Modeling Hispanic Serving Institutions Hsis

Although empirical evidence indicates that HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions) are making some progress in recognizing that enhancing the racial and cultural experiences of Latino/a/x students, “Latinx-enhancing” is part of their role as institutions that enroll and serve large numbers of minoritize students (Garcia, 2019), there are still institutional gaps on prioritizing opportunities for Latino/a/x students to engage in leadership development. Latino/a/x students often rely on informal out-of-college support systems found in their community-- comunidad, such as family and peers to thrive within college (Ceballo, 2004; Easley, et al, 2012), it is important to assist them in their development and implementation of strengths-based problem-solving communication approach (Guerra, 2015, 2016). ENDORSEMENTS: "This book is valuable to scholars and practitioners of higher education, especially those at minority-serving institutions invested in culturally relevant approaches to student success and asset-based development—particularly in relation to Latinx students and communities. Overall, the book paints a beautiful portrait of culturally responsive leadership that is rooted in partnership with the students we serve." — Christian A. Bracho, California State University, Long Beach "The manuscript presents a perspective that has been untapped at HSIs- the student, student leadership and the student advocacy that is required to improve and intentionally influence HSI development. To date, no other work has been developed that addresses the role of the student in growth and servingness at HSIs." — Paloma Vargas, Oxnard College

As the general population of Latinxs in the United States burgeons, so does the population of college-going Latinx students. With more Latinxs entering college, the number of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), which are not-for-profit, degree granting postsecondary institutions that enroll at least 25% Latinxs, also grows, with 523 institutions now meeting the enrollment threshold to become HSIs. But as they increase in number, the question remains: What does it mean to serve Latinx students? This edited book, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Practice: Defining “Servingness” at HSIs, fills an important gap in the literature. It features the stories of faculty, staff, and administrators who are defining “servingness” in practice at HSIs. Servingness is conceptualized as the ability of HSIs to enroll and educate Latinx students through a culturally enhancing approach that centers Latinx ways of knowing and being, with the goal of providing transformative experiences that lead to both academic and non-academic outcomes. In this book, practitioners tell their stories of success in defining servingness at HSIs. Specifically, they provide empirical and practical evidence of the results and outcomes of federally funded HSI grants, including those funded by Department of Education Title III and V grants. This edited book is ideal for higher education practitioners and scholars searching for best practices for HSIs in the United States. Administrators at HSIs, including presidents, provosts, deans, and boards of trustees, will find the book useful as they seek out ways to effectively serve Latinx and other minoritized students. Faculty who teach in higher education graduate programs can use the book to highlight practitioner engaged scholarship. Legislators and policy advocates, who fight for funding and support for HSIs at the federal level, can use the book to inform and shape a research-based Latinx educational policy agenda. The book is essential as it provides a framework that simplifies the complex phenomenon known as servingness. As HSIs become more significant in the U.S. higher education landscape, books that provide empirically based, practical examples of servingness are necessary.

Over the past decade there has been a growing number of studies that focus on Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), however, there has only recently been a push to examine these institutions with an asset-based lens given that HSIs may be doing more with less. This study examined how HSIs integrate student and institutional identities and engage in transformative practices and strategies to serve Latinx students and their increasingly diverse students. The study sheds light on how HSIs organize for student success with their existing resources, obtain federal agency support, and strive to serve students with multiple minoritized social identities. To peel back the layers to understand the movements of institutional change this study employed a multiple case study design using public data, websites, and interviews with administrators, faculty, and student affairs staff from three four-year HSI institutions. This allowed for an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of organizational change and servingness across different levels of work. Garcia, Nuñez & Sansone's (2019) multidimensional conceptual framework effectively revealed the multitude of factors that describe the ways in which institutions operationalize their HSI identity and organize for student success. Through cross-case analysis, findings will guide institutions in disrupting current structures to strive for equity-minded approaches. Key findings are institutions' proactive recruitment efforts, students' role in co-creating culturally sustaining initiatives, data-driven decision making, financial aid as a praxis of care, strategies in diversifying faculty and the use of HSI grants for cross campus collaborative models that creates momentum for a culture shift in institutions. Many of these initiatives were the impetus for institutional transformation embedded in practices after data revealed an increase in more equitable outcomes. Implications for future research and practice on servingness in HSIs is discussed.

