Grants & Projects

Project Leadership: Dr. Criselda Garcia 

Sponsor: Raising Texas Teachers, Charles Butt Foundation 

Project Description: The Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers is available to prospective teachers who are currently enrolled in, or plan to enter, an eligible teacher preparation program at a Charles Butt Foundation Raising Texas Teachers partner university. 

Charles Butt Scholarship for Aspiring Teachers 

Early head start services will be provided to infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children from low-income families, children in the foster care system, expectant women, teen parents, and homeless children. This partnership will establish center-based early learning environments to provide full-day, full-year learning experiences that meet the needs of eligible children and their families, and support child development and school readiness through strong relationship-based experiences and early intervention services. 

 Project Name: From Cradle to Kinder: Communities Engaged Together for Early Childhood Education

Project Leadership: Dr. Hilda Medrano (Principal Investigator), Dr. Julia G. Cuevas Guerra (Co-Investigator), Dr. Irasema Salinas González (Co-Investigator), Dr. Ralph Carlson (Co-Investigator)

Sponsor: PNC Foundation

Project Description: The PNC Grow Up Grant supports early education initiatives that benefit children from birth to age five and serve a majority of children (>50%) from low- to moderate-income families. The PNC Grow Up Grant also includes direct services for children in their community, professional development for early childhood educators and family community engagement in children’s early learning.

Project Purpose:The project From Cradle to Kinder: Communities Engaged Together for Early Childhood Education engages children ages 0-5, their families, and Early Childhood Educators in early literacy development across the Rio Grande Valley community. The grant activities include:

• The Literacy Days in City Parks, festival-like days devoted to communities with purposeful and playful activities to develop children’s language, social-emotional and literacy development, ensuring future academic success. During the Literacy Days in City Parks, parents will also engage in financial education for self-sufficiency. Event details forthcoming.
• The Mobile Literacy Unit (MLU) will give access to children and families to free books, literacy games, and story time to improve children’s school readiness.
• The Early Childhood Education faculty will coordinate and host a Professional Development Conference for Early Childhood Educators at the University. The primary focus of the conference is on intentional teaching of vocabulary, early literacy development, and other developmentally appropriate practices. Event details forthcoming.
• The Early Childhood Education faculty will organize a campaign celebrating Bilingualism as A Superpower to advocate for bilingualism in the community. Details forthcoming.

Project Leadership: 

• Dr. Nancy P. Razo (PI), LSSP, professor of practice and the School Psychology program coordinator 
• Dr. Noe Ramos, LSSP, assistant professor in the department of Human Development & School Services 
• Dr. Suzanne Maniss, professor in the Department of Counseling 
• Nelda M. Rodriguez, LMSW, clinical professor, in the School of Social Work 
• Dr. Javier Cavazos, LPC, professor, in the Department of Counseling 
• Dr. Selma Yznaga, LPC, professor in the Department of Counseling 

Funding Amount: $5.7 million 

Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education, Department of Education’s Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program 

Project Description: The goal is to provide critical mental health services to K-12 students in the Rio Grande Valley. 

Dr. Nancy P. Razo is the principal investigator of the grant. The project will partner with six (6) local education agencies -- Edcouch-Elsa ISD, McAllen ISD, PSJA ISD, Sharyland ISD, Harlingen CISD, and Mission CISD -- to train 120 school psychology, counseling, and social work graduate students in those districts to complete their training and be employed to provide mental health services in local schools. 

The research team behind the grant expects that by the end of the grant period, 90 (75%) of the total 120 school-based mental health service professionals will be employed as school psychologists, counselors, or social workers in one of the partnered school agencies within the local region. 

VIDEO from UTRGV Press Conference: 

Read Press Release 

Project Leadership: 

• Dr. Nancy P. Razo (PI), LSSP, professor of practice and the School Psychology program coordinator 
• Dr. Suzanne Maniss, professor in the Department of Counseling 
• Dr. Noe Ramos, LSSP, assistant professor in the Department of Human Development & School Services 
• Dr. Jessica Haas, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling 
• Nelda M. Rodriguez, LMSW, clinical professor in the School of Social Work 
• Dr. Denise Longoria, LCSW-S, associate professor in the School of Social Work 
• Dr. Javier Cavazos, LPC, professor, in the Department of Counseling 
• Dr. Selma Yznaga, LPC, professor in the Department of Counseling 

Funding Amount: $5.6 million 

Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education, Department of Education’s Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program 

Project Description: The goal is to provide critical mental health services to K-12 students in the Valley. This is the second grant obtained by Dr. Razo and her team under this grant program and includes four (4) additional school districts. Project MHS ACCESS was the first one that includes six (6) school districts. 

