Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions Program

FY 2015 Project Abstracts

University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois

Title: UniversityofIllinoisatChicago'sPipelineforAsianAmericanandNativeAmerican PacificIslander (AANAPI) StudentSuccess (UIC PASS)

Overview:TheUniversity of Illinois atChicago (UIC) proposes thePipelinefor Asian American and Native AmericanPacific Islander(AANAPI)Student Successor"UICPASS" torecruit,retain, graduate, and enhance the college experienceof AANAPI students, who remain under-served and marginalizedatUIC,andas largelyfirst-generation,low-income, immigrant students,are "at risk"forhighratesofcollegeattrition. FosteringpartnershipsbetweenUIC'sAsianAmerican Studies Program, Asian American Resource and CulturalCenter, Writing Center, Math Learning Center, Library, Counseling Center, and off-campus organizations, UIC PASS extends, strengthens, and integrates academic, social, and studentservices. Itserves as apipeline to build anetwork of learning communities on and off-campus to meet theneeds of AANAPI students during their transition to college, engagewith academic and socialsupportwhile in college, createasenseof belonging and civic engagement, as well as ease their transition from college to their chosen careers. UIC PASS outlines two sets of initiatives: 1) Academically Integrated Mentor Support(AIMS) will address retention of AANAPI students by integrating and enhancing mentor services through theAsian American Mentor Program, academicservices through embedded writing, math, and library tutors, and a culturally-relevant curriculumwith academic tutoring through Asian American Studies for pre- or Summer College and FirstYear AANAPI students; and 2) Excellence in Community Experiential Learning (EXCEL) initiatives willbuildstudents'experientiallearningskillsandeasetheirtransitionfromcollegetocareer. It focuses on building a cohortof students, and identifying clearly defined pathways that link academicknowledge and mentorship with Asian American issues and workplace/community needs. Onepath links coursework with on-campus organizations, and theother links coursework with off-campus organizations, using an electronicdatabase and resource tool to best identify these community partners. Students on both paths participate in aPracticum, to critically reflect on their community engagement experiences, as well as an annualSymposium that allows students to showcase their service learning experiences and disseminate their knowledge.

Institution's Distinguishing Features: The UniversityofIllinoisat Chicago(UIC)isthe urban campus of theUniversity of Illinois system and the largestuniversity in theChicago area. While UIC serves the entirestate, its primary service area is Cook County and thesurrounding counties of DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane, and McHenry. UIC has 15 schools and colleges and offers 77 bachelors degreeprograms, 142 graduate and professionaldegreeprograms, 13 jointdegree programs and 20 certificateprograms. In 2014, total enrollmentwas 27,969, of which 16,698 students or 59.7 percentwereundergraduates. Over 92 percentof undergraduates are enrolled full-time. The undergraduatestudentbody is:35.8 percentCaucasian, 26.4 percentHispanic/Latino, 22.7 percentAsian American, 8.2 percentBlack/African American, 0.3 percentNativeHawaiian/PacificIslander, and 0.1 percentAmerican Indian/Alaskan Native, and 50.2 percentfemale. While the majority (80.25 percent) of undergraduates are traditional-age(i.e., 22 years and younger), 8.9 percentof undergraduates are23-24 years of age, 6.6 percentare age25-29, and 4.2 percentareover the ageof 30.The totalnumber of faculty (tenured and non-tenure track) is 1,917, of whom47.4 percentarefemale, 11.4 percentareunderrepresented minorities, and 17.9 percentareAsian American or NativeHawaiian/PacificIslander.

Northern Marianas College (NMC), Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Goal: The goal ofProject PROA (Promotion and Retention Opportunities for Advancement)is to improve and expand the capacityofNMCto increasethe numberand proportion of high-need NativeChamorro and Carolinian students who are academicallyprepared toattend andgraduate from NMC on time.

  • Areof Chamorro and Carolinian descent as self-identified; and
  • Haveaneed for academicsupport in order to successfullypursueadegreeat NMC; and
  • Arealow-incomeindividual based upon federal guidelines; and
  • Arebelow theirgradelevel equivalencyin reading and math (at least belowtwograde levels); and/orareat riskof failing (based uponGPA and/or lack ofcredits);
  • Oris an individual with a disabilitywho meets theabove criteria.

The following objectives will be achieved over the five year grant period. The objectives and supporting activities are designed to support the achievement of this goal. Due to page restrictions the activities associated with each objective are only provided in the grant narrative.

