¿Qué pasa, HSIs?

This episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? features Dr. Jarett Lujan who serves as the inaugural Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Texas A&M University- Kingsville. Dr. Lujan provides us with an exclusive look at his dissertation findings which used a counter-story approach to critically evaluate the Hispanic-serving identity of an emerging HSI through the eyes of Latine students. In addition to his research, he talks about how his extensive experience serving as president of the Student Government Association, as an admissions counselor, as a coordinator for student activities, and as the first Hispanic Student Regent of the Texas Tech University System informs his DEI practice at an HSI in South Texas.

Guest: Jarett Lujan (he/him/his), Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Twitter @drjarettlujan

Show Notes: 

Lujan, J. T. (2022). Through the eyes of the Latine student: Visual representations of racialized experiences within spaces of an emerging Hispanic-serving institution campus. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University.

We turn the focus to Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges (HSCCs) for this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? with Dr. Erin Doran who is an associate professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University. She is a 3-time graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), which has an extensive history as an HSI that Erin documented, highlighting the intentional way that the university set out to serve Latinx students. Her experience at UTSA and her accumulated five years of experience as a community college adjunct is highly influential on her outlook as a teacher and informs much of her research about Latina/o/x students, community colleges; college learning and teaching; and ethnic studies.

Guest: Erin Doran (she/her), Associate Professor, Iowa State University

Twitter: @ErinDoran_EdD

Show Notes: 

erindoranedd.com

Doran, E.E. (2015). Negotiating access and tier one aspirations: The historical evolution of a striving Hispanic-serving institution. The Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 14(4), 343-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192715570638 SJR 1.01

Doran, E.E., & Medina, Ø. (2017). The intentional and the grassroots Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A critical history of two universities. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 11(3), 29-49. https://doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.3.360

Doran, E.E. (2017). An empowerment framework for Latinx students in developmental education. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 11(2), 133-154. https://doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.2.353 

Doran, E.E. (2020). How Hispanic should Hispanic-serving institutions be? The Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 23(4), 104-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555458920947751 

Doran, E.E. (2021). Situating Chicana/o/x Studies programs on community college campuses. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 1-13. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2021.1877215 

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to Dra. Gabriela Kovats Sánchez who is a Faculty Scholar for the Native Resource Center at San Diego State University and lecturer for the department of American Indian Studies. She offers a wealth of knowledge as she works at the nexus of research and praxis in her formal roles within the university and voluntary roles in the community. Her research focuses on the experiences of diasporic Indigenous Latinx students and nuances the way we think about Latinidad. Her research, pedagogies, and community engagement are deeply tied to her long-time involvement with and for Ñuu Savi/Mixtec communities in California, and she offers us guidance and advice for being intentional in our work with Indigenous students at HSIs.

*Note from the host: In the introduction to this episode, I incorrectly stated that the episode would be released on Indigenous Peoples' Day, October 10, 2012 (it should be 2022).

Guest: Gabriela Kovats Sánchez (she/her/ella/meeña)

Faculty Scholar, Native Resource Center & Lecturer, American Indian Studies, San Diego State University 

Twitter: @ KovatsSanchez

Instagram: @drakovats

Show Notes:

https://kovatssanchez.weebly.com/ 

Kovats Sánchez, G. (2018). Reaffirming Indigenous Identity: Understanding Experiences of Stigmatization and Marginalization among Mexican Indigenous College Students. Journal of Latinos and Education. 1–14.

Kovats Sánchez, G. (2021). “If we don’t do it, nobody is going to talk about it”: Indigenous Students Disrupting Monolithic Notions of Latinidad at Hispanic Serving Institutions. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Open Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211059194

Herrera, F. & Kovats Sánchez, G. (2022). Curando La Comunidad [Healing the Community]: Community-Centered STEM Identity. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/15381927211069543

Steinman, E. & Kovats Sánchez, G. (2021). Magnifying and Healing Colonial Trauma in Higher Education: Persistent Settler Colonial Dynamics at the Indigenizing University. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

In our first multi-guest episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I had the honor of sharing space with members of the Portland State University’s HSI Exploratory Committee: Óscar Fernández, Carrie Vasquez, Joe Rivera Soto, & Martín Alberto Gonzalez. We talk about the process of becoming an HSI and the intentional ways that PSU is engaging this process. Our guests talk about the challenges of becoming an HSI and the ways that they have worked with students, and especially undocumented students, as part of this process. We also talk about the unique aspects of becoming an HSI in the Pacific Northwest, an area that has not been covered in HSI research.

