04/29/2013 Getting That Degree

APRIL 29, 2013

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$3.75

www.HispanicOutlook.com

VOLUME 23 • NUMBER 15

Also available in Digital Format

Completing College

Diversifying Higher Ed

Budget Cuts in California

The

University of South Florida System is a high-impact, global research system dedicated to student success. The USF System includes three institutions: USF Tampa; USF St. Petersburg; and USF Sarasota-Manatee. The institutions are separately accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. All institutions have distinct missions and strategic plans. Serving more than 47,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion and an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference.

Administrative and Executive Positions: Director of Development (Advancement) Sr. Director of Development-COB (Advancement) Director (Associate Executive Director-Alumni) Advancement Director for Center of Student Involvement Sr. Director of Development (Advancement) Regional Vice Chancellor (St. Petersburg Campus) Director of Clinical Affairs (College of Medicine) Faculty Positions: College of Arts and Sciences College of Education Assistant Professor (6) Dean (1) Assistant/Associate Professor (3) Assistant/Associate/Full Professor (2) Associate Professor/Professor (1) College of Business College of Engineering Assistant Professor (2) Open Rank (Full Professor) (2) Associate Dean (1) Assistant Professor (1) Associate Professor/Full (2) Open Rank (Full/Associate/Assistant) (2) Assistant/Associate Professor (2) St. Petersburg Campus Assistant Professor (5)

Behavioral Sciences Assistant Dean (1)

College of Public Health Assistant Professor (2) Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

Sarasota Campus Assistant Professor (2)

College of Medicine Assistant/Associate Professor (10) Assistant Professor (11) Assistant/Associate/Full Professor (5)

College of Nursing Nursing Faculty (2) Assistant/Associate Professor (1)

Mental Health Law & Policy Assistant Professor (2) Professor (1)

Coll. of Behavioral and Comm. Sciences Professor (1) Assistant Professor (2) Associate/Full Professor (1)

For a job description on the above listed positions including department, disciple and deadline dates: (1) visit our Careers@USF Web site at https://employment.usf.edu/applicants/ jsp/shared/Welcome_css.jsp; or (2) contact The Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, (813) 974-4373; or (3) call USF job line at 813.974.2879.

USF is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action institution, committed to excellence through diversity in education and employment. www.usf.edu • 4202 E. Fowler Ave,Tampa, FL 33620

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Vice President for Student Affairs The University of Connecticut invites nominations and applications for the position of Vice President for Student Affairs.

The University of Connecticut (UConn) is one of the nation’s leading public research universities. Founded in 1881, UConn is a Land Grant and Sea Grant college and member of the Space Grant Consortium. It is the state’s flagship institution of higher education with its main campus in Storrs in addition to a Law School, Medical and Dental Schools, a Health Center and five regional campuses in Greater Hartford, Stamford, Waterbury, Avery Point, and Torrington. The Law School campus is located in Hartford; the Health Center campus is located in Farmington. Both are closely linked to the main campus through academic projects.

UConn is ranked among the Top 25 public universities in the nation according to the 2013 U.S. News & Report. The University has approximately 10,000 faculty and staff and 30,000 students which includes more than 22,000 undergraduates and nearly 8,000 graduate/professional students. UConn offers about 100 majors, eight undergraduate degrees, 17 graduate degrees, and five professional degree programs. In 2012, UConn’s main campus admitted the highest-achieving freshmen in University history.

Student diversity continues to increase, as does the number of honors students, valedictorians and salutatorians who consistently make UConn their top choice.

The state legislature is currently considering a proposal by Connecticut’s governor called Next Generation Connecticut, an initiative that would add 6,580 students (growth of more than 20 percent) to UConn’s student body, enhance the physical infrastructure for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs, create a premiere STEM honors program and hire an additional 259 faculty members beyond the 290 new faculty hires already planned under UConn’s four-year faculty hiring initiative that began in 2012.

Reporting to the President and the Provost, and serving as a member of the President’s Cabinet, the Vice President for Student Affairs will provide the vision and strategy for the division of student affairs and the programs, services, and co-curricular experiences that enhance student success. The Vice President oversees a range of areas affecting the student experience including the Center for Students with Disabilities, Community Standards, Counseling and Mental Health Services, Dining Services, OffCampus Student Services, Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life, Office of Student Services & Advocacy, One Card Office, Residential Life, Student Affairs Information Technology, Student Activities, Student Health Services, Student Union, Wellness & Prevention Services and five cultural centers. The Vice President for Student Affairs oversees a staff of approximately 300 and directly manages a budget of approximately $80 million.

The Vice President for Student Affairs should possess senior leadership experience in a complex student affairs division. The successful candidate will also demonstrate strong fiscal and budgetary management skills and the ability to develop and mentor a stellar staff. The Vice President for Student Affairs must fully understand student development, learning outcomes, and best practices in student affairs. A terminal degree in student services or a related field is preferred.

Initial screening of applicants will begin immediately, and continue until the position is filled. For full consideration, please provide applications or nominations by May 15, 2013. The University of Connecticut will be assisted by Ellen Brown Landers and Cynthia Greenleaf of Heidrick & Struggles, Inc. For further information, please see: http://provost.uconn.edu/vice-president-for-student-affairs/. Nominations and applications should be directed to: University of Connecticut Vice President for Student Affairs Search Committee Heidrick & Struggles, Inc. 303 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 4300 Atlanta, GA 30308 Telephone: 404-682-7313 Email: uconnstudentaffairs@heidrick.com University of Connecticut is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

® Publisher – José López-Isa VP & COO – Orlando López-Isa

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief – Suzanne López-Isa

Ricardo Fernández, President Lehman College

Editor – Jason Paneque

Mildred García, President California State University-Fullerton

News & Special Project Editor – Mary Ann Cooper

Juán González,VP Student Affairs University of Texas at Austin

Administrative Assistant & Subscription Coordinator – Barbara Churchill

Lydia Ledesma-Reese, Educ. Consultant Ventura County Community College District

DC Congressional Correspondent –

Gustavo A. Mellander, Dean Emeritus George Mason University

Peggy Sands Orchowski Contributing Editors –

Loui Olivas,Assistant VP Academic Affairs Arizona State University

Carlos D. Conde, Michelle Adam

Eduardo Padrón, President Miami Dade College

Online Contributing Writers – Gustavo A. Mellander

Antonio Pérez, President Borough of Manhattan Community College

Art & Production Director – Avedis Derbalian

María Vallejo, Provost Palm Beach State College

Graphic Designer – Joanne Aluotto

Editorial Policy The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national

Sr.Advertising Sales Associate –

magazine published 23 times a year. Dedicated to exploring issues

Angel M. Rodríguez

related to Hispanics in higher education,The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is published for the members of the higher

Article Contributors

education community. Editorial decisions are based on the editors’ judg-

Frank DiMaria,Yvette Donado, Marilyn Gilroy, Myrka A. González, Angela Provitera McGlynn, Jerry Plush, Miquela Rivera, Gary M. Stern

ment of the quality of the writing, the timeliness of the article, and the potential interest to the readers of The Hispanic Outlook Magazine®.

From time to time,The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® will publish articles dealing with controversial issues.The

Editorial Office

views expressed herein are those of the authors and/or those inter-

80 Route 4 East, Suite 203, Paramus, N.J. 07652 TEL (201) 587-8800 or (800) 549-8280 FAX (201) 587-9105

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Esquina E ditorial

It s

amazing how quickly some dyed-in-the-wool political stances can turn on a dime in the face of public opinion. Take the case of immigration reform. When the Latino vote went overwhelmingly to support the re-election of the president – even in the face of crushing economic times – lawmakers sat up and took notice, scrambling to climb aboard the bandwagon of sensible reform. What remains to be seen is how “sensible” is defined.

In this issue, we delve into the courting of the Hispanic voter and the challenges that reform will bring to the world of higher education. One of our headlines carries the message “Latinos Are Liked! Really, Really, Liked!” And while that might represent a positive change in perception by the public and politicians, our article explores how each political party is succeeding or failing as Hispanic voter suitors, and how they can do better. Also, just how will decisions on this issue made in Washington impact higher education – the socalled “missing link” of immigration reform? With more and more children of the undocumented coming out of the shadows, HO presents some ideas on how to bring these students into academic life and mainstream young professionals with much-needed skills into society.

In this issue, we quote Lawrence E. Katz in his “The Race Between Educators and Technology” as an exclamation point to this argument that we must do this if we are to thrive economically as a nation. He noted, “The 20th century was the century when education became the dominant factor determining the wealth of nations, and it was the century when America was first to discover that notion.”

Better late than never! Next month in our Top 100 issue, we celebrate those schools that are working to fulfill that academic mission. ¡Adelante!

Suzanne López-Isa Editor-in-Chief

A Multicultural Faculty is the key to

Diversifying Your Institution Start Now

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Po lit i cal Beat

AlrightYou Wetbacks, Read This!

by Carlos D. Conde

B

eing a politician anywhere, but particularly in Washington, is a precarious business. You have handlers to help you negotiate the political minefields and the alwayslurking faux pas you invariably commit. When you do make a blunder, you plea repentance and promise redemption to the offended parties.

Rep. Don Young for the past 40 years has been the sole and until now innocuous congressman from Alaska. Hardly anyone except for his constituents had heard of him until he appeared on a local radio show and in discussing bygone agricultural days referred to farmworkers as “wetbacks.”

He didn’t say Mexicans or Latinos, but the inference is deafening.

Young talked about his younger days in California, where he grew up, saying, “My father had a ranch.

We used to have 50 to 60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes. It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now.

It’s all done by machine.”

