A few weeks ago, I started to look at the programs that work to boost minority participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, specifically Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) is another successful program that focuses on helping STEM students by providing long-term institutional funding to Hispanic-serving institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, and tribal colleges and universities. The National Science Foundation provides funding for both programs.
Each MIE institution focuses on student support systems, undergraduate research opportunities, faculty development through technology and curriculum, outreach recruitment programs for K-12 students, STEM educational infrastructure, internal and external institutional assessment and evaluation, and partnerships and collaborations with business for student internship programs.
Currently there are several institutional partners actively involved: Bowie State University in Maryland; Spelman College in Atlanta; Universidad Metropolitana in Puerto Rico; The University of Texas at El Paso; Xavier University of Louisiana; Oglala Lakota College and Sisseton Wahpeton College in South Dakota; and Sitting Bull College in North Dakota.
In 2003-2004 there were roughly 34,810 undergraduate students enrolled in the MIE institutions, with 20 percent (6,950) in STEM fields. More than 40 percent of the 6,950 students enrolled in STEM are Hispanic, and 37 percent are Black.
