Jennifer Cordova will show you the value of "being yourself" in just a few minutes in her presence. Her smile lights up the room as she discusses her joy in attending Northwest Indian College. Jennifer shared what she values most about her school is that "there's a diversity of Native students that attend and of other students in general, we can share our culture, and we don't feel like the minority in a huge university, we are the majority here. [At NWIC] I feel like I've grown closer to my identity and to my culture." We are so excited that she has definite plans to attend graduate school after attending our Minority Serving Institutions Graduate Student Weekend. Her enthusiasm is infectious and Jennifer can now add international traveler to her resume after Dr. Gasman's recommendation that she attend the Salzburg Global Seminar as a student representative! Jennifer said it was truly the highlight of her life, and she is currently working on an exciting project involving an International Student Network with two of her fellow Seminar participants. We are very proud to be a part of her continuing education and wish her success in achieving her new goals.

Xavier University of Louisiana - A leader in the STEM community, Xavier is one of the schools chosen in our HBCUs as Leaders and Teachers in STEM Education Grant Competition. Each of the 10 schools selected received $50,000 to present two models of success, or programs and practices, which support and improve student achievement in the STEM gateway courses. At Xavier, 10 Undergraduate Peer-led Laboratory Teaching Assistants have been hired to assist students enrolled in General and Organic Chemistry, courses that see high attrition among minority students. Selected by faculty, peer tutors are available throughout the day, ensuring that students have ample access to support.

For General Chemistry labs, especially Chemistry 1, the bulk of the instruction is technique based. Many of these students have never been in a laboratory before because their high schools just weren't equipped. Learning is done in a discovery manner and new students complete a lab workbook as they learn to set up equipment, handle materials and general lab safety. In Organic Chemistry the TAs help with instrumentation, set-up of experiments, safety, answering questions, and running the equipment. All of the labs are coordinated and faculty holds weekly meetings that are attended by the TAs as well. The goal in these meetings is for the TAs to take ownership and feel, in many respects, like colleagues. Such topics as what to look out for, where common mistakes are made, and the dangers of the experiments are covered. There is also a Peer-led tutoring center where students may receive further help. Faculty members with students placed in those labs have received overwhelmingly positive responses and the TAs are equally excited by their roles and responsibilities. These programs help underrepresented and minority students to "get up to speed" and feel confident in their ability to excel in Chemistry. We are honored to work with Xavier and look forward to sharing the results of this promising program.