The farmworkers might have been from other ethnic or racial groups, but in this case, as many already know, “wetback” is code, and a derisive word for a Mexican or, to be more precise, a Mexican farmworker, although in my days in South Texas you didn’t have to work on a farm to be called a “wetback.”

You’re already aware of the uproar it caused. Interestingly, it was contained mostly to Rep.

Young’s fellow politicians in Washington and the few Latino representatives in Congress.

Washington’s political “A” team members, like Republican House Speaker John Boehner, issued statements condemning the comments.

“Congressman Young’s remarks were ... beneath the dignity of the office he holds and warrants an immediate apology,” Boehner said.

Republican Sen. John McCain said, “Don Young’s comments ... have no place in our party or in our national discourse.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Young’s comments “deeply hurtful and ... inappropriate.”

Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman Rubén Hinojosa said, “Shame on you, Don Young. It’s deeply disheartening that in 2013 we are forced to have a discussion about a member of Congress using such hateful words and racial slurs.”

All the chest thumping is because the Latino vote is big now, and, boy, do the politicians know how to spot an apple-polishing, pro-Latino opportunity they can later cash in for votes.

Apparently, the news was slow getting out to the U.S. outback, and there was scant reaction. There was no marching in the streets by Latinos like you might expect from say the Muslims had someone danced on the Koran.

It didn’t stir Latino passions notably because although the term “wetback” is a relatively wellknown word, it’s antiquated in today’s cultural references.

Also, save for Mexicans, other Latinos, whatever their origin and status, have hardly dealt with the “wetback” issue or identified with it as in the olden days when it was about swimming the Rio Grande and being chased by the U.S. border patrol, sometimes on horseback.

Congressman Young has had little dealing with the small Latino constituency in Alaska. He takes his experience with Latinos, largely Mexican, from his California days.

There is a small but growing Latino community in Alaska, but it’s not about working in tomato patches or picking oranges. Like many others on the mainland, Latinos have discovered Alaska, and the transplanting is on – many starting private businesses or working in the oil and construction industries.

Alaska has an estimated 731,449 persons. In the last 10 years, Alaska’s Hispanic population has grown 52 percent, making it the fastest-growing minority in the state. Whites constitute 68 percent of the population.

Striking a blow in defense of the underprivileged and the underdog – particularly if it involves the current golden group of minorities, Latinos – is still good politics in Washington or wherever their political vote is coveted.

Alaska has started to become attractive to Latinos although the numbers show Whites and the conservative bloc still vastly outnumber the mostly Mexican-American legions.

Nevertheless, you can’t ignore ethnic sensibilities knowing that the Spanish-speaking community is now the largest minority group in the country on track to becoming the dominant group overtaking Whites and woe be unto you if you ignore this.

Political observers say, please the Latinos and they can help get you to the White House. Over 70 percent voted for the Democrat incumbent, Barack Obama, in the last election.

Why is Washington all of a sudden taking unbridled umbrage with an uncouth, insensitive legislator ignoring a bit of history when the term “wetback” was a part of the Washington lexicon and Mexican

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undocumented workers were a problem as well as a solution?

The Eisenhower administration commanded the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to undertake “Operation Wetback” in 1952 to stymie what many of our Washington leaders had perceived as a plague of mostly Mexicans swimming the Rio Grande to work primarily in the agricultural fields and as stoop laborers.

It came after the legitimate Bracero Program initiated by the Roosevelt administration in 1942 to import temporary Mexican contract workers to offset the scarcity of U.S. laborers.

Supposedly, the venerable New York Times first used the term “wetback” as early as June 1920 to describe illegal Mexican farmworkers, and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service adopted the word.

Operation Wetback was abandoned after opponents of the program in Mexico and the U.S. began to complain of “police state” methods.

There are still “wetbacks” along the Rio Grande because it’s still the most convenient way to get to the U.S. if you’re undocumented, although the illegal traffic of Mexicans and other groups has become more sophisticated.

Congressman Young has apologized for his bigotry and insensitivity, and we can forgive him for his bad characterization of Latinos and for not knowing of what he speaks of.

Carlos D. Conde, award-winning journalist and commentator, former Washington and foreign news correspondent, was an aide in the Nixon White House and worked on the political campaigns of George Bush Sr. To reply to this column, contact Cdconde@aol.com.

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MAGAZINE® APRIL 29, 2013

CONTENTS Unemployment in 2011 (in %) 2.4 3.6

NSCRC’s Completing College Report and the Gates M Foundation’s Presentation on the Higher Ed Budget 1 Crisis by Angela Provitera McGlynn Latinos Are Liked! Really, Really Liked!

4.9

8

11

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

6.8

The Missing Link in Immigration Reform

8.7

14

by Yvette Donado

9.4 14.1

Banking on Solutions:Webster Bank Invests in Financial Literacy by Jerry Plush

15

ACE Launches Effort to Diversify Higher Education Leadership by Marilyn Gilroy

16

State Budget Cuts Wreaking Havoc on California Community Colleges by Gary M. Stern

18

UT System to Open a New University

20

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s o n i at

L

by Frank DiMaria

Online Articles Some of the above articles will also be available online; go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

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DEPARTMENTS Political Beat

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by Carlos D. Conde

Alright You Wetbacks, Read This!

Hispanics on the Move

22

Interesting Reads

23 Page 18

Book Review

by Myrka A. Gonzรกlez

23

Roots of Style

Priming the Pump...

by Miquela Rivera

Wisdom of Grandparents and Parents

Back Cover

Page 20

HO is also available in digital format; go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

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REPORTS

NSCRC’s Completing College Foundation’s Presentation on

F

by Angela Provitera McGlynn unded by a grant from the Lumina Foundation, the Signature Report Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates was published November 2012 by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) and is unique in how it gathers completion data.

Earning a degree or a certificate is understood to be a key college success outcome. However, institutions and policymakers in the United States only measure degree outcomes for students who complete their degrees from the college where they began.

The NSCRC Signature Report series goes beyond such measures and assesses rates of college completion of all postsecondary credentials of all levels and types at any institution and in any state regardless of how many colleges students attended prior to completing their degrees. This is an important advance in assessment of college completion given that one-third of first-time college students attend several institutions before actually earning a degree or certificate. Indeed, nontraditional students, those who postpone going to college beyond traditional age (24 and older) and/or attend college part time and have full- and part-time jobs actually have become the new normal among North American college students. The majority of students now move towards their degrees in nontraditional ways.

This report adds to the database by including: • Six-year college outcomes, including the first instance of degree or certificate completion (first completion), persistence and stop-out – outcomes are broken out by students’ age at first entry, students’ enrollment intensity, enrollment intensity within each age group, and type of starting

institution (enrollment intensity refers to the students’ enrollment status in all terms of enrollment; the report categorized mixed enrollment students as those who changed their enrollment status from full time to part time or vice versa, from term to term) • Six-year college outcomes for students who started at four-year public institutions, at two-year public institutions, at four-year private nonprofit institutions and at four-year private for-profit institutions • Patterns of completion across state lines, broken out by students’ enrollment intensity, students’ age at first entry, and enrollment intensity within each age group The news from this added data is somewhat promising. Within six years starting in 2006, 12.1 percent of first-time-in-college degree-seeking students completed a degree or certificate at an institution other than their starting institution. This raises the overall postsecondary completion rate from 42 percent to 54.1 percent.

Since the data is more nuanced, the report was able to determine that students who started at four-year public institutions had a completion rate of 60.5 percent within the six-year period, including 12 percent of students who completed their degrees at an institution other than the one at which they started.

For two-year public institution students, completion rates go up to 60.5 percent for the six-year period including the 12.4 percent of students who complete at a different institution from the one where they started. We see similar increases for students who start at four-year private nonprofit

COLLEGE AND SOCIAL MOBILITY Unemployment in 2011 (in %) 2.4 3.6 4.9

1,053 768 719

Some College, No Degree

9.4

638

High School Diploma

14.1

Less Than High School Diploma

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1,263

Masterʼs Degree

Associate Degree

8.7

H I S P A N I C

1,665

Professional Degree

Bachelorʼs Degree

6.8

8

Median Weekly Earnings in 2011 (in $)

•

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451

Report and the Gates the Higher Ed Budget Crisis schools – 62.5 percent completion rates within six years if we add the 12.9 percent who complete their degrees at a different school.

Interestingly, the trend is different for students who begin their educations at four-year private for-profit institutions: these students had lower completion rates at an institution other than the starting school (37.8 percent at the starting institution and 4.9 percent at a different institution).

Since this report was able to disaggregate groups of students, another interesting finding appears when we look at completion rates for exclusively part-time students that make up 7.2 percent of the study’s cohort. It is understandable that completion rates for these students would be lower given that six years is not enough time to complete a degree if students are enrolled only part time. We should expect, though, that these students would still be enrolled at the end of the six-year period. However, this is not the case. Fifty-nine percent of part-time enrollees at four-year private nonprofit institutions and 70 percent at four-year public and two-year public institutions had either dropped out or stopped out of school, showing no enrollments in the final year of the study.

When part-time students were further disaggregated into older students and traditional-age students, it was found that older students had a higher completion rate than younger students. The report states that the overall completion rates of older students were driven largely by the degree-completers of the exclusively full-time enrollees among them.

Additionally, this Signature Report, written by Doug Shapiro and Afet Dundar with the assistance of the Project on Academic Success, Indiana University (Jin Chen, Mary Ziskin, Eunkyoung Park, Vasi Torres, and YiChen Chiang), looked at our-of-state completions. Out-of-state degree completions had not been tracked previously by traditional measurements.

