Evaluation
In Fall 2018, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) launched the Building Capacity: Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM Through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Community Engagement project with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Program. The five-year project aims to improve student retention and graduation rates in the College of Sciences (COS) by implementing culturally and linguistically relevant gateway courses in mathematics and biology and engaging students in meaningful community projects, which will reach approximately 5000 students. Starting in Spring 2019, the project began delivering faculty workshops to develop knowledge and skills in inclusive, culturally relevant teaching and experiential learning. Community members joined in the workshops. To examine the effectiveness of the project, external evaluators study the impact of various strategies and approaches on faculty, students, and the institution. The annual evaluation reports provide an overview of what we are learning.