PhaseI– Preparation

Objective 1 – Complete administrative tasks to launch the project

Objective2 - Establish aChamorro, Carolinian, and PacificIslanderCenter– Named Promotion and Retention Opportunities for Advancement(PROA)

Objective3- Prepare for Implementation

PhaseII– Implementationand Evaluation

Objective4- Increasetheacademicskills andinterests ofChamorro and Carolinian high school juniors and seniors andcollegefreshman (inyear 2),in pursuingpost-secondaryeducation through the provision of academictutoringservices

Objective5- Providecounselingand student support services, including culturalmentoring, to Chamorro and Carolinianhigh school juniors andseniors and collegefreshmen to support participants’ academicplanning, preparation, andsuccess andcollege andcareer aspirations

Objective6- Improve collegeand career readiness of Chamorros and Carolinians in theirjunior and senioryears of high school, through the useof technology, includinghigh-qualityaccessible digital tools and assessments, specificallyaccelerated learning,and Kuder’s assessment.

Objective7- Support participants to attendcollege and earn collegecredit while in high school (dual enrollment) and duringfreshmenyear in college

Objective8 - EvaluateProject PROA

PhaseIII– Disseminationand SustainabilityObjective9 - DisseminateProjectInformation andFindings

Objective10 - Sustain Project Activities

Project outcomes, whichwill be assessed throughimplementation of the comprehensive evaluation plan, includeimproved: cultural identity;academicmotivation; college andcareer aspirations; academic engagement; academicachievement; academicoutcomes;and graduation from high school with adiploma. In addition, thefollowingoutcomes willbe achieved: increased enrollment in the EarlyAdmissions program; increased percentageof Carolinian and Chamorro high school students whomeet CMNIstate readingand math proficiencystandards;increased numberof college credits earned duringHS;increased numberof Carolinian and Chamorro students who enterNMC;increasedretention of Carolinian and Chamorro studentsat NMC; and increased collegegraduation ratesofCarolinian and Chamorro students.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Las Vegas, Nevada

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)is a public, metropolitan university with an undergraduate enrollment exceeding 23,000 students. With more than 220 university-degree programs, UNLV serves as the primary providerofbachelors-level, masters-level,anddoctoral-level courses for the more than two million residentsof Clark County, Nevada. Nearly 4,000ofUNLV’sundergraduatesareAsianAmericanor Native American Pacific Islanders (AANAPI), while more than 9,700 undergraduatesaredisadvantaged(DA)—i.e.,low-income and/or first-generation-college—students with a Need for Academic Support (NFAS) in order to persistinpostsecondaryeducationandcompletea baccalaureate degree. On various indicators of academic performance (year-to-year persistence rates, cumulativeGPA,graduationrates, and post baccalaureate enrollment rates), UNLV’sDA-NFASstudents(15 percentofwhichare AANAPI) are far outstripped by their more advantaged classmates.

Annually, from2015-2020, the UNLV AANAPISIProject (“the project”) will serve 200ofthe institution’s DA-NFAS undergraduates, with at least 50 percent ofproject participants beingAANAPISIstudentsandnolessthan75 percentofproject participants being low-income individuals.Thus,theprojectwillresponddirectlyto the FY2015 AANAPISI grant competition’sAbsolutePriority,“Projectsthat aredesignedtoincreasethenumberand proportionofhigh-needstudents …who…completeontimecollege,”withprojectparticipants meeting the definition of“high need” by virtueof the fact that theyareall“atriskof educationalfailure”andtheoverwhelmingmajorityofthem(i.e.,atleast75 percent)liveinpoverty. With the full support of the UNLV administration and of institutional units across the UNLV campus,theprojectwillprovide participants with an array of services,including:

  • Academic tutoring;
  • Counseling (i.e., academic; undergraduate financial-aid; career; and graduate/professional-school admissions and financial-aid);
  • Support for undergraduate research; and
  • Frequent, ongoing academic-progress monitoring.

These services will assistparticipantswithovercomingbarriersthatwouldotherwiseimpede their academic progress and lead totheirpremature departure fromhigher education. Furthermore,asaresultofreceivingtheseservices, the participants will earn cumulative GPAs that are high enough to qualify themfor admission to upper-level undergraduate programs and to post baccalaureate studies. Additionally, atrates substantially higher than those of DA-NFAS students who receive no assistance fromtheproject,participantswill:

  • Persist fromyear to year in their respective degree programs;
  • Graduate fromthe institution in five and six-year time frames; and
  • Enrollinpostbaccalaureate studies.