Completion rates for students who start at a college or university in their home state and then complete their studies at an out-of-state institution have typically been missing from the data gathered by traditional measuring approaches. This report found that 3.5 percent of students received a degree in a state different from the one where they started within the six years studied. Out-of-state student completers represent about 6.5 percent of all completions, and more than a fourth (28.7 percent) of all students who completed a degree did so somewhere other than the school at which they began their studies.

Using all this extended data, this report provides a more comprehensive analysis of student progress and degree completion and thus a wider perspective on student success in postsecondary education. The implications of the research findings are very clear – policy discussions need to focus more on older, nontraditional-age college students and on students who enroll part time and not on a continuous basis.

In the words of the report: “these findings have the potential to contribute to ongoing discussions about national education goals and institu-

Completion at Starting vs. Different Institution by Age at First Entry 100% 90% 80% 70%

23.6%

14.8% 85.2%

76.4%

60%

Completed at Different Institution

50%

Completed at Starting Institution

40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

24 or Younger

Over 24

tional accountability. More specifically, the findings suggest that emerging policy initiatives should look to more nuanced and targeted measures of student success and that institutions should provide student support tailored to the differing needs of students along their various postsecondary pathways – pathways that include intermittent part-time enrollment in multiple institutions, enrollment as a returning adult learner, and longer time to degree.

This report shows, although not specifically stated, that Latino students (our fastest-growing minority population) are at risk for degree completion for a number of reasons. First, due to financial and cultural reasons, Hispanic students are more likely to enroll part time (one college completion risk factor), more likely to live at home (another college completion risk factor), more likely to work full or part time while studying (yet another college completion risk factor), and not have adequate funding to complete their degrees.

Since many of these risk factors involve financial barriers for Hispanic students and other low-income groups, I was drawn to the recent PowerPoint presentation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation titled Incomplete: A Higher Education Case Study of the Budget Crisis (November 2012).

I noticed the Gates Foundation presentation online where Jordan Weissman, associate editor at The Atlantic, posted it on InShare in November. Weissman reported that Bill Gates explained some ideas related to higher education at the Washington Ideas Forum. Specifically, Gates focused on how shrinking state budgets have made college less affordable and have led to ballooning student debt. Gates further stated that although the cost of higher education is certainly a major problem, the bigger issue is our nation’s terribly low college graduation rates. Weissman reports Gates saying that if we want to produce an educated, 21st-century work

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force, we need to focus on making sure more students who are currently dropping out of school instead make it to commencement.

Weissman posted the PowerPoint presentation Gates used that Gates delivered before his question-and-answer session with The New York Times’ David Leonhardt. Gates shared many of his valuable insights in his presentation.

Gates used Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz’s quote from The Race Between Education and Technology to emphasize the correlation between higher education and economic growth: “The 20th century was the century when education became the dominant factor determining the wealth of nations, and it was the century when America was first to discover that notion.”

Most educators and policymakers now take for granted that we need to expand our higher education base in order to be economically competitive in a global economy and that cannot be achieved without graduating more Hispanic students. Gates reminds us that internationally our nation is now below average in college graduates, trailing 12 other countries – whereas once we were number one.

We are not producing enough graduates to fill the jobs of the latter part of this decade. One of Gates’ slides quotes the executive summary of Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018 by the Center on Education and the Workforce (Anthony Carnevale, Nicole Smith and Jeff Strohl): “By 2018, we will need 22 million new college degrees – but will fall short of that number by at least three million postsecondary degrees.”

Using data from the Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Gates notes the strong positive correlation between a college education and social mobility. In addition to the nation’s need for graduates to populate the work force, our nation’s people benefit greatly by

earning a degree. The higher people go on the educational ladder, the lower their unemployment rates and the higher their median earnings.

Gates explains the following conundrum: College enrollments keep going up – in all the United States, the average enrollment increase from 2006 to 2011 was 16.9 percent. During the same time span, state funding has gone down by 12.5 percent. Colleges are then forced to raise tuition.

Federal funding and heavy borrowing made up some of the difference created by state cuts.

The essential problem is that students aren’t completing their degrees – not even those students who are fortunate enough to get grants and loans.

Using statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, Gates cites the percentages of students who graduate from four-year institutions within six years: 58 percent, and from two-year schools within three years: 30 percent.

At the end of the Gates presentation, he offers three guiding principles of higher education reform that certainly make sense. He suggests the following: • Don’t cut more; we have already cut higher education to the bone, and it’s critical to economic growth and opportunity • Get more productivity out of federal grants and loans; find credible ways to help institutions and students receiving them raise graduation rates • Focus on today’s students: working, raising children and enrolled part time We can see a very clear overlap between NSCRC’S Completing College report and Gates’ perspectives on solutions.

Angela Provitera McGlynn, professor emeritus of psychology, is an international consultant/presenter on teaching, learning and diversity issues and the author of several related books.

Positions contingent on funding Gallaudet University serves deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing students from many different backgrounds and seeks to develop a workforce that reflects the diversity of its student body. Gallaudet is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and actively encourages deaf, hard of hearing, members of traditionally underrepresented groups, people with disabilities, women, and veterans to apply for open positions.

The university is currently accepting applications for one or more faculty positions in the following departments: American Sign Language and Deaf Studies Business Counseling Education Foreign Languages, Literature and Cultures Interdisciplinary PhD program in Educational Neuroscience (GSPP) Hearing, Speech and Language Sciences Interpretation Linguistics Psychology

For detailed job descriptions and application information, go to: http://www.gallaudet.edu/hrs/employment_opportunities.html

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POLITICS/PERSPECTIVES

Latinos Are Liked!

Really, Really Liked!

In

by Peggy Sands Orchowski the past six years, the image of Latinos in the United States has changed substantially. During the 2006-07 Latinocentric comprehensive immigration reform battles and until approximately 2009, Latinos were viewed generally and usually compassionately by the public and the media as poor, mainly uneducated, Spanish-speaking-only immigrants who had had to cross illegally over the Mexican border to get bend-over agriculture, maintenance and dirty kitchen jobs in the United States that no American citizen or legal immigrant would do. Since 2010, however, Latinos are increasingly being toasted, flirted with, recruited and venerated as the fastest-growing political power and education success story in America.

This new image of Latinos was especially evident in all the major events of the 2012 presidential elections: the nomination conventions, the election itself and the inauguration ceremonies of President Obama.

Latinos were the stars of both the Republican and Democratic Party conventions in Tampa, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C., respectively. Both conventions featured new Latino faces, voices and leaders. The Democrats featured Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as the host of the convention; their keynote speakers were the identical twin brothers Julián and Joaquín Castro – the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and the (winning) candidate for Congress, respectively.

During the day when there was no national television coverage, the Democratic convention delegates met in group caucuses including the women’s caucus, the Black caucus, the gay and lesbian caucuses and the huge Latino caucus.

First lady Michelle Obama and Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett visited each caucus individually to bring a personal message about their particular issues. For Latinos, Democrats focused on the DREAM Act. Every single speaker at the Democratic convention mentioned the DREAM Act, to which the audience immediately responded with standing ovations, cheers and applause; a Latino illegal immigrant student DREAMer was given a prime-time evening speaking slot.

The Republican convention also featured new star Republican Hispanics on their platform in prime time. They actually outranked the Democratic Latino stars and were more diverse.

Republicans highlighted the first Latina governor

some suggested proposing a fair immigration system that would encourage entrepreneurs and educated immigrants to stay. The Hispanic Republican delegates were widely diverse including Tea Party Republicans, Reagan com-

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

in the United States – Susanna Martínez of New Mexico; and the newest Hispanic senator, Marco Rubio of Florida. The wife of the Republican governor of Puerto Rico was also featured among others. Almost every Republican state delegation had Hispanic members, including Mexican-heritage youth delegates from California and Texas, holding up signs bearing slogans such as “Latinos for Romney.” During the day at the Republican convention, unlike the Democrats, the Republicans met in state caucuses, not identity target groups. Unlike the Democrats, Republican Hispanics did not campaign as Latinos; they ran as Republicans focusing on GOP issues such as reducing government incursion on businesses and decreasing taxes.

None mentioned the DREAM Act by name, but

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passionate conservatives, and moderates. Many were non-Catholic – especially evangelicals from Texas and the South, and Mormons from Utah and Arizona and (in Rep. Raúl Labrador’s case) Idaho.

During the election months, Latinos seemed to be the primary voting bloc focused on by the media. After the election, the one analysis that almost every pundit in both parties and almost every media outlet seemed to agree on, was that the Latino vote won Obama the presidency and was almost solely responsible for the current demise of the Republican Party itself. It is widely quoted that Hispanics voted in historically large numbers – they made up 11-12 percent of the total electorate, and 71 percent Hispanic voters cast ballots for Obama compared to an

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“unprecedented” and “disastrous” low of 27 percent for Romney. These statistics are always accompanied with the words “Hispanics are the fastest-growing demographic in America.” The presumption is that the Latino demographic equals the electorate.

four years later, in a low voter-turnout election, the Latino vote increased by several million to make up 12 percent of an estimated 128 million total voters. More likely is that the Latino vote did increase somewhat, but probably by under one million to make up 9-10 percent of the total

Latinos are now also the largest minority by far attending U.S. colleges – public, private and for-profit.

None of these “facts” are true – but the perception is that they are. The voting numbers are based entirely on exit polls, which are historically unreliable. What is already known, although not acknowledged popularly, is that approximately three million fewer U.S. citizens voted in the 2012 election than in 2008, since 2009, the fastest-growing demographic in the United States is Asian-American, not Hispanic; and 2012 voting patterns show that Obama won the presidency way before the Hispanic-heavy western states’ and Florida’s numbers were counted.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2008 the Hispanic vote was about 10 million – 7.4 percent of the total electorate of 131 million; 67 percent of Hispanic voters cast ballots for Obama (about 6.5 million), and 31 percent (3.1 million) voted Republican. It seems unlikely that

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electorate. Voter-turnout data will also probably show that around 29 percent of Hispanic citizens voted Republican (slightly less than in 2008) and perhaps 69 percent voted for Obama (slightly more than in 2008); the rest voted Independent.