Dr. Nancy P. Razo is the principal investigator of the grant. The project will partner with four local education agencies – Laredo ISD, Mercedes ISD, United ISD, and Valley View ISD -- to train 70 school psychology, counseling, and social work graduate students in those districts to complete their training and be employed to provide mental health services in schools.

Project Name: Project Bridging the Way 

Project Leadership: Dr. Suzanne Maniss (Project Director), Dr. Nancy Razo (Co-Project Director), Dr. Javier Cavazos (Project Evaluator), Dr. Selma Yznaga (Co-Project Evaluator), Dr. Christine Berger (Training Specialist), Erica Villarreal (Training Specialist), and Dr. Zulmaris Diaz (Training Specialist) 

Funding Amount: $625,000 

Sponsor: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) 

Project Description: Project Bridging the Way will train school personnel (e.g., teachers, counselors, administrators, school law enforcement, human resource employees), parents, and undergraduate clinical teachers in the UTRGV College of Education and P-16 Integration to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness and/or emotional disturbances in youth and school district staff and make appropriate referrals to licensed mental health providers. 

Mental Health Resources 

• In an emergency or crisis 
• Domestic violence, abuse, and sexual assault resources 
• Treatment resources 
• Mental health treatment 
• Children and youth resources 
• Resources for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender support 
• Self-help resources and groups 
• Other resources 

Visit the Mental Health Resources webpage on the Department of Counseling for support information. 

Project Name: Project PLEASE (Program for Leaders to Educate and Advocate for Special Education)  

Project Leadership: Dr. Paul Sale (Principal Investigator), Dr. Federico Guerra (Co-Principal Investigator), and Dr. Velma Menchaca (Co-Principal Investigator) 

Funding Amount: $1,243,658.00 

Sponsor: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs 

Project Description: Project PLEASE (Program for Leaders to Educate and Advocate for Special Education) (2019-2024) is a collaborative initiative between the Department of Human Development and School Services, the Department of Organization and School Leadership, and nine partner school districts. The Project PLEASE program provides specialized training in Educational Leadership with a focus on Special Education Leadership to a group of fifteen scholars pursuing their doctoral degrees. The project curriculum emphasizes special education law literacy, high-leverage and evidence-based special education practices, practice-based experiences, and advocacy for the rights of families and their children with disabilities.

Project Leadership: Dr. Angela Chapman 

Sponsor: College of Education and P-16 Integration, Engaged Scholarship & Learning, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Division of Research, UTeach 

Project Description: A fundamental goal is to ensure that all STEM educators are prepared to successfully implement best practices in STEM education, from preschool to college. 

RGV STEM Education Consortium 

Project Leadership: Dr. Chu-Lin Cheng (Principal Investigator, College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Dr. Ming-Tsan Pierre Lu (Co-Principal Investigator) 

Funding Amount: $634,612 

Sponsor: National Science Foundation 

Project Description: This project is a collaboration between the University of Colorado at Boulder, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Front Range Community College, and the University of Nebraska/Methodology and Evaluation Research Core Facility. The project aims to address the challenges institutions face as they seek to improve undergraduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. To this end, the project will implement and investigate a comprehensive approach to transforming instruction and institutional culture. The project aims to increase the adoption of learner-centered, research-based instructional strategies through the Learning by Design professional development program. The Learning by Design program was developed through a previous Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidence-Based Reforms award. Project components include a professional development program focused on course-design principles and research-based instructional strategies, with follow-up mentoring, roundtable discussion, course improvement awards, and research and evaluation activities. 

The primary goal of this project is to move undergraduate STEM instructors away from traditional teacher-centered lecture-based instruction, toward learning-centered active learning-based instruction. The secondary goal is to create, test, and implement different versions of the Learning by Design program in ways that are sensitive to differences between institutions and their varied missions and contexts. 