University of Massachusetts - Boston, Boston, Massachusetts

TheUniversityof Massachusetts Boston (UMB) isideallysituated to providehigh quality, innovative, andcost-effectiveinterventions that expand the university’s capacityto successfullyandcomprehensivelyservehigh-need, low-income and firstgenerationAsian American students. UMBis one ofahandful of research universitiesin theUnited Statesthat received AANAPISIsupport in 2010, and institutionallyplaysanational leadership rolein relation to AANAPISI-centered pedagogy,curriculum development, research, studentleadership, and communityengagement. It is the onlyurban public research universityin the Boston metropolitan, and has a serviceareathat includeslarge, vibrant, and historicallysignificant Khmer(Cambodian),Vietnamese, and Chinesecommunities.

Theproject has two overarchinggoals: 1) to increase collegeaccess forAsian Americans who arelow-incomeorfirst-generation collegegoers, and for traditionallyunder-represented Asian American ethnicpopulations;and 2)to increaseAsian American student retentionand graduation. Theproject strategicallypartners withthreehigh schools, threecommunity-based organizations, and the region’s largest communitycollegeto recruit high-need Asian Americans as first-year and transferstudents. A wide rangeof campus-based activities and services—from culturallyresponsiveacademic advising and counselingto robust peer tutoringandpeer mentoringto critical leadership development and undergraduate researchmentoring opportunities in collaboration withAANAPISI-centered faculty—will expand the university’s capacityto addresstheurgent needs of under-served, low-income and traditionallyunder-represented Asian American students. TheAANAPISIproject will also address critical needs for assessment, evaluation, and new empiricalresearch focusingonAsian Americancollege access, completion, and educational equity.

Evergreen Valley College, San Jose, California

Application for a grantof$1,426,230 under theU.S. Department of Education program to StrengthenAsian American, NativeAmericanandPacificIslander-ServingInstitutions

Southeast Asian American Student Excellence (SEAASE)is a project to recruit, prepare, and guide moreSoutheast Asian American(SEAA) students toseizethe opportunityto enroll at Evergreen Valley College (EVC) and complete major stepstoward their personalgoals foracademicexcellence. Thespecial focus of theprojectisthe newVietnamese and other SEAA students who enrollat EVC eachyear. This target population, asagroup, needsreinforcements in makingthe transition to college, settingassertive careersgoals, expandingcritical thinkingand leadership skills and developing fluencyin business English.

Much of theneeded support forSEAA students arises from differences between theircultural heritage and thedominant “American” culture. “Seizing”something, for example, would be standard in the dominantUnited States culture; but not in a culturethat values respectand avoids unnecessaryconfrontation. Each participant in Project SEAASE will learnhow to understand theseculturedifferencesand how to confront theirpersonal decisions regardingtheirplacein this spectrum.

Inaddition to meetingstudent needs, thestaff andfacultywill beexpandingand improvingthe long-term capacityof the collegeto serveits diverse14,000 students. This iskeyfor acollege that is over 90 percentfrom “minority” populations, includingover 35percentAsian Americans.

Goal: Project SEAASEwill increasethecapacityof EVC to servetherangeof needs of SEAA students and demonstratethat capacitybyachievinghigherresults for additional new SEAA students. To accomplish this series of services will implement the single activityof the Project: Infusing culturallyappropriate information and examples into the recruiting, preparationand teachingof SEAA students at EVC.

Thesenew or expanded services include: outreachand support for initial enrollment, introductorysummer programs,morestudent engagement, new teachingmodules, advanced teachingof English skills,and intrusive career coaching. Infiveyears thesesteps aretoachieve six mainobjectives:

1.Enroll 1,500 new SEAAstudentseachyearfrom baselineof 1,000.

2.Assist75 SEAA studentsto completesuccessfullyanew advanced oral English class eachyear 2016-17 through 2019-20.

3.Create anaccessible libraryof150 modules forteachingcritical thinking and leadership skills with SEAA culturallyappropriate examples.

4.Support agrowingnumber ofSEAA students holdingleadership positions on campus or in the community. (15startingin 2015-16 to 100in 2019-20)

5.IncreasetheFall-to-Fall rate ofSEAA student persistence(retention) from 62.9 percentto 75 percent.

6.Increase completions so that within 24 months of enrollment,70 percentof SEAA students earn 40credits, ORearnan industry-recognized certification,OR transfer to four-yearcollege.

Theproposal responds to the Absolute Priorityand both Competitive PreferencePriorities.