But these facts won’t matter. The narrative and the will of the politic is strongly enthusiastic for the perception that the Latino electorate is the fastest-growing, most powerful and most coveted of any voter block and that it will continue to grow “overwhelmingly Democratic.” The success of Democrats to divide the electorate into monolithic single-issue identity groups seems to have gripped even the most strategic of Republicans like Karl Rove. Both parties now are focusing on the Latino.

The inauguration of President Obama con-

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firmed the national Latino love fest when Latino stars dominated every facet of the ceremony. Cochair of the inauguration was Latina TV star Eva Longoria, along with San Antonio philanthropist and business leader Henry Muñoz III. The Cuban-American Episcopalian Luis León, pastor of the yellow church across the street from the White House, gave the inaugural benediction (some of it in Spanish). Richard Blanco was the first Hispanic to read an original poem at the ceremony. The first Latina Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor gave the oath of office to Vice President Joe Biden.

Now since January and the beginning of the 113th Congress, the image of the “power of the Latino electorate” suddenly has become the inexorable driving force behind the surprising bipartisan push for immigration reform. The current congressional and presidential priority, even urgency, given to passing immigration reform is remarkable. Immigration reform was not ever a priority issue of the Obama administration in his first term, nor of the public before the election, including most Latino voters. In pre-election poll after poll, even Latino voters ranked immigration reform as last in a list of five of the most important issues they faced. But the election and the much-proclaimed “historic Hispanic vote” changed all that.

Like most voters, Hispanic voters listed “jobs” as their most important issue.

Unemployment rates of Hispanics in America rose slightly to 11 percent from 9 percent in 2010-12, including some eight million illegal immigrant workers who come mainly from Mexico. While in many states Hispanic unemployment is almost half that of AfricanAmericans, still Hispanic workers (legal and illegal) are viewed as vital, hardworking and very sympathetic. Immigration is about jobs, about work, about filling a productive work force for America’s prosperity. For many Latino advocates and Democratic leaders, the unbending line in the sand regarding comprehensive immigration reform is the legalization of almost all of the estimated 11 million (could be many more) illegal immigrants in the country – the majority of them Latinos, most of whom are working.

President Obama’s main immigration priority has been slightly different – to allow educated immigrants, legal and illegal, to stay and “create jobs.” Just before the election, he implemented an executive order that gave prosecutorial discretion (a two-year detention waiver and a temporary work permit) to any illegal immigrant

who might qualify for the DREAM Act. The president’s and most Republicans’ and Democrats’ top immigration reform agreement is to give eventual green cards to high-skilled workers and foreign students graduating from American colleges with either an MS or Ph.D. in the STEM fields. It seems certain that any kind-of-sort-ofmore-than-piecemeal “comprehensive” immigration reform package that will be hammered out by Congress and the White House in the next year will include some form of legalization for DREAMers – illegal immigrants who have a high school education.

And education is where Latinos are really beginning to shine.

Latinos are the largest minority in schools throughout America – almost one in four. The Latino high school completion rate is the fastest-growing among minorities, despite the language obstacle for many Latino immigrant youths. Latinos are now also the largest minority by far attending U.S. colleges – public, private and for-profit.

A focus on educational achievement in the broad Latino community is largely thanks to an increasing number of Hispanic-centered organi-

zations that are dedicated to the success of Latinos in education. No other minority group has the number and quality of so many prominent educational support organizations. They include the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Excelencia in Education, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and the National Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers among many others. They sponsor mentorship programs, scholarships and support for Hispanic students from grade school through college, often including Hispanic parents and community leaders.

Hispanic student admission to undergraduate college degrees is particularly encouraged by a $1 billion fund dedicated to HSIs (HispanicServing Institutions) that was established by Education Secretary Arne Duncan in 2009, his first year in office. Hispanic achievements in college admission and completion are additionally encouraged and tracked by the very active White House Hispanic Initiative on Higher Education.

As a result, a record number of Hispanics are completing college degrees, increasingly in STEM fields, at a rate higher than every other minority groups except Asian-Americans.

Latino success in home ownership, commerce and winning electoral office is increasing statistically faster than any other minority group as well. Again this is thanks in part to several major national Latino organizations that promote, encourage, support and track such successes, from small grass-roots community organizations up to major national congressional lobbying groups. Almost all of them are bipartisan (at least in theory), and some are given prominent media coverage. They include the National Council of La Raza, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, among many, many others.

Admiration of American Latinos and their success is increasing, no doubt. But perhaps the most mysterious of Latino achievements in America is just coming to light. Recently, several national health reports have reported that Latino males and females live longer than any other group in America including non-Hispanic Whites! There has been no explanation of that Hispanic American feat to date.

Associate Vice President Grants, Research, and Sponsored Programs The Associate Vice President for Grants, Research, and Sponsored Programs (AVP GRASP) is a full-time, 12-month position under the general direction of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. One of the primary focuses of this position is securing extramural funding that contributes to the institution’s priorities and commitment to academic excellence in teaching and learning. The AVP GRASP plays a critical role in creating an environment where scholarly activity for faculty and students grows.

Duties and Responsibilities include assisting administrators, faculty, staff, and students in all phases of grant award competition and management of project concept development; Identification of funding sources; Proposal and budget development; Approval processes; Award negotiations; Post-award administration; Quality, regulatory, and fiscal compliance, reporting, and grant closure.

The AVP GRASP also manages all activities associated with post-award administration to ensure compliance with sponsored program requirements, CSU and CSUB policies, and all applicable federal provisions in OMB Circulars A-21, A-110, and A-133. Responsibilities include responsibility for institutional oversight of fiscal management, including ensuring appropriate cost sharing/matching commitments and direct and indirect cost recovery; preparation of a wide variety of reports required by federal, state, local, CSU, and campus organizations regarding quality, regulatory, and fiscal compliance; authoring and maintaining research policies and operating procedures for campus employees receiving external funds; assessing and evaluating the impact of implemented policies, and executing changes as needed; monitoring legislation and appropriations that impact sponsored programs; training and supporting Principal Investigators; serving as the campus contact to federal, state, and local awarding agencies for matters relating to sponsored program administration and fiscal management; the AVP is further responsible for managing the GRASP office, its activities, budget, operation, and personnel, and will perform other duties as assigned.

For complete advertisement, application instructions, and detailed job description for this position, please visit our webpage at http://www.csub.edu/provost/MPPSearches.shtml California State University, Bakersfield is an EO/ AA/ Title IX employer.

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COMMENTARIES/IMMIGRATION

The Missing Link in Immigration Reform In

by Yvette Donado

recent weeks, immigration reform has garnered everyone’s attention, including policymakers on both sides of the aisle. At this point, we cannot foresee what the bill will look like, but there will be a bill. The big question, however, is what happens after it passes, particularly with regard to educational opportunities for more than 11 million residents?

Last July, the Obama administration decided not to deport children of undocumented immigrants. I wrote then that little attention was being given to the need for easier access to educational opportunities for those who would be coming out of the shadows.

Now is the time to prepare to address the education needs of these 11 million persons who we hope will, regardless of the nature of citizenship pathways in the bill, become full-fledged, lawfully present, productive residents.

Imagine a physician from another country who, because of his or her current immigration status, drives a cab or works in a field other than medicine. That person came here without records of his or her academic credentials and has little, if any, prospect of acquiring them easily from the country of origin.

Multiply that by the tens of thousands – or millions – of future “regularized” residents who, despite good intentions and many sacrifices, lack proof of the education and experience that qualifies them for work in their profession or trade. Holding them to the same documentary requirements as citizens and current legal residents would prove to be an impossible task.

Here’s what needs to happen: 1) Employers and academic institutions, from high schools to graduate programs, must be flexible.

2) Private-sector and educational institutions must equip themselves with skilled counselors to attract, employ, train, educate and develop workers and students.

3) Newly enfranchised residents must recognize that credentials matter to employers and academic institutions, and that scores on a high school equivalency, college admission or English-language test carry weight, even if they are not required for a job or a place in an academic program. Tests help level the playing field, eliminating superficial judgments based on country of origin, native language or English proficiency.

4) Latino organizations, schools, counselors and others must help build a college-bound culture in the families of newly documented persons. The journey to a more productive role can be made easier through education of the entire family.

Latino organizations, schools, universities and government agencies at all levels must provide efficient services to smooth that journey.

The legislative path is unpredictable. What is predictable is that this issue will be addressed – and soon. Through efficient implementation of the law, by providing helpful services and by creating greater educational opportunities, they can become more productive, pay more taxes, improve

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“Now is the time to prepare

to address the education needs of these 11 million persons who we hope will, regardless of the nature of citizenship pathways in the bill, become full-fledged, lawfully present, productive residents.”

Yvette Donado bottom lines and empower their families.

Yvette Donado is the chief administrative officer and senior vice president, people, process and communications, for Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J.

FINANCE

Banking on Solutions: Webster Bank Invests in Financial Literacy

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by Jerry Plush inancial literacy and work force readiness are more important now than ever. The earlier today’s students learn basic financial knowledge and skills, the more opportunity they will have to thrive both professionally and financially.

At Webster Bank, a leading regional bank based in Waterbury, Conn., and serving businesses and consumers from Westchester County, N.Y., to Boston, Mass., we are fully committed to this educational endeavor. In fact, we have teamed up with Junior Achievement (JA) to make a difference in the lives of young people across our footprint.