The project team proposes to develop sustainability models that will enable these versions to persist beyond the project's life. Applying grounded theory and correlational analyses, the multiple-case study research study (mixed qualitative and quantitative methods) is designed to address the primary research question: How can evidence-based instructional methods and professional development programs be effectively propagated in different institutions of higher education to support STEM instructor implementation of learner-centered instruction? 

The design/implementation and research components of the proposed effort are grounded in the organizational change literature, primarily through the theoretical and practical work of Kezar (e.g., research-based principles of organizational change, change strategies, change foci, change models, and change outcomes). The project is designed to provide multiple ways by which faculty, academic departments and other units, institutions, and institutional consortia can support broader implementation of effective instructional strategies/practices, and thus improve undergraduate STEM education.

Project Name: UTeach 

Project Leadership: Dr. Angela Chapman (Co-Director of UTeach, College of Education and P-16 Integration) and Dr. Chris Smith (Co-Director of UTeach, College of Sciences) 

Sponsor: UTRGV (Institutionally funded program) 

Description: UTRGV UTeach is the secondary teacher preparation program for science and mathematics majors at UTRGV. The purpose of the program is to prepare highly qualified science and mathematics teachers according to the UTeach model developed at The University of Texas at Austin.  

During its five-year period as a replication grant, UTRGV UTeach graduated 92 students and in its fifth year surpassed all UTeach programs in the nation with an active enrollment of 485 students. 

UTeach Program

Project Name: Individualized 4-C Treatment for Hispanic Parents and Their Children with Autism 

Funding Amount: $500,000 

Funding Source: Texas Higher Education Coordinator Board

Project Name: A Community-Engaged Pedagogy in HSI Teacher Preparation: Leveraging Voices from the Field Amidst the Global Pandemic. 

Project Leadership: Dr. Sandra I. Musanti (Principal Investigator, Professor, Bilingual and Literacy Studies Department), Dr. Veronica Estrada (Co-PI, Professor, Teaching and Learning Department), and Dr. Pauli Badenhorst (Co-PI, Assistant Professor, Teaching and Learning Department). The research team also includes Mrs. Patricia Robles (Assistant Professor in Practice, Bilingual and Literacy Studies Department) and Mrs. Amy Montoya (Doctoral Student and Graduate Research Assistant, Curriculum and Instruction Program). 

Funding Amount: $92,514.00 

Funding Source: Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity (BranchED) 

Project Description: The awarded project sought to tap into the experiences and expertise of Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) community leaders, teacher educators, district and school administrators, experienced and novice teachers, and teacher candidates in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) to inform a community-engaged pedagogy framework that would bridge school and university cultures – an initiative critical to a sustainable and equitable approach to transforming teacher preparation. Through a mixed methods approach, the study documented Latinx educators’ professional, cultural, and linguistic experiences learning to teach as well as effective practices and stances for teaching and learning. 

Project Leadership: Dr. Alexis Racelis (Principal Investigator, College of Sciences) Dr. Angela Chapman (Co-Principal Investigator), Dr. Francisco Guajardo (Co-Principal Investigator), and Dr. Javier Cavazos (Key Personnel) 

Funding Amount: $1,480,002 

Sponsor: National Science Foundation 

Project Description: This project will design and implement professional development workshops to help faculty develop inclusive, culturally relevant teaching practices and to help faculty implement effective community engagement and experiential learning in STEM. These faculty will develop and teach new introductory core biology and math courses ("gateway courses") in a bilingual modality while leading new first-year courses in Community Engaged Scholarship and Learning. Through measures of academic, behavioral, and perceptual gains (e.g., pre/post assessments; measures of science motivation), the project will determine the impact of these courses on students' sense of belonging, pride, and cultural wealth, to define how these characteristics intersect with student performance and retention. Utilizing surveys, open-ended questions, and focus group interviews, this project also aims to measure the impact of professional development activities and new courses on faculty's awareness of community engagement and their use of culturally relevant pedagogies.

Project Name: Fit-in Hang-out and Move-forward Parent-Directed Treatment Program 

Project Leadership: Dr. Noe Ramos (Principal Investigator), Dr. Javier Cavazos (Co-Principal Investigator), and Ms. Julie Pecina (Co-Principal Investigator) 

Funding Amount: $499,265.00 

Funding Source: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) 

Project Description: The parent-directed treatment program provided training and support to 320 parents of children and adolescents with Autism across all four counties in the Rio Grande Valley. The program delivered a bilingual evidence-based training program to help Hispanic parents improve confidence, psychological flexibility, and emotional well-being, as well as to improve communication, social behaviors, and social interactions among children or adolescents with Autism.

