At CSUB, we hear that writing assignments in classes, especially those outside of English, are barriers to equity and inclusion. Our goal with this project is to lower DFW rates and raise student grades in specific courses using accessible and equitable writing assignments. We will be working with the students and faculty in those courses in two separate groups. The faculty will go through training to draft accessible and equitable assignments that address their course goals, and the students will work with writing consultants outside of class to complete these assignments. Awarded $20,000.

INSPIRE is a two-year program that helps incoming Freshmen thrive socially and academically by creating community, connections, and critical consciousness. INSPIRE students will be placed in a cohort and provided with Social Justice-Themed GE courses, leadership development, and academic skills. The program targets Historically Underserved Students and offers advising, mentorship, and early interventions as needed during the student’s educational journey. Awarded $20,000.

This project will gather a select group of faculty from the College of Literature, Arts, and Social Sciences here at CSU East Bay to go through equity classroom research (Fall 2022). We will then adjust our courses for Spring 2023, based on the research, in hopes to equalize the equity gap. We will have monthly meetings, and based on the results from Spring, we will once again adjust our courses to provide students with the greatest opportunity for success for Fall 2023. Awarded $20,000.

In alignment with the Early Start summer program at CSU East Bay, the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) will offer a residential component for EOP freshmen participating in the Early Start program. This project will measure the retention and sense of belonging of EOP Summer Bridge Residential participants compared to students who participated in Early Start virtually and students that did not attend Early Start. Our project attempts to answer the question, “How does the EOP Summer Bridge Residential program impact retention and sense of belonging for First Time Freshmen?” Awarded $19,998.

This project aims to increase the number and diversity of students entering and persisting through undergraduate geoscience majors at Fresno State by creating a faculty learning community where we discuss, learn together, and create action plans for change. Geoscience faculty will collaboratively re-design our courses to integrate (1) societally-relevant issues, (2) community-based research projects, and (3) career-relevant exploration and development throughout the major programs. Awarded $20,000.

The CSUF Titan Scholars (TS) Grad Prep for Transfer Students Program offers a transformational experience to community college transfer students from low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented backgrounds, with particular attention paid to students who are parents or primary caretakers for elderly or disabled loved ones. TS provides services focused on academic development, professional development, advisement, mentorship, social integration, and graduate school preparation. Awarded $20,000.

Significant equity gaps in chemistry courses create barriers in the STEM pathway. This is especially true in general chemistry, the first chemistry course for many majors. This project seeks to understand the way content delivery affects learning, student perceptions of the course textbook, and equity outcomes in a first semester general chemistry course. Two courses will run simultaneously and one will adopt a novel, interactive, and web based textbook. Surveys and data will be used to analyze the outcomes. Awarded $14,984.

Our Equity in Action (EIA) project is focused on employing student mentors to establish and build a Future Black Educator Network on the CSULB campus. Mentors will build relationships across campus, connect with local community colleges and school districts, organize student events, and provide mentoring support for students interested in pursuing Education careers and supporting Black students in K-12 schools. Mentor(s) will serve as liaisons in supporting Mary Jane Patterson program scholars as part of the Teachers for Urban Schools initiative designed to attract Black teachers to the profession. Awarded $20,000.

The WGEC at CSULB will develop a peer-to-peer mentoring program for pregnant and parenting students. The program’s objective is to provide a sense of belonging, peer-to-peer support and guidance focusing on work-life-school-family balance, an opportunity to apply their major into practice, and elevate their career readiness beyond graduation. WGEC will conduct focus groups with student parents, faculty, and campus partners to determine the curriculum throughout the year. Awarded $20,000.

University Housing Services will build a peer mentorship and educational support program for first and second-year URM students living on campus. The goal of this program will be to contribute to the increase of course passage rates for URM students. Awarded $20,000.

This project will increase community engagement and sense of belonging among students who identify within Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands; establish a vanguard of Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander student leaders that are supported by faculty/staff mentors; and disseminate a needs assessment report of Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander students to gather baseline, disaggregated and detailed information to highlight and better understand their experience to stakeholders with policy and program implications. Awarded $20,000.