This is a personal investment as well as financial commitment by our bankers to give back to the community. Working with the terrific people at JA, we believe we can help provide young people with the tools they need to be successful in the future, and we start with students as early as kindergarten up through high school. We’re passionate about financial literacy and champion it here at Webster with great enthusiasm. In fact, a senior Webster banker serves on every JA board throughout our four-state footprint, which includes Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York as well as Sheboygan, Wis. – home of HSA Bank, which is part of the Webster family. Our Webster bankers, from the most senior leaders to the newest bankers just out of school, enthusiastically participate in the educational process in “JA in a Day” sessions at schools across New England and New York as well as Wisconsin.

Students enjoy dealing with professionals who have completed all different levels of schooling. We have also found that they remember us when we return year after year. My first experience with JA was as a classroom volunteer. After one wonderful, rewarding day I was hooked. The next year, I returned to the same Waterbury school and one of the students said, “Hey, I remember you!” That’s a clear example that we – both as individuals and Webster bankers – have the ability to make a lasting, positive impression on these kids and their future. It feels great to give back to the community in such a vibrant, creative and meaningful way.

The JA financial literacy experience can start with a simple question like “Who likes money?” and wind up being a lesson plan in how to manage a relationship, start a business and think outside the box. It’s amazing how quickly students pick up on these things – even the youngest ones. By understanding basic monetary issues such as income, borrowing, lending, saving and earning interest, students will be able to see the multiplying factors involved in saving and taking on debt.

These fertile lessons help plant seeds for the future, and it’s just possible that these seeds will encourage youngsters to major in finance or become tomorrow’s bankers. For instance, Daniel Bley, our executive vice president and chief risk officer, is a Junior Achievement alumnus. Today he gives back to the community by volunteering in the classroom and serving on the board of Bridgeport-based JA of Western Connecticut.

Teaching financial literacy is a great way to “pay it forward” and help

Jerry Plush, president and chief operating officer of Webster and Webster Bank and director of Webster Bank

rejuvenate America’s entrepreneurial spirit. By rolling up our sleeves and interacting in classrooms at all levels, we can positively impact the future for many students and, at the same time, personally grow from the experience. Reaching the next generation of thinkers with these critical lessons will help prepare them to make sound financial decisions in the years ahead. What can be better than that?

Jerry Plush is president and chief operating officer of Webster and Webster Bank as well as a director of Webster Bank. A Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, he has a BS in accounting from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pa.

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ACE Launches Effort to Diversify Higher INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Education Leadership

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by Marilyn Gilroy

esearch from the American Council on Education (ACE) shows that while 57 percent of those enrolled in higher education are women, they constitute only 26 percent of college presidents. And while members of racial and ethnic minority groups make up 30 percent of college classrooms, only 13 percent of presidencies are held by minorities.

Despite historical gains and many efforts to broaden representation in the presidency, progress has slowed and even declined over the past few years. Minorities accounted for 14 percent of presidents in 2006, a share that actually dropped one percentage point in the 2012 ACE survey on the college presidency. Hispanic women represented 6.7 percent six years ago.

Currently, that number has fallen to 5.6 percent.

But a new program from ACE, the Spectrum Executive Leadership Program, shows promise for making higher education’s top leadership more representative of the people it serves.

“Higher education faces a unique period of transition as scores of presidents, including minorities and women, are retiring,” said Kim Bobby, director of ACE’s Inclusive Excellence Group. “This presents us with a special opportunity to further diversify the ranks of the presidency,” The Spectrum Executive Leadership Program is an eight-month series of activities featuring intensive study and guidance for senior-level administrators who are seeking to become college presidents in the near future.

Bobby says the program is the latest effort in ACE’s continuing commitment to access, equity and diversity in higher education. It is designed for, but not exclusive to, women and members of underrepresented groups.

“This program is designed specifically to help members of these underrepresented groups examine and build upon their skills, share their experiences and understand the nuances of the search process,” she said.

Bobby and her colleagues have been sifting through applicants to select the first cohort for the program. They will choose up to 35 individuals who will engage in candid conversations on race and gender issues relevant to the presidential search process and participate in webinars on a variety of topics.

“We think it is important to have a program that allows a specific focus on these issues and gives participants strategies for dealing with them,” said Bobby.

According to ACE research, many presidential candidates from underrepresented groups, including women, minorities and gay applicants, are often subjected to “hyperscrutiny,” even when boards of trustees and search committees have expressed a sincere interest in diversity. Bobby says that as a result, there might be a subtle bias that candidates must work to overcome.

“I tend to believe that everyone in the search process is coming to the table with good will,” she said. “But we need to keep having this discourse and talk about these issues so we can move forward.”

During the Spectrum Leadership sessions, participants will assess their own strengths and weaknesses, work on professional development plans, develop search strategies, hone their leadership skills and prepare for the transition to a presidency.

This is an opportunity for them to map out how they can strengthen

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Kim Bobby, director of the American Council on Education’s Inclusive Excellence Group

their skills,” said Bobby. “The whole process becomes a kind of scaffold on which they can build.”

Planned sessions include: • Answering the call to lead • Mock interviews and contract negotiations • Media relations and developing effective communications strategies • Managing the transition into a presidency • Assessing campus culture and implementing change • Advancement and fundraising • Working effectively with boards At one point, there will be a chance to meet with search consultants and go through exercises on how to deal with tough interview questions and other challenging situations that occur during the search process. Last year, search consultants were used to recruit nearly 60 percent of recently hired presidents, up from 49 percent in 2006.

“We’re especially pleased that members of boards of trustees and search consultants, who serve such a vital role in this process, will work with participants to develop mutually beneficial strategies that address issues of diversity and inclusion in the presidency,” said Bobby.

Those who have gone through other ACE programs, such as Advancing to the Presidency, say one of the best learning experiences comes from watching and listening to how their counterparts answer difficult questions. In fact, it has

been lauded as one of the most valuable parts of leadership programs.

“Being able to interact with one another, with our varied experiences and strengths and weaknesses, and being able to share our knowledge in the context of problem-solving and decision-making exercises that these workshops offer, is very helpful,” said James Anderson, chancellor of Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, who completed the Advancing to the Presidency workshop several years ago. “And the diversity of participants contributes to an enhanced experience for everyone.”

Although Spectrum Executive Leadership retains some of the elements of the Advancing to the Presidency program, it also has its own special components. For example, there will be experts who help participants develop the strongest possible application packages in order to overcome any perceived deficiencies. Research indicates that many women and minorities, who might have had a career path in student affairs, do not have the strong background in finance and fundraising many boards want in a CEO. Applications must address these concerns while presenting evidence of strong leadership skills and an ability to get the job done. Search committee members often say they want diversity, but they want the best possible candidates, regardless of race or gender. Candidates must be sure not to hold back in showcasing accomplishments.

“Reading the résumés and cover letters of others can provide a new perspective on how to make the best presentation,” said Bobby.

Fundraising has become an increasingly important skill for presidents.

In the 2012 ACE survey of presidents, respondents indicated they spent most of their time on fundraising, budgets and community relations. The Spectrum sessions will offer specific strategies to address this growing focus on the external mission of colleges and universities.

“Sometimes presidential candidates from diverse backgrounds are not aware of subtle markers that could create obstacles in the fundraising process,” said Bobby. “Perhaps they might have an accent or mannerism that unknowingly causes barriers. That’s why we need an environment in which these things can be discussed candidly.”

Dealing with the media, which can be a minefield for any president, presents its own challenges, especially during a crisis situation in which race or gender issues are involved.

“This is part of the ‘hyperscrutiny’ syndrome,” said Bobby. “Sometimes minority or female presidents are criticized because the communities they represent in terms of their race or gender expect a certain response. But in this case, the presidents do not represent one community; they represent the entire college.”

One of the most practical aspects of Spectrum involves matching participants with a college president who will serve as their advisor throughout the program. Several studies have shown that this type of mentoring is invaluable in advancing women and minorities through the ranks of administration.

Overall the Spectrum Executive Leadership Program is a unique addition to the list of ACE’s learning opportunities for those who want to climb the higher education management ladder. One of the most successful initiatives has been the ACE Fellows Program. Since 1965, more than 1,800 administrators, faculty members, department chairs and other emerging leaders have been ACE fellows. Of those, approximately 400 have become college presidents and 700 have assumed senior-level positions, such as vice president or dean. Bobby says ACE’s National Women’s Leadership forum also has achieved a similar success rate, most notably because women participants form state, regional and national support networks.

Making a Commitment to Diverse Leadership Spectrum for Leadership is supported by American Express, which has

funded ACE efforts on inclusion in the past.

“American Express has been a terrific partner for us,” said Bobby. “In this case, we have a shared goal of diversifying leadership.”

Born out of a desire to cultivate new leadership within its own organization, American Express has committed $25 million to funding leadership development programs for nonprofit organizations in the United States and other countries. Under the umbrella of Developing New Leaders for Tomorrow, the company supports leadership opportunities for arts, environment, higher education and social service organizations.

“American Express recognizes the benefits diversity can bring to an organization,” said Tim McClimon, president of the American Express Foundation. “We support the Spectrum Executive Leadership Program because it will capitalize on the depth of talent in the pipeline and prepare participants with the leadership skills to reach the top levels of the collegiate arena.”

Like many businesses, American Express sees diversifying nonprofit leadership as a way of transforming organizations while introducing “best in

class” management practices to emerging leaders. College presidents are facing increasing pressure to guide their institutions during a time of reduced financial support while responding to changes such as the revolution in online education. This has led to rising expectations for CEO leadership skills.

And while profit organizations and nonprofit colleges have different missions, there are sound business practices that are beneficial to any university’s operations, especially in the areas of accountability and fiscal management.

