This presentation highlights and reflects on a pilot program that the Department of History and the Learning and Testing Center at CSUDH are currently undertaking. This program places embedded tutors (ETs) in lower-division history survey courses. Embedded tutoring is an active learning pedagogy that draws on the Supplemental Instruction model but shifts tutoring into the classroom. Thus a central element of Embedded Tutoring pedagogy is a flipped-classroom format, which allows for more effective use of ETs. ETs are advanced history majors who are assigned to a specific section. They attend classes and hold tutoring hours in the learning center. They do not grade student work, introduce new concepts, or enforce course policies. Rather, ETs support students in engaging with class content and texts, model the habits and behaviors of successful students, help students navigate campus services and resources, and foster connections in class and across the campus community. For students, the goal is that these courses become more pedagogically and socially inclusive, which we believe will translate into greater student engagement, success, and retention. For tutors, many of whom plan to pursue careers in teaching, it offers valuable experience working with students.

As Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) work toward embodying true servingness, individual departments should endeavor to intentionally support students in fostering engagement and belongingness. While larger university belonging and engagement initiatives are well documented, knowledge of the process and outcomes of department-level efforts is limited. Thus, it is important to showcase department-level programs, such as CHDV Connect, that offer emotional support (e.g., empathy), informative support (e.g., advising and workshops), social support (e.g., events), and instrumental support (e.g., faculty release time) to intentionally increase belonging and engagement. To achieve these objectives, our program activities and outputs revolve around (1) developing a needs assessment to inform programming, (2) developing workshops and events, (3) transforming our department mission and values to center identity, and (4) creating a career-engaged campaign. During this presentation, we will highlight findings from our needs assessment, our process in developing each output, and our lessons learned. Finally, this presentation will cover the challenges and implications of this work as well as how it can be scaled to other departments. Now more than ever, we must collaborate to find ways to increase sense of belonging and engagement as we all navigate university campuses in a post-Covid world.