Despite the increasing numbers of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and their importance in serving students who have historically been underserved in higher education, limited research has addressed the meaning of the growth of these institutions and its implications for higher education. Hispanic-Serving Institutions fills a critical gap in understanding the organizational behavior of institutions that serve large numbers of low-income, first-generation, and Latina/o students. Leading scholars on HSIs contribute chapters to this volume, exploring a wide array of topics, data sources, conceptual frameworks, and methodologies to examine HSIs’ institutional environments and organizational behavior. This cutting-edge volume explores how institutions can better serve their students and illustrates HSIs’ changing organizational dynamics, potentials, and contributions to American higher education.

How can striving Hispanic-Serving Institutions serve their students while countering the dominant preconceptions of colleges and universities? Winner of the AAHHE Book of the Year Award by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)—not-for-profit, degree-granting colleges and universities that enroll at least 25% or more Latinx students—are among the fastest-growing higher education segments in the United States. As of fall 2016, they represented 15% of all postsecondary institutions in the United States and enrolled 65% of all Latinx college students. As they increase in number, these questions bear consideration: What does it mean to serve Latinx students? What special needs does this student demographic have? And what opportunities and challenges develop when a college or university becomes an HSI? In Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Gina Ann Garcia explores how institutions are serving Latinx students, both through traditional and innovative approaches. Drawing on empirical data collected over two years at three HSIs, Garcia adopts a counternarrative approach to highlight the ways that HSIs are reframing what it means to serve Latinx college students. She questions the extent to which they have been successful in doing this while exploring how those institutions grapple with the tensions that emerge from confronting traditional standards and measures of success for postsecondary institutions. Laying out what it means for these three extremely different HSIs, Garcia also highlights the differences in the way each approaches its role in serving Latinxs. Incorporating the voices of faculty, staff, and students, Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions asserts that HSIs are undervalued, yet reveals that they serve an important role in the larger landscape of postsecondary institutions.

This is the first book to exclusively address Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), filling a major gap in both the research on these institutions and in our understanding of their approaches to learning and their role in supporting all students while focusing on Hispanic students. Born out of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1992 and are classified as such if their enrollment of Latino students account for a quarter of their undergraduate enrollment, the number of HSIs and their impact in higher education is growing. Today there are approximately 370 HSIs, 277 emerging HSIs, and their numbers are steadily increasing. Given the projected growth of the Latino population, and HSIs’ record of advancing the success for Hispanic students in STEM fields, as well as of graduating nearly a third of all Hispanic bachelor’s degree recipients, their work has important implications for higher education at large.Written by leading and rising scholars on HSIs, this book offers insight into the complexity of these institutions. It not only addresses historic policy origins, but also describes the experiences of various student populations served, faculty issues (i.e., governance, diversity, work/life experience, etc.), the impact of student affairs in advancing student development, and considers funding and philanthropy efforts. The book also critically examines challenges that many of these institutions face – disjointed mission statements regarding support of their Latino/a student populations, governance structures that support the status quo, and the financial incentive to achieve HSI designation that may not correlate with enhancing the climate for Latinos. This book touches on the many facets of HSIs, painting an organic mosaic of institutions in position to advance Latino postsecondary progress, both chronicling the contemporary challenges that these institutions face while also looking to their future.

Modeling student success at a Hispanic-serving institution: A local approach.

Strong, effective, and innovative leadership is critical for institutions of higher education, especially for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Indeed, research and examples have shown leadership instability among some types of MSIs, while discussions and research on effective leadership for other MSIs is noticeably absent from the extant literature. In this volume, noted experts, researchers, and leaders discuss opportunities and challenges for leadership across the full range of MSIs, while creating a dialogue on leadership models and best practices. Chapters explore issues at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions(HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs). This book helps higher education and student affairs scholars and administrators unpack contemporary leadership issues and strategies, and synthesizes best practices to help MSI leaders increase the effectiveness and sustainability of their institutions.