麻豆视频

Stereotypes can limit students鈥� growth, but we are striving to overcome that barrier

Ask a kid to describe a scientist, and she will likely describe a white guy wearing a lab coat. Ask the same child to describe an intellectual, scholar or professor, and the answer will probably be the same, minus the lab coat.

Helping students see that scholars听听is one way to help young people to study what they love. But while it鈥檚 critical to debunk broad stereotypes, it鈥檚 also crucial to help talented students understand that inside each one of them is an intellectual鈥攚ho not only听could听but actually听does听belong in academe.听At the 麻豆视频, one program that strives, successfully, to overcome the harm of stereotype is the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program鈥攐r MASP.

Launched in 1993, the program鈥檚 first focus was biology students of color who were dropping out of school at alarming rates. Soon, the college expanded the program to cover more students from all fields of study along with first-generation students.

Today, MASP鈥檚 mission is to support 鈥渕otivated, traditionally under-represented or first-generation students who want to be part of a diverse academic community鈥� in the college.听Through a holistic application process, MASP accepts community-minded and academically motivated students. In addition to demonstrated leadership abilities, the past two incoming classes have had an average unweighted high school GPA of 3.8.

MASP gets results: 90% of MASP students return to CU after their first year. That retention rate exceeds that of CU Boulder students in similar demographics鈥攂ut not part of MASP鈥攂y about 5% to 15%, depending on the year.

Similarly, the six-year graduation rates of MASP students in the years between 2000 and 2012 ranged between about 75% and 85%. Those results exceed the graduation rates of the whole college by about 10 percent, a truly impressive achievement.

The program achieves these results with tools including these:

• A residential summer 鈥渂ridge鈥� program that prepares students both academically and socially for college life,
• 鈥淗igh Impact Practices鈥� that are academically rigorous, including study-abroad participation, internships, undergraduate research experience, and honors theses,听
• Interdisciplinary seminars,
• One-on-one advising with a faculty mentor,
• Scholarship support,
• And, importantly, a supportive community.

Celeste Montoya, who serves as听MASP鈥檚 director and is an associate professor in the Department of Women and Gender Studies, says the idea is听to foster student success by helping students develop their identities as scholars, to facilitate their sense of agency and belonging at the university.听

鈥淏uilding an inclusive academic听community, which requires teaching them to work across difference, is a powerful tool and/or resource for them to draw from in their academic (and life) endeavors,鈥� Montoya says.听

Building that community, she adds, is just one way 鈥渢o let our students know they belong here and they are capable scholars鈥� who have the confidence, skill and knowledge to excel in life.听

The program encourages open-mindedness, critical thinking, life skills and talent growth, helping each student to be their best self. Because MASP is successful, we want to expand it, and we hope alumni and other friends will help us do so. If you find the MASP story compelling,听.

One MASP student underscored the program鈥檚 efficacy by noting that she expected she鈥檇 only gain knowledge needed to graduate. However, she added:

鈥淲hat I was not expecting was to find myself surrounded by a supportive network of faculty, staff and students听that not only created an atmosphere conducive to my social and personal growth but remained unwavering in encouraging my intellectual development听as well.鈥澨�

These are some of the many reasons I praise MASP and other student-success programs. Education is the great equalizer, but only when our institutions of learning fully embrace equality, when they are truly welcoming and inclusive, when they genuinely become an instrument of rather than an impediment to social mobility and intellectual growth.听

James W.C. White is interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.