“Because it is important that nonprofit organizations in our communities have strong and effective leaders, we have tried to take some of the business knowledge we have and share it with nonprofit organizations,” said McClimon.

Grants from American Express have gone to organizations such as the National Urban Fellows and Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP).

LEAP targets emerging Asian Pacific Islander leaders at nonprofit organizations and prepares them for future leadership roles. They receive one-onone coaching with group sessions in basic leadership skills through experiential learning; leadership simulations; interactive problem solving; and action-planning and networking sessions with seasoned community leaders.

American Express also sponsors a 10-day leadership program with the National Hispana Leadership Institute (NHLI). Launched in 2010, Advancing Latina Leaders in Nonprofits (ALL IN) provides training to develop Latinas’ leadership and management skills, help them find their voice as effective community leaders, and build their external networks by providing access to role models and mentors. Each year, the program selects 22 fellows who are 24-34 years old and have less than 10 years experience at a nonprofit organization. Alumnae of the program include Karia Robles, vice president of College Going Initiatives for the Be a Leader Foundation, Patricia León-Guerrero, the director for National Alliances for Teach for America, and Stephanie Bravo, co-founder and president of StudentMentor.org, the national college student mentoring program.

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COMMUNITY COLLEGES

State Budget Cuts Wreaking Havoc on California Community Colleges

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by Gary M. Stern

ommunity college students attending Long Beach City College in Long Beach, Calif., who were planning to major in auto body technology, interior design, real estate, welding, diesel mechanics, or aviation maintenance and five other disciplines will have to make adjustments. When California’s Legislature cut $7.5 million in funding from its budget in 2013, those majors were eliminated or transferred into other disciplines.

How are budget cuts affecting Long Beach City College and other community colleges in California, where many schools have large Latino student populations? How do Long Beach City College’s superintendent-president, Eloy Ortiz Oakley, and other experts view the situation?

Like all public community colleges in California, Long Beach City College has faced a series of dramatic budget cuts over the last few years. In fact, its budget has been slashed by $10.9 million over the last three years. To stay within budget, the college laid off 12 managers and 139 administrative and support jobs. In fact, the persistent cuts have contributed to shrinking its student body by 3,000 full-time students.

Of its 24,653 students enrolled in spring 2012, 44 percent were Latino; 20 percent, White; 15 percent, African-American; 15 percent, AsianAmerican; 3 percent, multiracial; and 2 percent, unknown. Of its student body, 42 percent were pursuing bachelor’s degrees; 22 percent, vocational degrees; 6 percent, associate degrees; and the remainder was undecided. Nearly 30 percent of its students are 30 years or older, and it attracts 49 percent men and 51 percent women.

Paul Feist, vice chancellor for communications at California Community Colleges’ Chancellor’s Office, acknowledges that the budget cuts since 2009 have been “devastating” for junior college students. He says California’s twoyear colleges have faced a 17 percent drop in enrollment and were forced to cancel thousands of course sections. Since 2008-09, public com-

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munity colleges throughout California have lost $809 million or 12 percent of its budget over the entire system. In 2008, about 2.9 million students attended community colleges, but by

Paul Feist, vice chancellor for communications, Chancellor’s Office, California Community Colleges

2012-13, that number dwindled to 2.4 million, a loss of a staggering 500,000 undergraduates.

The reduced budgets in California community colleges have been “unprecedented in the length of the durations of these cuts,” explained Nancy Shulock, professor at California State University and director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy. Moreover she said that California instituted some of the lowest tuition fees in the states. Despite the loss of classes, the state has done an effective job of minimizing the damage, protecting its core mission and eliminating low-enrollment courses, she said.

While many of these cutbacks were necessary, Shulock said that some of the severity of the

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reductions could have been lessened or averted.

“Higher education [in California] hasn’t been a priority for decades. This state has been complacent and has rested on its reputation of having excellent higher education,” she said.

Oakley acknowledges that the cuts have “significantly reduced access to our students.” The college had to lay off staff including faculty, administrative staff, secretaries, custodial and support personnel. “Layoffs have touched every employee group including full-term faculty,” he said.

“Every time we have a major recession in California, we cut services in response. It’s a tragedy,” Oakley stated. As the demand for community college education has intensified, the cutbacks transpired. Timing could not have been worse, he suggested. Demand is rising because California has graduated its largest high school classes in years, faced a large number of returning military veterans and has been retraining scores of laid-off employees.

Faced with these budget cuts, the college had to diminish programs and re-deploy resources.

Twelve different disciplines including auto body technology, aviation maintenance, welding, real estate, diesel mechanics and carpentry were eliminated. But Oakley said most of these majors will be subsumed by other programs. For example, welding will be incorporated into mechanical maintenance, a larger program.

Moreover Oakley said that only 82 certificates were issued to students in these dozen programs over the last six years. “We’ve introduced new programs like welding and automotive mechanics into other programs more meaningful to the local labor force,” stated Oakley, a native of Mexico, who also serves as superintendent of the community college district. “Because we have finite resources, we have to shift resources from some programs,” he said.

Eliminating the programs was necessary.

“These recommendations are critical for the

long-term fiscal health of the college,” Oakley said. He emphasized that the college will continue its commitment to technical education and that 89 percent of all degrees and certificates are awarded in technical areas.

Oakley downplays the closing of these majors. “For a small number of students, these discontinued programs will have an impact,” he said. Affected students will need to focus on their career goals, make adjustments and master skills that will make them employable.

Since Latinos constitute nearly half the student body and are the fastest-growing population in the country, Oakley said the college is striving to minimize any negative effects on them and other minorities. He said its board is committed to “close the educational equity gap that exists and put more focus on improving outcomes for Latinos and other members of underrepresented groups.” He said the college has been revamping its services, studying data and focusing on outcomes for minority students.

Specifically, Oakley said the college has targeted three major areas to help Latino students: 1) It has shifted resources into essential courses such as English, which students need to attain certificates, associate degrees or transfer into four-year colleges; 2) It has scrutinized data to ensure that Latinos and other minority students succeed and earn certificates and degrees; 3) It is redoubling its efforts to collaborate with the Long Beach Unified K-12 school district in a partnership called Long Beach College Promise.

Shulock noted that the reductions have affected students of all ethnicities across the board. “It wasn’t just Latinos and AfricanAmericans that were shut out of classes; everyone was,” she said. But she added the students who were most affected were the “low-skilled adults, working poor and immigrants whose basic and technical skills are inadequate and often don’t have family supporting them.”

Introducing more orientation programs and preparing students for college readiness will also play a role in supporting students, Oakley said. In addition, the college is collaborating with the Lumina Foundation on a Latino Student Success Program.

To ease the pain on students, Long Beach City College has been pruning its own budget. Over the last few years, it diminished its health care costs by $2.6 million by having staff increase contributions. Since 2008-09, it has cut 32 percent of course sections offered students and cut staffing costs by $5.1 million. So it’s been a steady diet of cut, cut, cut the budget.

Finding classes to earn a degree can be difficult. In fact, Feist said a new term, “swirlers,” has

entered the parlance of California colleges. Swirlers are students who enroll at several junior colleges simultaneously in order to find enough classes to meet their requirements. They “swirl” by auto or motorcycle from one campus to another in search of finding enough sections to fill their credit loads.

Ironically, every crisis produces opportunity and so has this community college budget reduction. Attending community colleges in California is so necessary and desirable that students are taking it more seriously and becoming more committed to earning a degree. California has adopted a priority system-wide enrollment that forces students to concentrate on earning an associate degree or certificate. If students accumulate more than 100 credits without receiving a degree, students must meet with a counselor to develop their own success plan to ensure earning a degree in a timely fashion.

Community colleges, too, must play an active

Nancy Shulock, professor at California State University, director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy

role in fixing budgetary problems and not sit back passively and just absorb cutbacks. Twoyear colleges can promote partnerships with businesses and turn to their local community for assistance in raising funds, suggested Feist, a former journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Oakley noted that Long Beach partners with several funding sources including the Lumina Foundation, has leased buildings to raise funds, and collaborated with businesses to form joint programs. A new cybersecurity program, for example, was recently launched.

But that additional funding has its limitations, Oakley said. “Our options are limited because of the laws that community colleges are governed by,” he

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noted. Since state educational revenues and tuitions are set by the Legislature, options are limited.

Out of hardship springs innovation. Shulock noted that forced to restrict classes and operate under a tighter budget, community colleges have made adjustments. The outlook at two-year schools shifted to “access to success, not just admissions and enrollment,” she said.

Administrators and counselors focused more on educational planning, developed individualized success programs, and the state is developing technology that enables administrators to oversee each student’s plan. Having students decide their major at an earlier point and tracking their progress should raise levels of students’ ability to earn certificates and associate degrees. Shulock says concentrating more on programs that students are taking rather than piecemeal on choosing individual courses would heighten success rates.

These two-year colleges are critical to local Californian economies. Feist says two-year colleges graduate 70 percent of the nurses in the state and 80 percent of emergency medical technicians (EMT). Oakley noted that some nursing and EMT students are facing difficulty enrolling in prerequisite courses because of the cutbacks.

Ironically, work force projections for California indicate that community colleges will play an increasingly significant role in its economy over the next two decades. Junior colleges specialize in granting degrees in allied health, clean energy, manufacturing and culinary arts. In addition, they encourage students transferring to four-year colleges to earn bachelor’s degrees, Feist says.

Relief might be around the corner for twoyear California colleges. Voters in November 2012 passed Proposition 30, which was Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative. It generates new revenues through an increased sales tax and personal income tax. Money derived from the taxes will go to both K-12 and two- and four-year colleges. “It will allow us to slowly restore the access that we need. It stops the bleeding,” Feist noted.