Coastline Community College, Fountain Valley, California

New Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Generation Initiative (NAAPIGI)

CoastlineCommunityCollege, servesOrangeCounty, oneofCalifornia’s largest disadvantaged AsianAmerican PacificIslander(AAPI) communities. TheNew AAPI Generation Initiative’s goal will seek to improvethepersistence and timeto completion rates to match or exceed stateaveragesfor AAPIstudents. It will also seek to significantlyincreasethe numberof AAPIstudents who enroll full-time.

Shortlyafterits founding in 1976 the college responded to themigration ofSoutheast Asians and thePacificIslanders to thearea. Today,thoserefugees have children and grandchildrenfloodingthelocal high schools.Asian students now represent 50 percentto 78 percentofthe students at threehigh schools and 20 percentto 40 percentat fourotherhigh schools.

InreviewingCollegeinstitutional effectiveness statistics, thePlanning,Institutional Effectiveness, and Accreditation Committee (PIEAC), found it disquieting that in spring2014, of its hundreds of AAPIstudent, only26graduatedwithin threeyears.Aftermuch research of local student needs and thestudyofsuccessful programs at otherinstitutions servinglarge numbers of AAPIstudents, a college-wideinitiative was designed to targetAAPIhigh school graduates in thecities ofGardenGroveand Westminster, someoftheseschools report over70 percentoftheirstudents were Asian American PacificIslanders.

FortheNew AAPI Generation Initiative, Coastline revamped its STAR program to target recent AAPIhigh school graduates.Theprogram addresses student concerns about guaranteed classes being offered at onelocation.TheSTAR program is onlyforfull-time students. From thetimeoftheir acceptanceinto theprogram thestudent will be assigneda specific counselor and lateramentor.Tutors will be embedded in theircollege-level English, math, and science courses.The English and student success courses will be contextualized with materials and assignments reflectingtheAAPIstudent’s culture and history.

Anewsystem ofpredictive analytics will beusedto monitorstudent progress in all ofthe classes. When thesystem detects possibleproblems an earlyalert will besent to the AAPI student’s counselor, facultymember,and mentor.

At other AAPI-servinginstitution, Coastline found that amulticultural center fostered higherparticipation in campus activities, services,and increased retention.Usinginstitutional, non-federal funds, theCollegeplans to remodel a1,900 square foot space at its Garden Grove Centerto providethe AAPIstudents with aspaceto study, betutoredand mentored, attend leadership and languagetraining, plus participatein cultural events.Alcoves forsmallgroup gatherings to studyortosharefrustrations and experiences will bepart oftheStudent Studyand Multicultural Center (SSMC).TheSSMC will bethe focus ofcounseling,tutoring, and the student support portions oftheNew AAPI Generation Initiative.

Objective1. BySeptember30, 2020, increasethe fall-to-fall persistencerateby3 percentannuallyof first-time, full-time, awardand/ordegreeseekingAAPIstudents. Baseline(2013/14 CCCCOScorecard): 56.4 percentor188.Target Outcomes: (2016)59.4 percent, (2017)62.4 percent, (2018)

65.4 percent, (2019)68.4 percent,(2020)71.4 percent.

Objective2. BySeptember30, 2020, increaseby60 percentthenumberofAAPIstudents who complete an AAorAS degreewithin threeyears orless. Baseline(2013/2014 three-year cohort): 26. Target Outcomes: (2016)26, (2017)27, (2018)30, (2019)35, (2020)42.

Objective3. BySeptember30, 2020, increaseby40 percentthenumberof AAPIfull-time, degree-seekingstudents. Baseline(2013/2014):675.Target Outcomes: (2016)705, (2017)

745, (2018)805, (2019)875, (2020)945.

Irvine Valley College, Irvine, California

Irvine ValleyCollege (IVC) sits at thegatewayto south OrangeCounty, servingplanned communities recognized as someof thebest places in the countryto liveand avibrant, fast-growing economythat has been called the “business hub” ofthe county. Founded in 1979,it had an enrollment of14,384students in the Fall of 2014. Accordingto the2010 U.S. Census, Orange Countyhas the thirdgreatest concentration ofAsian Americans in the country. Adjustingfor those who declineto state their ethnicitybyremovingthem from the denominator,the proportion of students identifyingspecificallywith Asian American, NativeAmericanand/or Pacific Islander backgrounds (includingmulti-ethnicstudents who identifywith at least one ofthese ethnicities)is 41 percent. To meet theneeds of thesestudents,IVC’s Student Success Centeroffers tutoringin thefollowingAsian languages: Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese(Mandarin), Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi.

