Hispanic-Serving Institutions in American Higher Education Their Origin, and Present and Future Challenges

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.

Foreword—Frank Hernandez Introduction—Laura I. Rendón 1. An Overview of Hispanic-Serving Institutions' Legislation. Legislation Policy Formation Between 1979 and 1992—Patrick L. Valdez 2. Balancing Teaching, Research, and Service at Hispanic-Serving Institutions—Jesse Perez Mendez, Fred A. Bonner II, Robert T. Palmer, and Josephine Méndez-Negrete 3. Faculty Governance at Hispanic-Serving Institutions Through the Lens of Critical Race Theory—María C. Ledesma and Rebeca Burciaga 4. The Role of Student Affairs at Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Its Impact on Supporting Student Success—Vasti Torres 5. Bridging Academic and Student Affairs. Working Together to Craft Pathways that Advance Latinos and Latinas in Higher Education—Edna Martinez and Leslie D. Gonzales 6. Ventajas/Assets y Conocimientos/Knowledge. Leveraging Latin@ Assets to Foster Student Success— Laura I. Rendón, Amaury Nora, and Vijay Kanagala 7. Researching White Student Experiences at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. A Troubling Matter of Interest Convergence—Michelle M. Espino 8. Impact of Noncognitive Behaviors on Student Engagement for Latino Male Students Attending a Designated Two-Year Hispanic-Serving Institution—Renzo Lara and J. Luke Wood 9. World AIDS Day. A Case Study of How One Hispanic-Serving Institution’s Inclusive Practices Supported Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students—Gilbert Valadez 10. Engaging the Latino Community. Enhancing Hispanic-Serving Institutions’ Latino Donor Base—Noah D. Drenzer and Rebecca C. Villarreal About the Editors Index

Jesse Perez Mendez is Associate Professor in Higher Education Administration and the Donnie and John A. Brock Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at Oklahoma State University. His research access explores the dynamics of postsecondary access, particularly of minorities and low-SES students. Fred A. Bonner II is professor and endowed chair of educational leadership and counseling in the Whitlowe R. Green College of Education at Prairie View A&M University. He also serves as the founding executive director and chief scientist of the Minority Achievement Creativity and High Ability (MACH-III) Center. His research foci illuminate the experiences of academically gifted African American males across the P–20 pipeline, diverse faculty in academe, and diverse populations in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). He is coeditor of two books with Stylus Publishing, Building on Resilience: Models and Frameworks of Black Male Success Across the P–20 Pipeline (2014) and Diverse Millennials Students in College: Implications for Faculty and Student Affairs (2011). Bonner is currently developing a theoretical framework, mascusectionality, that will explore the engagements of Black men. Josephine Méndez-Negrete teaches at the University of Texas – San Antonio. Robert T. Palmer is Associate Professor of Student Affairs Administration at the State University of New York, Binghamton. In 2011, Dr. Palmer was named an ACPA Emerging Scholar and in 2012 was recognized as an Emerging Scholar by the American Education Research Association for his scholarship on multicultural and multiethnic populations. Frank Hernandez