I quickly glance at the conference program/schedule in my hand, then at the plaque on the wall in front of me, just double-checking I’m entering the correct conference room – the “Monterey Room”– for a session titled “Hispanic-Serving Institutions.” I’m in the right place! I enter through the threshold of the door. As I walk in, I’m bringing with me nearly a year of reading and conversations with Vanguard University’s Hispanic-Serving Institution Advisory Council (HSI Council), of which I am a member. Hispanic-Serving Institutions are those which enroll at least 25% Hispanic students. Attending this specific conference session should yield useful insight for questions that are on my mind – what kinds of conversations are others having? What are their concerns for Latina/o-identifying students on campus? What are their programmatic priorities?
This session is one of many at the 2023 California Sociological Association’s (CSA) Annual Conference. The CSA is the state-level annual meeting of Sociologists. It is a smaller, more intimate gathering that welcomes presentation of professional research, teaching innovations, but also actively encourages undergraduate and graduate student participation.
I take the only chair left in Monterey Room and sit at attention…when I notice the group of undergraduate students of color sitting to the left of the room alongside their two Latina Professors. They ask good questions of the panel. They seem to be in their element.
As the session ends and we all walk away, I see that these same students, their two Latina Professors, and myself are headed next to the exact same session–“Sociological Studies of Diversity.” There, they ask good questions, again. They are in their element. I am impressed.
Hispanic-Servingness
For the rest of the day and weekend, impressed upon my mind is the labor of these two Professors whose investment in their students is so clearly visible in these conference sessions. I thought to myself that being an HSI means that we invest, and sometimes it looks like these Professor’s investment of time, presence, energy, and heart at this Conference. Even if anecdotal, this experience affirms nearly a year of conversations and research about what it means to be a Hispanic-Serving Institution. It means to give, to pour into, to invest.
All HSIs get to determine for themselves what being “HSI” means in their own respective contexts including how best to serve this student population at various intersections including – the Latina/o commuter, the first-generation Latina/o, the Latina/o who also works to provide for their family, the student whose first language is Spanish, etc. Universities themselves determine what specific shape and form their Hispanic-servingness will take and will be reflected in institutional priorities, curricular and co-curricular programming, initiatives, the culture that is nurtured, among a few elements. Because we are a Christian university, Vanguard has the privilege and responsibility of integrating faith into our very own definition of Hispanic-servingness. We get to consider cultural contexts and experiential realities as we structure an institution that stands upon the foundation that testimony matters – that “your story matters.”
Invest
How does a story matter? Because it shapes the ways we invest. I am particularly reminded of the Sociology Department’s way of investing in students. Professors develop students’ research skills and then prepare them to present their own research at symposiums or even local conferences. Even without research projects, the Sociology Department takes students to conferences where they can learn, network, and give them overall familiarity with our academic discipline (similar to what I observed at CSA). This is especially important for first-generation students who are learning to navigate university and imagining careers and ministries for the future. This is also very important for HSI’s overall, including Vanguard University. A recent report notes that Hispanic students were more likely to be first-generation than other racial/ethnic groups 2. These student life details – like being first-generation – matter because these directly shape how we serve students.
I feel a sense of expectation and excitement as a new faculty member who has started to pour into Vanguard students. I believe in investing in students, and doing so in ways that take careful note of their stories, for their stories will shape their needs at our educational institution. Let us meet those needs wisely and generously. Let us invest.
1 U.S. Department of Education. https://sites.ed.gov/hispanic-initiative/hispanic-serving-institutions-hsis/
2 Excelencia in Education, (2019), Latinos in Higher Education: Compilation of Fast
Facts, https://www.edexcelencia.org/Excelencia-Compilation-Fast-Facts
