McMurry University and Cisco College have been selected to receive a US Department of Education Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Cooperative Grant, with funding to begin October 1, 2018.  The five-year grant will provide $3.75M to the two institutions.

These highly competitive grants are awarded to outstanding Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) for strengthening efforts to foster and expand opportunities for Hispanic-student success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.  Our grant will support addition of new degree programs at McMurry, articulation agreements with Cisco College, campus support for student success, and strategies to build knowledge and skills relevant to future STEM careers.  One key strategy used will be involvement of students in research with mentoring faculty, with funds provided to improve the facilities and instrumentation for teaching and conducting research.

The new degree programs at McMurry will be Human Health Science (HHSC) and Sustainability and Renewable Resources (SUST).   HHSC focuses on programs leading to careers in public health, healthcare professions, and medical research, while SUST centers on preventing and solving ecological problems and industrial challenges that threaten long-term health to man and the environment.  Articulation agreements will enable smooth transfer from existing AS preparatory programs at Cisco into the BS programs at McMurry. 

In addition to these new programs, the grant will provide resources to help attract and retain more Hispanic STEM majors.  Efforts will build more successful students through existing and new efforts aimed at building confidence, resilience, and persistence in STEM majors to graduate more Hispanic STEM professionals. 

As important as what will be offered through this grant is how the programs will be taught.  We believe proven student support practices should be paired with research-rich, project-based instruction to build a sense of belonging and purpose in Hispanic STEM students.  Such a sense of community is vital to building critical reasoning and communication skills, fostering a sense of community, and encouraging student success.  The research initiative will be based on formation of Research Teams – groups of faculty and students from both campuses participating in research to address issues of significance to our region.  The mentor-apprentice model for faculty-student research involvement and emphasis on community building within programs will encourage resilience and persistence in STEM while building knowledge and skills of particular importance to future employers and careers. 

Our goal is to attract, retain, support, and prepare Hispanic students to become STEM leaders for the future.  However, the measures we will put in place will impact the success of all Cisco and McMurry STEM students.  Our innovative programs and approaches to support and graduate Hispanic students from college STEM programs will be a model strategy transferable to other colleges.  In many ways, there is nothing comparable anywhere to some of the things we plan to do.