Project Leadership: Dr. John Lowdermilk (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Vejoya Viren (Co-Principal Investigator) 

Funding Amount: $233,576 

Sponsor: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board 

Project Description: In collaboration with South Texas College, this project will develop a 100% online competency-based Bachelor of Science Early Care and Early Childhood Studies (BS-ECEC) that can be affordably completed within three (3) years.

Project Name: Preparing Teaching Candidates to Enact Transformative Teaching Practices: A Program Level Design-Development Study 

Project Leadership: Dr. Criselda Garcia (PI) 

Funding Amount: $22,909 ($21,818 Direct Costs + $1,091 Indirect Costs) 

Sponsor: Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation 

Project Description: When teacher preparation programs have greater alignment across all points of contact within their network of support, teacher candidates leave the program better prepared to enact transformative teaching practices. Ten institutions in Texas that lead the state in excellence in teacher preparation have been working for one year, under the guidance of Raise Your Hand: Raising Texas Teachers (RYH), to develop understanding of the common problems of how we prepare teachers to be transformative teachers in Texas schools. RYH enlisted the support of the Carnegie Foundation to provide professional support for ten university-based teacher education programs to enact reforms in preservice teacher education. Together, we have worked to charter a project using improvement science to build a theory of reform for field experiences. We are part of one of two working groups, called Networked Improvement Communities (NIC) focusing on field experience. A NIC works for one year to charter a project, for 1-3 years to learn together, and on spreading the learning to other contexts. 

In this study, researchers focus on Teacher Education Program (TEP) supports and the changes in how teacher candidates are prepared as teachers within field experiences. The individuals who participate in our TEP are: 

1. Teacher Education Committee (TEC) (n=16),  
2. Liaison Graduate Student Group (n=16), 
3. Teacher Candidate Cohort Coordinators (n=8), and  
4. University Field Supervisors (n=20).

In this study, areas of focus to improve field experiences of teacher candidates (TCs) in teacher education programs are: 

1. Vision/Program Elements and Alignment,  
2. Candidate Support,  
3. Field Supervisor and Mentor Support, and 
4. Reciprocal Professional Communities. 

Project Name: Systematic Replication Research to Improve the Preparation of Teachers 

Project Leadership: Dr. Jair Aguilar (Principal Investigator) 

Funding Amount: $50,000 

Sponsor: The University of Virginia 

Project Description: This is a collaborative project with the University of Virginia and Southern Methodist University to evaluate simulated learning in teacher preparation across universities (Project On-Going - 2nd/3 year). The purpose of this research study is to capitalize on the unique features of simulated learning to investigate the most beneficial ways to structure feedback for teacher candidates, while providing students with additional opportunities to practice different skills, with the use and implementation of Mixed-Reality Simulations.

Project Name: Holmes Cadets Program 

Project Leadership: Dr. Patricia McHatton  

Project Description: The UTRGV College of Education and P-16 Integration partnered with STISD’s South Texas Business, Education & Technology Academy (BETA) to offer an educator pipeline via the Holmes Cadets (HC) Program. HC provided BETA students who were interested in a career in education an opportunity to broaden their horizons by completing concurrent college courses at UTRGV. 

When completing these concurrent courses, students were also involved in Participatory Action research which is a very important part of their professional development. The professional development activities were created with cooperation from BETA education teachers; connecting the education courses taken at BETA with the Participatory Action research activities that were completed at UTRGV. 

The HC Program was designed to prepare BETA education students to become extraordinary teachers in the K-12 system. Part of the AACTE-Holmes Program, this program supported historically underrepresented students pursuing a career in education.

