Honorable Mention

The Developing Scholars Program (DSP) is an undergraduate research opportunity program for underrepresented students. The DSP, now in its ninth year, has tripled in size since its inception in 2000.  It is making a major impact on Latino/a graduations at Kansas State University, especially in the biomedical sciences, as we recruit, support, retain, and graduate first-generation, Latino/a students from immigrant families from southwest Kansas and the meatpacking industry and from our urban centers.  By collaborating with community colleges in the southwest Kansas and by using university admissions representatives, we have established a significant pathway for first-generation Latino/a students to transfer to Kansas State's Developing Scholars Program or to enter directly from high school.

Con Mi MADRE has a long tradition of keeping sixth- through twelfth-grade Hispanic girls enrolled in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in school and focused on college and helping them achieve academic success, gain the skills necessary to achieve their dream of higher education, and strengthen their relationship with their family by involving their mothers in these goals. Originally enrolling only sixth graders, the program began expanding in size and services in 1993. This college preparatory program now serves over 700 girls in sixth through twelfth grades, through high school graduation, and their mothers (a total of 1,400 individuals). Con Mi MADRE has served 1,827 mother-daughter teams, with 75% of its 478 graduating seniors going on to a two- or four-year college or university.

The Community Spanish Facilitator Certificate is an 18-credit-hour certificate that prepares its graduates as paraprofessional translators and interpreters in the community. The program was designed to meet the needs of our increasingly international community and our Latino students, who were eager to use their bilingual skills to improve the access of Latinos to basic services (i.e., hospitals, community agencies, legal). 

The program has partnered with several community organizations and local businesses in order to provide the students with the opportunity to gain further practical knowledge of translation and interpreting, to gain related work experience, and to perform community service. Each student in the certificate program also has a bilingual advisor and a faculty mentor.  The program director participates in ongoing college, high school, and middle school fairs to promote the certificate among bilingual students and their parents. The program director conducts bilingual monthly information sessions about the Certificate plan of study, course offerings, and advanced career options.

The Linfield-Good Samaritan School of Nursing (LGSSON) is a transfer-only, baccalaureate nursing program. In 2004, the school launched Ayudándonos Podemos, or AP, (Helping Each Other, We Can Do it), a federally funded recruitment and retention program to increase the number of graduates from populations that are underrepresented in nursing, particularly Hispanic students. This program attempts to address the disparity between Hispanics in Oregon (11% according to U.S. Census Bureau, 2007) and the registered nursing workforce (presently 1%). 

LGSSON has developed a comprehensive approach to retention of nursing students, providing resources and support services for Latino students.  LGSSON's bilingual, bicultural staff members are key to the success of AP recruitment activities, which include a community-based outreach program targeting 800+ Hispanic students and their families (e.g., ¡Saludos! Hispanic Family Day). Their outreach extends to TRIO programs at local two- and four-year colleges and healthcare workforce development programs/agencies. In a statewide demonstration project in collaboration with Salem Hospital (Salem, OR), AP program leaders plan to implement a recruitment program in 2009-10 targeting Latino high school students for nursing careers.