Oakley agreed, saying that California’s economy was rebounding, had turned the corner, and he expected that community college budgets would gradually rise in the near future. But he added that “Proposition 30 doesn’t bring us back to the funding levels we were in four years ago. We have a big hole to dig out of.”

California’s future is linked strongly to the success of community colleges, Shulock said. Only students who score in the top third on tests and grade point average are accepted into four-year public college; the rest start off in community colleges.

“If California is to remain vibrant and competitive, it’s highly dependent on the community college system,” Shulock added.

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UT System to Open a New University INSTITUTIONS/ORGANIZATIONS

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by Frank DiMaria

very two months, two new elementary schools and one new middle school are built and opened in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Although one of the fastest-growing regions in the state, it experiences a brain drain, as students graduate from the region’s universities and are lured from the valley by companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and IBM. To accommodate this rapid growth and stop this brain drain, the University of Texas (UT) System is opening a new university. The yet-to-benamed university will have an overall size and portfolio similar to other existing UT emerging research universities, with a student population of 28,000, research expenditures of $11 million, an endowment of $70.5 million and a total operating budget of $419 million. Eventually, the new university will accommodate 50,000 students. The new university will combine UT-Pan-American and UT-Brownsville and will include a new medical school that will be called the South Texas School of Medicine.

“The growth in the valley is so phenomenal. We are no longer just a group of little towns; we are now a borderplex, you know, like a metroplex,” says Robert Nelsen, president of UT-Pan American. If the UT System did not open this new university, “We could not help the state of Texas or the nation. If we don’t get it right in South Texas, we aren’t going to get it right anywhere,” says Nelsen.

The law that created the university’s charter had exceptional traction in the Texas state Legislature. “They gave the bill the symbolic number in the house of HB 1000 so everyone could track it, and they took it up as the first bill that they looked at in higher education,” says Nelsen.

In the senate, which Nelsen calls more old fashioned, the lower the number of the bill the more traction it has and the sooner the bill comes to the floor for a vote. The original bill was given number 24 out of hundreds and hundreds of bills filed. “It was amazing to get such a low number,” says Nelsen.

In terms of developing infrastructure and building new facilities, the University of Texas System has some work to do to accommodate the 50,000 students it hopes to accommodate. “Right now in the Rio Grande Valley, we have the Regional Academic and Health Centers or RAHCs. They have buildings in Harlingen, Brownsville and in Edinburg. These buildings will serve as a basis for the new medical school,” says Nelsen. But the new university will need some new facilities.

UT-Brownsville has enjoyed a partnership with Texas Southmost College for years. Because the college is part of a taxing district, a luxury not afforded to universities, it owns the majority of the buildings on the UTBrownsville campus. UT-Brownsville is negotiating with Texas Southmost College to purchase some of those buildings. In addition, the city of Brownsville has offered to donate 76 acres on which the UT System can build. “There’ll have to be a series of buildings built down there, and also we’ll have to have some new buildings for the medical school,” says Nelsen.

The new university will use four existing buildings on the UTBrownsville campus. The legislation that created the charter assembled a blue ribbon panel charged with determining where the various buildings that will comprise the medical center will be built. “Some will be down in Harlingen with the VA Clinic. In McAllen, there are five more hospitals, and the charter says there will be a substantial presence in both Cameron

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County and Hidalgo County,” says Nelsen.

In 2014, the medical school will admit its first students. They will matriculate at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio for the first two years. In 2016, according to the UT System’s plan, they will then attend classes in brand new medical facilities and start their residencies. “We have already attracted over 150 different residencies in hospitals,” says Nelsen. “In 2016, we will begin introducing the individual students here (in the Rio Grande Valley) and keep them 100 percent in the valley.”

Over the next three years, the UT System plans to construct a new $98 million science building and five smaller buildings, costing $156 million, at Brownsville. According to Nelsen, all this construction will be a boon for the residents of the Rio Grande Valley. The new science building alone will generate 125 new jobs and have a positive economic impact of $134 million. As a whole, the new university brings with it 7,000 new jobs – 10,000 if economic development impact of the new university is factored in – to the Rio Grande Valley with an average annual salary of $63,000. Nelsen calls this amazing since the average family in the valley only makes $32,000 per year.

In addition to generating new jobs and providing livable salaries in the Rio Grande Valley, the new university, and in particular the new school of medicine, will have a positive effect on the quality of life of all the residents in the valley. Nelsen often brags that students who graduate from UT-Pan American have a 64 percent chance of getting into medical school compared to a 32 percent chance for those who graduate from UT-Austin. In reality, this statistic is bittersweet for Nelsen. Of the 64 percent from UT-Pan American who go off to medical school, few, if any, ever return to the valley.

The new university will graduate 150 medical residents per year, many of whom might now wish to stay in the valley and start their professional lives there rather than moving to San Antonio, Dallas or elsewhere. “This will be tremendous,” says Nelsen. “I’ve had mothers crying, thanking me, saying ‘My son, my daughter will be able to stay here.’ That’s part of our culture,” says Nelsen.

On average, there are 240 medical doctors for every 100,000 people nationwide. In the state of Texas, there are 165 medical doctors for every 100,000. But in the Rio Grande Valley, there are only about 124 doctors for every 100,000 people. It’s not uncommon for patients to wait for hours to see a doctor in the valley. In Starr County, there are only 27 doctors for 100,000 people. Nelsen says that the doctors the new medical school will produce will increase individuals’ health in the valley.

Francisco Cigarroa, chancellor of the UT System, intends to make the new university a center for bicultural programs in economics, business, medicine, biomedical sciences, energy, environmental studies, Latin American studies and a host of other areas. Nelsen says that the new school’s location, right on the U.S.-Mexico border, is very important and provides the new university with the opportunity to capitalize on that presence.

Some years ago, Panasonic moved its headquarters from Knoxville, Tenn., to the Rio Grande Valley, seizing on the opportunity to build its components across the border in Mexico and assembling and shipping them in the U.S. “We have a very strong manufacturing engineering program. If we don’t produce engineers who are bi-literate who can speak both Spanish and English, we are not preparing those students adequately,” says Nelsen.

According to Nelsen, the new university will blend the U.S. culture with the Mexican culture, and that in and of itself will make the school unique.

He says there are a lot of research universities out there trying to hit numbers. They all want $100 million in research, they’re trying to get 100 doctoral students per year, both of which determine whether a school is an emerging research institution or not. “We will do something very different because we will capitalize on our location on the border. The students that we produce will be able to speak several different languages and go in several different ways,” says Nelsen.

The new university’s curriculum will feature elements that reflect the culture of the Rio Grande Valley and by doing so will make its students unique. The new school of medicine, for example, will offer courses in medical Spanish because, Nelsen says, too much information can be lost in translation. “Our doctors will be much-better prepared. Our engineers, nurses, economists, everyone who comes out of there will know more,” says Nelsen. In addition to serving both cultures, the new university will emphasize entrepreneurship, long an important element in the valley.

As the residents of the Rio Grande Valley benefit by gaining access to higher-quality health care and to higher-paying jobs, the University of Texas System also benefits. The consolidation of UT-Pan American and UTBrownsville and the creation of the new medical school means that the UT System will enjoy some substantial financial benefits. Initially, the UT System has committed to absorb all costs of establishing the new university, so the state would not be on the financial hook. In the long run, the UT System expects to save as much as $6 million a year through administrative efficiencies and other cost-saving methods that will eliminate redundancies.

One of the biggest areas of savings would be in a president’s salary.

Consolidating UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville means that the new university will have only one president and be burdened with only one president’s salary. There will be a lot of centralized functions, says Nelsen.

Currently, Brownsville is in the middle of what it calls “right sizing,” as they are reducing their footprint. “There will be a lot of shared services that will be the biggest savers,” says Nelsen. For example, the new medical school will require an enterprise resource planning software like Peoplesoft or Oracle. Since UT-Pan American is already using Oracle, the medical school will need only to tag onto the existing system.

Likewise, UT-Brownsville is currently in need of a new student system.

Once the new university is created, Brownsville can tag onto UT-Pan American’s system, called Banner, which offers electronic advising, and not incur the cost of purchasing an entirely new system, reducing UTBrownsville’s cost burden.

The new university will be funded through general formula. Twentynine percent of the new university’s funding will be based on the number of credit hours the school generates. Another 30 percent of the new institution’s funding will come from student tuition, and the balance will come from research dollars and philanthropy.

When UT-Brownsville and UT-Pan American came into the UT System, they were pre-existing universities and were not eligible for revenue from the Permanent University Fund. Known simply as PUF, this public endowment was created by the Texas constitution. In the 1800s, the Texas constitution gave the UT System huge amounts of land, mainly brush and cattle country. But, the UT System struck it rich when oil was discovered beneath the land. This west Texas oil has generated a fund of over $12 billion that pays out on a regular basis. To Nelsen’s delight, the new university will be eligible for PUF funding, which will be the major catalyst for building a world-class research university.

“In the future, when we go to build a new building, such as the science building, or whatever buildings we need for the teaching hospital, we’ll be

able to go to the board of regents and ask them to access the PUF endowment,” says Nelsen.

Being eligible for PUF funding could not have come at a better time for Nelsen and UT-Pan American. “UT-Pan American has not built a new building since 2001. I have a 520,000-square-foot space deficit. My students can’t necessarily take their science course and their lab course in the same semester because I don’t have space. PUF is for capital construction and capital improvements. It can buy the [enterprise resource planning software]; it can build new buildings,” says Nelsen.