Project Name: Preparing Teaching Candidates to Enact Transformative Teaching Practices: A Program Level Design-Development Study 

Project Leadership: Dr. Criselda Garcia 

Funding Amount: $100,000 per year from 2017 to 2023 

Sponsor: University of Texas System K-12 School Turnaround Partnership  

Juarez-Lincoln High School and College of Education and P-16 Integration Turnaround Partnership 

Project Name: Mobilizing Storytime and Literacy 

Project Leadership: Dr. Irasema Gonzalez (Principal Investigator) 

Funding Amount: $15,000 

Funding Source: Raul Tijerina Foundation 

Project Description: The Mobile Literacy Unit (MLU) is a community outreach vehicle designed to travel across the Rio Grande Valley to provide low-income children with equitable literacy opportunities. The MLU promotes literacy and reading achievement by taking university resources into the local community, particularly targeting areas that have been historically underserved. Through the generous support of the Raul Tijerina Jr. Foundation, the MLU has been serving the community amidst the pandemic via La Hora del Cuento/The Storytime Hour (MLU YouTube Channel) and Curbside Literacy Book Fairs. The MLU provides access to library resources such as children’s books, puppets, literacy games, iPads, literacy tools, and art supplies for young children ages 0-8 years. The MLU supports diverse projects aligned to service learning and community engagement. To request the MLU, please visit our website. 

Project Leadership: Dr. Alma Rodriguez (Co-Lead) and Dr. Sandra Musanti (Co-Lead) 

Funding Amount: $374,988.00 

Sponsor: Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity (BranchED) 

Project Description: The UTRGV College of Education and P-16 Integration is one of four minority-serving institutions selected by the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity (BranchEd) to join its national Teacher Preparation Transformation Center, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Dr. Alma Rodriguez, interim dean of the UTRGV College of Education and P-16 Integration, and Dr. Sandra Musanti, associate professor in the Bilingual and Literacy Studies Department, worked on the grant proposal and will co-lead grant implementation. 

They will work collaboratively with BranchEd, which will provide training, technical assistance, and funding to UTRGV, to advance outcomes and amplify contributions as the second-largest Hispanic Serving Institution in preparing effective diverse teachers. 

The initial school district partner in the project is Harlingen CISD. Veronica Kortan, administrator for Organizational Development; Jennifer Herrera, Talent Acquisition and Development; and Celeste Santa Ana, fifth-grade teacher and UTRGV alumna, are part of the project’s initial leadership team.  

Rodriguez states, “Funding from BranchED will help the UTRGV College of Education and P-16 Integration support ongoing initiatives and program faculty committed to transforming teacher preparation. Being part of the Teacher Preparation Transformation Center is a unique opportunity to continue our actual commitment and ongoing initiatives to high quality, sustainable, practice-based, culturally, and linguistically sustaining teacher preparation.” 

The grant is for $374,998 over three years and began January 1, 2019.

Project Name: Teacher Intrapreneurs: Responding to Priorities of Teaching and Learning in the Classroom 

Project Description: The overarching goal is to create a forum for teachers to respond to priorities of teaching and learning in Rio Grande Valley schools that recognize and reinforce the idea that teachers are mediums of models of practice and systems designed to inform and support teaching and learning strategies, which in collaboration with families and stakeholders, directly impact the education of students. 

Objectives 

1. Brainstorm individual and collective experiences of teaching and learning. 
2. Identify priorities in teaching and learning in the classroom. 
3. Develop an action plan to respond to priorities in teaching and learning in the classroom in collaboration with colleagues. 
4. Commit to action. 
5. Determine the next steps for the initiative. 

RGV Educators’ experience at the Teacher Intrapreneurs forum:

Project Leadership: Dr. Joy Esquierdo (Principal Investigator) and Dr. Stephanie Alvarez (Mexican American Studies) 

Sponsor: National Endowment for the Humanities 

Funding Amount: $99,991.00 

Project Description: The Center for Bilingual Studies in collaboration with the Center for Mexican American Studies was awarded a $99,991 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities titled Project SSTARC (Social Studies through Authentic and  Relevant Content). This grant was written in partnership with PSJA ISD and Harlingen CISD to design and organize culturally relevant Social Studies curriculum in English and Spanish for kindergarten through fifth grade students. The NEH grant will support workshops for in-service teachers, together with humanities scholar and researchers, to align the state standards (TEKS) with culturally relevant pedagogy and the use of historical artifacts from the local community. The grant will also support a conference where the instructional units will be disseminated to a larger number of elementary teachers.  

Project Leadership: Drs. Irasema Gonzalez and Hilda Medrano 

Sponsor: UT Health Science Center Houston 

Funding Amount: $348,720