Grant Abstracts

UC Santa Cruz's SEMILLA Project (Science Education & Mentorship In Latinx Lives in Academia) interrupts STEM attrition patterns, including students' under preparation for STEM degrees and UCSC's under-preparation to serve Latinx and low-income STEM students. SEMILLA cultivates equity-minded reforms to challenge and overcome institutional barriers so that STEM-intended Latinx and low-income students increase their rates of STEM transfer, persistence, and degree attainment. The SEMILLA project also serves as a focal point and catalyst for a comprehensive set of interventions guided through an analysis of student outcomes and inquiry teams to address barriers both in and outside the classroom.

The UCSC SEMILLA Project Budget is $5.7 million from 2016 - 2021.

In the last 25 years, UC Santa Cruz has doubled its size and more than tripled its Latinx student population. While UCSC was recently listed by BestColleges.com as first among the top 50 colleges for Latinx students, disparities persist in Latinx student outcomes relative to non-Latinx students. The Maximizing Achievement through Preparedness and Advising (MAPA) Title V Project reduces those disparities by implementing research-based, data-driven, interwoven activities that enable UCSC to put systemic supports in place for Latinx students to navigate the university successfully. Each component intervenes early and decisively in critical areas to improve retention and graduation rates, strengthen UCSC's ability to provide essential services for its students — and ultimately improve student achievement. 

The MAPA project budget is $2.6 million from 2015 - 2020.

Cultivamos Excelencia Project's goal is to motivate and retain Latinx and other high-need students to complete a research university degree. Together, San Jose City College and University of California at Santa Cruz offer Latinx students expanded tutoring, mentoring, research skills instruction, transfer advising, and undergraduate research experiences. Students are then empowered to complete their bachelor degrees on-time and with a honed set of analytical and writing skills. Project funding gives students a head start by developing and delivering research methods courses for transfer credit and offering summer undergraduate research experiences for university credit at the cost of community college tuition.