Nelsen has sat in meetings in which he has seen one university receive $105 million to start a new building and another get $4.5 million to purchase the resources necessary to offer online classes. “My university has

Robert Nelsen, president, University of Texas-Pan American

not had access to that type of money,” says Nelsen. But now with the merger and the new university, it will.

Having access to PUF funding is now going to allow the new university to move forward with projects that UT-Brownsville and UT-Pan American would not otherwise have started before the merger. For example, there is $40 million available in what is called the Transformative Learning Center that allows schools to train faculty and purchase hardware and software to make their courses available online.

As an emerging research university, the new institution would also be eligible for more funding sources such as the National Research University Fund, the Texas Research Incentive Plan and matching UT System money.

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HI S PAN I C S O N T H E MO VE Pérez Receives Secretary of Labor Nomination

Theodore M. Hesburgh and his contributions to higher education and society. Natalicio has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from St. Louis University, a master’s in Portuguese and a doctoral degree in linguistics from the University of Texas-Austin.

President Barack Obama recently nominated Tom Pérez as the next U.S. secretary of labor. The son of Dominican immigrants, Pérez is a dedicated public servant who has spent his career fighting to keep the American Dream within reach for hardworking middle-class families and those striving to get into the middle class. Since 2009, he has worked as the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. Prior to his work at the Department of Justice, he served as the secretary of Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR), where he focused on protecting consumer and worker rights, workplace safety, and wage and hour laws. Pérez has a BA from Brown University, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a JD from Harvard Law School.

García Honored at “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” Awards Ceremony Her 2007 appointment as president of California State University-Dominguez Hills sent another crack through higher education’s glass ceiling, as Mildred García became the first Latina chief executive in the nation’s largest system of senior higher education. In March, as president of California State University-Fullerton, that achievement, among others, led to her being one of 11 women honored by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus at the first “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” awards ceremony, held last month in Sacramento. The awards were developed to celebrate the success of California women in breaking barriers in the fields of science, technology, the arts, the judiciary, education and more. The women were honored at the state Assembly’s celebration of Women’s History Month during the floor session.

Natalicio Receives Prestigious TIAA-CREF Hesburgh Award The TIAA-CREF Institute last month announced that Diana Natalicio, president of the University of TexasEl Paso (UTEP), is the winner of the 2013 TIAA-CREF Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence. The institute bestowed this honor at the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Natalicio also assumed the chair position of the Board of Directors of ACE, the major coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education institutions. The TIAA-CREF Hesburgh Award, which includes a $20,000 prize, recognizes leadership and commitment to higher education and contributions to the greater good and is presented to a current college or university president or chancellor who embodies the spirit of Rev.

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LISTA Hosts NASA Astronaut Hernández in Miami José M. Hernández, NASA astronaut and an engineer, spoke at the Latinos of Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA) National Emerging Technology Leadership Summit in March at Miami Dade College.

Hernández is an American engineer and NASA astronaut of Mexican descent. He developed equipment for full-field digital mammography at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory before serving as a mission specialist on the 14-day STS-128 NASA mission that launched on Aug. 28, 2009. At the summit, he discussed the influence his cultural background has played on his path from farming with his family as a child to his successful engineering career. Hernández has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of the Pacific and a master’s in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California-Santa Barbara.

Campus Associate Dean for Student Services

Suffolk County Community College seeks highly qualified candidates for the position of Campus Associate Dean for Student Services on the Eastern Campus, Riverhead, New York. The Campus Associate Dean for Student Services is the chief student services officer of the campus. The Associate Dean serves as an advocate for the needs of students on the campus and assures the most effective and efficient delivery of services in accordance with institutional goals, college policies and professional standards.

For the full position profile, please go to: http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/About/Employment.asp?id=542

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Interesting Reads Conflict and Commerce on the Rio Grande: Laredo, 1755-1955

By John A. Adams Jr. Laredo is a city at the crossroads of North American history. Founded by the Spanish in 1755, it has stood at the intersection of regional commerce since its earliest days.

The author traces the evolution of the region from its early days as a ranching center into the mid-20th century, when Laredo had become what it remains today: a booming port of trade and a principal center of commerce and financial services on the southern border of the United States.

2008. 356 pgs. ISBN: 978-1603440424. $29.95. cloth. Texas A&M University Press. College Station, Texas. www.tamu.edu/upress. 979-845-1436.

The Life in My Years

By Virginia McKenna This is the inspirational story of Virginia McKenna, who starred in some of the most popular and enduring movies of our time, such as Born Free. It will inspire anyone who cares about the future of the planet and all the creatures dependent on it, including human beings. McKenna’s advocacy helped launch a movement that has revolutionized attitudes toward the practice of keeping wild animals in captivity in zoos and parks.

2010. 244 pgs. ISBN: 978-1849430357. $26.95 paper. Oberon Books London, England. www.oberonbooks.com. 020-7607-3637.

The Bronx (Columbia History of Urban Life)

By Evelyn González The Bronx is the history of a singular borough, mapping its evolution from a loose cluster of commuter villages to a densely populated home for New York’s African-American and Hispanic populations. The author argues that racial discrimination, rampant crime, postwar liberalism and big government were not the only reasons for the urban crisis that assailed the Bronx during the late 1960s. She proposes that a combination of population shifts, public housing initiatives, economic recession and urban overdevelopment caused its decline.

2004. 304 pgs. ISBN: 978-0231121149. $24.95 cloth. Columbia University Press, New York, www.columbia.edu/cu/cup. 243-843-291.

Roots of Style

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by Isabel Toledo 375 pages. Penguin Publishing, 212-366-2000, New York. 2012, ISBN 978-0-451-23017-1.

oots of Style is more a philosophy of life story then a memoir in a conventional sense. Leave it to Isabel Toledo, the renowned seamstress/designer, to weave her life story into the tapestry of her philosophy for living rather then weave her career as a seamstress into her life story. This book is part autobiography, part life’s lessons and all uplifting philosophy.

Through her eyes, we see the transformation of an awkward skinny immigrant youth into sophisticated slim lady made possible at first only through the magic of attire. We also see the unwavering focus of one intrigued and captivated by unlimited possibilities of sewing. At a time when the mass production of inexpensive clothing is the norm and a generation of young girls strive to purchase the latest fashion as determined by this week’s pop star, this book is a refreshing look at how creative people see the world around them.

Every aspect of Toledo’s life as related in this book is focused on some incident, object or person who influenced her artistic creative sense of style, pattern and fashion. Like Coco Chanel before her, Toledo starts to create clothes out of a sense of practicality. Where Coco looked to men’s clothes to find both practical styles and materials that she could then make use of for women, Toledo looked to create clothes that fit her thin frame, were practical, well-made, and made the wearer feel beautiful. Reading her book, one is captivated and surprised by the number of opportunities she had to meet, learn from and interact with famous people growing up inclusive of Diana Vreeland and Klaus Nomi. She grew up creatively in 1970s New York City, a place of creativity and where any person could meet on any street. Her story speaks more of who she is and her outlook on life than about the opportunities around her. There were over seven million people living in N.Y.C. in 1970, and most did not grasp the opportunities around them to the degree that Toledo did. Nor was she this way only in N.Y.C. From Cuba as a child to the present, she takes experiences and turns them into lessons learned. The book moves quickly and is bright and colorful.

About the author: Toledo was born in Cuba and came to the United States with her family as a political refugee. Hailed as a “designer’s designer,” she developed her own distinct design alphabet that explores such concepts as Liquid Architecture, Organic Geometry and Origami, among many others. She received the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Fashion Design in 2005.

Her words are interpreted in the book by artwork from her husband, Rubén Toledo.

Reviewed by Myrka A. González

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P.O. Box 68 Paramus, NJ 07652-0068 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

P ri min g the Pump. ..

WISDOM OF GRANDPARENTS AND PARENTS

Miquela Rivera, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist with years of clinical, early childhood and consultative experience. She lives in Albuquerque, N.M.

One curious thing about growing up is that you don’t only move forward in time; you move backwards as well, as pieces of your parents’ and grandparents’ lives come to you. – Philip Pullman, English author

The

other day, I opened my mouth and my Dad’s words came out. His and the words of others – my mother, my grandfather or my grandmothers – sometimes pour forth when I speak, as if I were channeling them. Because they profoundly influenced me, small wonder the things they taught me “way back when” return just in time for me to use them.

Latino students still need the wisdom of parents and grandparents to guide them – directly and subtly – all the way through higher education and beyond. Some Hispanics with traditional families revere their elders, treating them with respect and sensitivity. Others, though, are not that fortunate. Whether families are apart by choice or circumstance, those who do not view their elder relatives as central to the family’s wisdom might find their children following a different path, sometimes confused about priorities or choices. Valuing celebrity and following trends might be temporarily fashionable, but stable grandparents and sound parents stand the test of time. Their guidance – instilled by words and example – can help prepare young Latinos for higher education.

The strong work ethic in my family could not have come only from the need to earn; work was the right thing to do. Since my grandparents and parents all survived the sacrifices they made in World War II, even their leisure activities had a productive component. Whether Dad was building something in the garage or Grandma was making soap, if Mom was canning fruit or Grandpa was in the garden – they were working. With all of them serious about work, I took school, my job, seriously, too.

Persistence is also taught by parents and grandparents. Children watching their elders attempt something repeatedly until they successfully transfer that lesson to the elementary school classroom and all the way to college. Less-than-perfect results provide one more chance to get it right.

Whether it is cooking a meal, completing another lab experiment or revising another manuscript, there is room for improvement. Just keep it up.

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Parents and grandparents also teach resourcefulness. Since money is a challenge for many Latinos, learning to use what you have makes a difference for the Hispanic college-bound student. The 1950 Chevy (visor and a pushbutton ignition intact) I inherited from my grandfather was painted with leftover gunmetal gray paint. