aerospace and engineering. These goals will be obtained through the development of a linked learning community, which includes: (1) the creation of a clear aerospace/engineer technician pathway, (2) dual-enrollment opportunities for high school youth interested in this field of work, (3) exposure to engineering/aerospace opportunities and diverse professionals in these field for students, starting in middle/high school and (4) comprehensive support system for MSU Denver students who enroll in this new career pathway, including intrusive advising and career navigation, academic support, internship opportunities, financial aid and literacy, social capital, and other supportive services to eliminate barriers facing Hispanic and other low-income students. The program objectives include: Enroll an increased number of Hispanics students in aerospace/engineering through reduced barriers to enrollment through the development of a new career pathway, Aerospace Engineering Technician (AET); increase the interest in engineering/aerospace careers by Hispanic/low-income middle/high school students through educational/awareness and outreach events and an annual summer camp; increase the interest in engineering/aerospace careers by Hispanic/low-income MSU Denver students through educational and awareness opportunities; increase the enrollment and retention rate of Hispanic/low-income students in the AET pathway; and increase the graduation and career placement rates of Hispanic/low-income students in the AET pathway.

• 2019
• Project Title: US Dept of Education – Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans in Denver Nutrition Program (POHA-Denver)
• Total Award Amount: $2,000,000
• PI: Dr. Rachel Sinley
Description: The POHA-Denver grant housed within the Department of Nutrition focuses on encouraging students from diverse backgrounds and those with interest in serving diverse populations, to pursue post-baccalaureate study here at MSU Denver. The POHA-Denver program here at MSU Denver aims to diversify the field of nutrition and dietetics through many avenues including: Conducting outreach to students in high schools, community colleges and in baccalaureate programs. Providing financial support to help students navigate barriers to participating in post-baccalaureate degree programs. Hiring diverse support staff to fuel the grant efforts and to provide advising for current and prospective students. Offering financial-literacy training focusing on loan payback and budgeting. Development of regular seminars and an annual conference focused on diversity in dietetics and health care. The grant also aims to promote cultural intelligence among faculty, students, staff and practitioners in the field.

• 2020
• Total Award Amount: $112,458
• PI: Dr. Jeffrey London, Dr. Steve Beaty
• Description: The PI and CO-PI of the funded grant proposal are Drs. London and Beaty. As a result, MSU Denver becomes the most recent Hispanic Serving Institute to join NSA’s Cybersecurity Education Diversity Initiative Coalition (CEDI). The coalition is composed of a diverse set of eleven colleges and universities. While some of the CEDI schools are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), other schools are Hispanic Serving Institutes (HSIs). All these schools, including MSU Denver, are Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The eleven schools that make up the NSA CEDI community are as follows: Fordham University, Excelsior College, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan state University of Denver, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, New Jersey City University, University of North Florida, Tennessee Tech University, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and University of North Texas. According to Dr. London “MSU Denver will help to lead the way with MWCC and CDHE. We are excited that additionally cybersecurity professors and students of Colorado will be better equipped to usher in the next generation of cybersecurity experts and industry professionals. Diversifying this field of industry experts is what MSU Denver is all about.”

• 2022
• Total Award Amount: $60,000
• PI: James Reid
• Description: This project will improve humanities teaching at Metropolitan State University of Denver) and peer institutions through teaching a wide audience of educators how to use games effectively in the classroom by offering an opportunity for selected professors from MSU Denver and institutions with similar missions to reflect on and improve their pedagogy in introductory humanities courses. This project will contribute to MSU Denver’s College of Letters, Arts, and Science ongoing goal of creating “an even stronger educational and learning environment for our students”.