IVC is seekingto better address theneeds of Asian American Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPI)students byestablishinganew InterculturalInteractiveLearningCenter (IILC)which will bearegionalmagnetforthe most effectiveinterventions designed to increasethenumberand proportion of high-need students who are academicallypreparedfor, enroll in, or completeon time college,otherpostsecondary education, orother careerand technical education. Accordingly, this projectwill address two competitive priorities including: 1) Academictutoringandcounselingprograms and student support services; and 2)Projects that aredesigned to leveragetechnologythrough implementing high-qualityaccessible digital tools, assessments,and materials that arealignedwith rigorous college- andcareer-readystandards.

IVC’s ANNAPISIproject is focused on addressingthe needs of disadvantaged students, particularlylow-incomestudents, first generationstudents, and English Second Language (ESL)students. This project proposes threemajor activities.

Activity1.0: DifferenceEducationIntervention-In linewith thetheoretical and empirical breakthrough in the work of Stephens,Hamedani,Destin (2014),IVC will implement adifference-education intervention thatteaches high-need students how their social class backgrounds canaffect what theyexperiencein college.

Activity2.0: English as aSecondLanguageAcceleration and TechnologyProject–IVC will adopt newhigh-qualityaccessible digital tools, assessment, and materials needed to speed up the process bywhichAANAPIstudents in ESLlearn English and combinethesebenefits with an acceleratedESLlearningprogram.

Activity3.0: AANAPIInterculturalInteractiveLearningCenter(IILC)–IVC will construct a newIILC which will housespecializedacademictutoring and counselingprograms and student support services. This facilitywill beunique in that it will alsofeature access to unpaid internships, peer-mentortraining, undergraduate researchopportunities, and theresources of theSouth Coast ChineseCultural Association’s (SCCCA)innovativeIrvine ChineseSchool.

Richland College, Dallas, Texas

Richland College Builds Bridges forAAPI Students

Richland College (RLC), a two-year institutionin Dallas,Texas, currentlyserves 4,680 American Asian Pacific Islander (AAPI) students,includinglarge numbers of Vietnamese and substantial numbers of Bhutanese/Burmese and others, includingrefugees. Manyexperiencefinancial need. These students come to RLCfrom diverse nations/ethnicitiesand schooldistricts with significantchallenges,andfrequently, arenotbe readyfor college. RLC proposes to increase thethree-year graduation ratefor AAPI students who areacademically challengedor academicallyhigh performing,and who have one ormore risks to success and completion.Thetwo groups share the major risk oflow-income. RLC will attainimprovements incompletions ratesbyimplementingresearch-supported strategies reflected in the objectives below.

Goal: RLC’s proposedobjectives will address barriers to highereducationaccessand success byofferingAAPI students bridges into communitycollege as wellas four-year institutions. Objective 1: To increasethethree-year graduation ratefor each Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) student cohort (i.e.,full-time studentsenteringfor thefirst timeeachFall termand receivingone or moreservices) by1-2 percentover baselineforeach Project Year (PY, i.e., 10/01–09/30), i.e.,frombaselineof 14 percentto15 percent(1 percentincrease) in PY1, 16 percentbyPY2, 18 percentbyPY3, 9 percentbyPY4, and20 percentbytheend of theprojectperiod. Objective 2: To deliver a four-week, 20hourper week, Summer Bridgeprogram(inclusive of tutoring) to 30 AAPI students withacademic challenges in English each PY. Objective 3: To provide studentnavigation services for 90 AAPI students with one ormorerisk factors per PY. Objective 4: Todeliver 800hoursof English tutoringper PY, online and on-ground,to studentsincludingAAPI students innavigation. Objective 5: To deliver two or more professional development sessionsto40 ormorefull-timeand part-time/adjunctEnglish facultyandtutors perPY(duplicated andunduplicated). Objective6: Thirty(30) AAPI studentsper PYwill complete asemester-longleadershipdevelopmentprogram. Objective 7: Fifty(50)newAAPI studentsperPYfromfeeder schools will complete the Honors Academysummer bridgedayandenrollin Honors courses in theirfreshman year. Objective8: Onehundred (100) AAPI RLC Honors Academystudentsper PYwill participate in Honors courses with integratedextra-and co-curricular activities, including bridge activities tofour-year honors programs. Objective 9: Representativesfromtwelve or more(12+) Minority Serving Institutions(MSIs)will participate inanannual, research-focused conveningat RLC to share strategies, bestpractices,andempirical research in PYs 2-5.