The First Year Experience Academic Peer Coaches are a targeted outreach and intervention peer program housed in the First Year Experience (FYE) Space. The FYE Space is a student success center that serves all first-year students, offering a place to study, connect with academic peer coaches, and attend academic success workshops. This project will expand wrap-around services for underrepresented minority first-year students to decrease DFW rates, including academic coaching, a streamlined faculty referral system, proactive advising, events, and workshops. Awarded $20,000.

To narrow equity gaps in PSFA courses, we are embedding peer tutors in four classes with high DFW rates and lower success rates for students from groups that have been historically excluded from postsecondary education. Trained embedded tutors attend class meetings and offer tutoring appointments outside of class for students in the section; tutors also meet regularly with their faculty partners. Faculty partners participate in a community of practice throughout the year led by PSFA’s Assistant Dean and the learning center coordinator. Awarded $20,000.

This project addresses the need for peer support through the development of a College of Ethnic studies Grounding Responsive Action with Community and Empathy (GRACE) Peer Mentoring Program. GRACE Peer mentors will work with campus partners to address students’ pandemic-related isolation and stress, financial pressure and career preparation needs. Through the peer mentoring program and through courses housed in the College of Ethnic Studies we hope to increase student engagement and sense of belonging. Awarded $20,000.

This project aims to support and increase the retention of the most vulnerable students at SF State. Based on higher education research, including studies at SF State, students who receive two or more D, W, or Fs in their first semester are significantly less likely to persist than their peers. Less than 65% of first-year students who received 2+ DWFs in their first semester reached their second year within the Metro College Success Program. This project will follow up and strengthen the ideas implemented on a previous pilot, Mentoring Students First, which similarly focused on supporting students with 2+ DWFs. Awarded $20,000.

The Empowering Autistic Scholars (EAS) Mentoring and Research Training program’s mission is to build a learning community of empowerment and support for autistic students by providing them with the individualized supports, professional development opportunities, and inclusive community they need to graduate, have successful careers, and become autistic leaders and mentors. Each Scholar will be matched with a peer mentor who will help them navigate the complex world of Cal Poly; provide one-on-one skills training; and socio-emotional support. Working in teams, Scholars and their mentors will be paid to work as research assistants on a hands-on, real-world, community-based participatory research project, giving them ample opportunities to develop important hard and soft skills they will need in their academic and professional lives. Awarded $20,000.

CSUSM is located amidst a culturally diverse Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) population in North County San Diego, California. The NHPI Equity Project seeks to identify and expand partnerships within the cultural, linguistic, and familial ecosystem of local NHPI communities in the region, and to create support for NHPI students on campus by forming learning communities centered in peer mentoring, academic advising, and career development. Awarded $20,000.

CSUSM will pilot a Faculty Fellows program to support its early warning initiative (Early Academic Intervention, or EAI) in first-year and lower division general education courses. Faculty Fellows will connect with their peer instructors in our largest courses to enhance faculty feedback with the larger EAI program, guide and train instructors on student resources, and help streamline communication to instructors in these courses, many of which have more than fifty sections. Early warning can and should be shaped by faculty in the classroom, and our Faculty Fellows will help us make it work for them so that we can all make it work for our students. Awarded $11,400.

The Unidos: Latin@/x Leadership Certificate (ULL) is a transformational and social change driven initiative for the Latin@/x student community. The program applies “Familismo” practices, Community Cultural Wealth Concepts, and Latinx Critical Race Theory to empower and reinforce leadership qualities among Latin@/x students. This 10 series and cohort based (20 students) initiative is aimed at highlighting cultural communal success, while providing transformational leadership solutions to issues impacting the Latin@/x community (Fields of focus: Education, Law, Medicine, and STEM). Awarded $20,000.

The project will assist in developing a comprehensive peer mentoring program specifically designed for first year URM Men. This cohort-based program aims to support students’ transition into college through personal, cultural, academic, and social engagement with peers and the institution. This project will leverage the resources of the Male Success Initiative (MSI) to equip students with the tools to reach their full academic potential. Awarded $20,000.