Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success)
Contact Information:
e. projectmales@austin.utexas.edu
p. 512-232-4617
Project MALES – TexCEP
1912 Speedway, Mailstop D5000
George I. Sanchez Building, Suite 4.102
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712
Brief History of Project MALES
Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success) is a multi-faceted research and mentoring initiative at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Victor B. Sáenz (Associate Professor, UT-Austin) with support from co-founders Dr. Luis Ponjuán (Associate Professor, Texas A&M University) and Dr. William Serrata (President, El Paso Community College) officially launched the project in the fall of 2010. Presently, Project MALES is led by Dr. Sáenz and Dr. Ponjuán, and Dr. Rodrigo Aguayo, Associate Director. Project MALES encompasses initiatives with national, state, and local impact and oversees an ongoing research agenda focused on understanding the experiences of Latino males across the education pipeline and coordinates a mentoring program that aims to cultivate an engaged support network for students in school districts across the Central Texas community and serve as a model for other mentoring programs across the state.
Project MALES embodies praxis by fusing these initiatives through strategies that employ mentoring, research, collective impact, and dissemination. For example, our mentoring model emerged directly from our research findings, and it highlights near-peer and intergenerational mentoring as a way to leverage social capital across multiple generations. Our Project MALES Student Mentoring Program has a strong focus on mentoring, leadership development, community engagement, and collective impact, all of which serve to address the goal of enhancing the overall academic success and retention of students in both secondary and post-secondary education.
