The Mentoring & Encouraging Student Academic Success (MESAS) program was initially created to increase the academic success of students from USU Blanding transferring to USU Logan. The initial goal of the program was to increase the number of Native American students who complete four year degrees in STEM to build an inclusive campus at Utah State University. As the program has grown, our goals have also grown. Program goals now include providing academic assistance and culture-based education to support all Native American students at Utah State University.
Why the MESAS Program?
In 2014, a student at the USU Blanding campus reached out to the Logan campus to find a way to gain more lab experience. This student traveled to main campus and spent the summer doing research activities with Logan faculty. Following that student's successful experience, the Native American Summer Mentorship Program (NASMP) was created to give more USU Blanding students the same experience. Since it's first official summer in 2015, the NASMP has occurred annually with the goal to improve the retention and representation of Native American students in the STEM fields. As NASMP students began to transfer to the Logan campus, faculty at Logan identified a cirtical need to create a program that could better support Native American students on the main USU campus.
In 2017, Dr. Al Savitzky and Dr. Melissa Tehee met to discuss the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students at the Logan main campus. Recognizing the critical need, they applied for a five-year grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence Initiative. This grant created the Mentoring and Encouraging Student Academic Success (MESAS) Program which is now in its fifth and final year of funding. With each year, the program has continued to grow to better meet the needs of our American Indian and Alaska Native students at Utah State University.
Goals of MESAS
The goals of MESAS are to contine to (1) increase the numbers of transfer students from Blanding to Logan, (2) increase the academic success of those students who do transfer, (3) encourage more Native American students to pursue graduate degrees in STEM, and (4) build a more inclusive campus environment at USU. To meet these goals, MESAS has focused on: academic support, social support, and instutitional change. The hope is that in the future, MESAS will serve as a model for addressing the needs of other underrepresented populations.
Development of MESAS
With each year the MESAS Program has grown. In the table below, you can see how MESAS has expanded since its inception in 2018 with increased programming and activities, as well as hiring full time faculty and staff to support American Indian and Alaska Native students.
| Year | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Services | Budget development Open positions Building MESAS team TEACH development NASMP |
Program Coordinator hired TEACH implemented Talking Circles begin Native American Living/Learning Community Peer Mentors hired NASMP |
Program Coordinator TEACH Talking Circles Peer Mentors Faculty Advocate hired Living/Learning Community First Indigenous Knowledge Symposium NASMP |
Program Coordinator TEACH Talking Circles Peer Mentors Faculty Advocate Living/Learning Community Indigenous Knowledge Symposium NASMP |
Program Coordinator TEACH Talking Circles Peer Mentors Faculty Advocate Living/Learning Community Indigenous Knowledge Symposium NASMP |