Guests:

Portland State University’s HSI Exploratory Committee

Óscar Fernández (he, él), Twitter @OscarPdx82

Carrie Vasquez (they, she), Linkedin: carrievasquez

Joe Rivera Soto (he, him) 

Martín Alberto Gonzalez (he, him, his), T: @Scholar4rmOx | IG: @martymoose

Show Notes:

https://www.pdx.edu/news/psu-emerging-hispanic-serving-institution

In the third episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we continue talking about policy with a more focused look at state-level policies and how they affect servingness. Our guest Dra. Ishara Casellas Connors is an assistant professor of government & public administration at Texas A&M University. Her research examines the implications of DEI policies for advancing racial equity for minoritized students. In this episode we talk about how these DEI policies can help or hinder servingness with HSIs. She also talks to us about how these policies allow for or hinder institutions to focus on intersectional servingness, and gives us a sneak preview of her evolving research that centers Afro-Latinx students.

Guest: Dr. Ishara Casellas Connors (she/her), Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University

Twitter: @isharacc

Show Notes

Casellas Connors, I. (2021). Constructing a monolith: State policy, institutional DEI plans, and the flattening of Latinx identity at Hispanic-serving institutions. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211063872

Casellas Connors, I. (under review). Policy implications of racial discourse: Florida’s public Hispanic Serving Institutions. 

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we focus on an essential structure for serving, HSI grant implementation. Many HSIs start their HSI journey by applying for and launching a Title III or Title V HSI grant. This episode’s guest, Dr. Lisa Petrov, serves as the Project Director of a Title V grant called “Strengthening Advising, Teacher Education, and Our HSI Identity” which is in its final year of implementation at Dominican University. Lisa offers a wealth of knowledge about project directorship and offers insight into the challenges and successes of implementing servingness in practice. Dr. Petrov is also an associate professor of Spanish and Transcultural Studies, which informs her work.

Guest: Dr. Lisa Petrov (she/ella), Title V Project Director & Associate Professor, Dominican University

Instagram: @lapetrov_  |  Twitter: @laprofe63

Show Notes

Petrov, L. A. & Garcia, G. A. (2021). Becoming a racially just Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI): Leveraging HSI grants for organizational identity change. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000356

https://www.dom.edu/diversity/title-v-office

In the inaugural episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to Dra. Stephanie Aguilar-Smith, an Assistant Professor of Counseling and Higher Education at the University of North Texas, about federal HSI policies and servingness. Her research examines educational policies, higher education as a hierarchical stratified system, and the ways that these trends shape HSIs. In this episode we explore the complexities of federal policies that shape servingness and learn about the motivation of HSI grant seekers when they pursue this stream of funding. This episode is also part of HSI Week 2022, a week dedicated to the celebration and acknowledgement of HSIs. 

Guest: Dra. Stephanie Aguilar-Smith (she/ella), Assistant Professor, University of North Texas

Twitter & Instagram: @drsaguilarsmith

Show Notes

https://www.hacu.net/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=3739

Aguilar-Smith, S. (2021). Seeking to serve or $erve? Hispanic-serving institutions’ race-evasive pursuit of racialized funding. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211057097

https://www.hsru.org/

In this short trailer, Dr. Gina Garcia describes the HSI designation as a federal construct, outlines the requirements for becoming federally designated, and challenges the audience to rethink what it actually means to be Hispanic-serving. The purpose of this podcast, ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? is to grapple with this question. With each episode, guests will grapple with topics about servingness, emerging from their research with HSIs and their practice within HSIs. What you will find is that there is no one answer to the servingness question. Join us weekly as we dive into the history and evolution of HSIs, culturally relevant and liberatory practices, current and emerging research with HSIs, and the policies that shape servingness. 

Show Notes:

Title III, V, VII Eligibility

HSI Definition

Excelencia in Education - 25 Years of HSIs