Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice

by GINA ANN GARCIA OMINGO MOREL • BALTIMORE. MD | JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS‎ | February 14,

Description:

The framework to help Hispanic-Serving Institutions transform into spaces of liberation that promote racial equity and social justice. Beyond having over a quarter of their undergraduate students be Hispanic, what makes Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) uniquely Latinx? And how can university leaders, faculty, and staff transform these institutions into spaces that promote racial equity, social justice, and collective liberation?

In Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice, Gina Ann Garcia argues that in order to serve Latinx students and other students of color, these institutions must acknowledge how whiteness operates across the organization, from the ways that it is governed and how decisions are made to how education and knowledge are delivered. Diversity alone is insufficient for achieving a dynamic learning environment within higher education institutions. Garcia’s framework for transforming HSIs into truly Latinx institutions is grounded in critical theories, yet it advances new ways of thinking about how to organize colleges and universities that are actively serving students of color, low-income students, and students from other minoritized backgrounds. This framework connects multiple important dimensions, including mission, identity, strategic purpose, membership, curriculum, student services, physical infrastructure, governance, leadership, external partnerships, and external influences.

Drawing on over 25 years of HSI research, Garcia offers unique solutions for colleges and universities that want to better serve their students. With over 550 colleges and universities already eligible for the HSI designation, this book is a must-read for everyone in higher education.

Editorial Reviews:

An exceptional, substantive book about Hispanic-Serving Institutions by the leading expert on this important subject. Run, do not walk, to read this top-tier book. —Michael A. Olivas, The University of Houston, author of Suing Alma Mater: Higher Education and the Courts Hispanic Serving Institutions represent a new institutional species. But for this species to survive, they must differentiate themselves and fill newly emerging environmental niches. Gina Garcia gives us the blueprint to ensure HSI’s do not fall into the trap of imitating white-centered institutions. Her work here elucidates the unique organizational features and conditions that serve to make HSI’s so valuable. She demonstrates how these same qualities can serve to transform HSI’s from under-resourced replicas of white-centered institutions into the institutions of the future. For anyone looking for a window into the near-future of higher education, Garcia presents a crystal clear view.

—Estela Bensimon, Founder, Center

for Urban Education, University of Southern California

Dr. Garcia provides a blueprint for the deep transformative practices that are required to enact true organizational change. Her work is a fiery call to action for all of us within HSIs to be agents of change for racial equity and reshape our institutions to center and serve students of color.

—Ann Endris, Cabrillo College

Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice is a must read for institutional and governmental actors, students, scholars, policy makers, advocates, and researchers. Dr. Garcia provides a historical, research and personal grounding, pushing HSIs to implement a raceforward approach leading to institutional transformation that advances equity, justice and liberation. —Will Del Pilar, The Education Trust

About the Author:

GINA ANN GARCIA is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges and Universities