Ten minority-serving institutions are among 47 small colleges and universities receiving science education grants totaling $50 million-plus from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
The four-year grants, which range from $800,000 to $1.5 million, are aimed at providing students with real-world research experiences, creating more engaging science courses and increasing the diversity of students in the sciences.
“It’s time for us to be more in tune with what’s going on elsewhere, rather than just what we’ve always known and done here,” says Dr. Bettye Sue Hennington, professor of biology at Tougaloo College. The historically Black institution in Mississippi, which secured a $1.3 million HHMI award, has about 350 undergraduates majoring in STEM disciplines, comprising about one-third of the student body.
HHMI officials say the grants are designed to encourage long-term collaboration among the schools, such as sharing strategies with peers addressing similar needs on their campuses. The main activities of the funded proposals incorporate themes such as preparing undergraduates to become K-12 teachers trained in inquiry-based learning, developing strategies that improve retention of all students in science, and encouraging students to engage in research through one-on-one, apprentice-based experiences.
The grant to Tougaloo will finance multiple initiatives benefiting students and faculty, Hennington says. A top priority is establishing a residential learning community for 30 to 45 undergraduate STEM majors as early as the fall semester. The move would enhance their undergraduate experience, and they would be known as Howard Hughes Scholars. Generally, about one-third of Tougaloo STEM graduates advance to professional schools in those disciplines, Hennington says, with another one-third choosing graduate schools and the rest entering the workforce.
The HHMI award enables Tougaloo to engage a consultant to revitalize pedagogies among its 19 science faculty, Hennington says. About one-fourth of them have taught there for 30 years apiece with scant opportunity for professional development.
Under the grant, Tougaloo will also consult with a curriculum specialist to revamp courses. “We have traditional biology, chemistry and physics but we’re not interdisciplinary enough, and, considering where our graduates go once they leave here, we need interdisciplinary coursework,” Hennington says.
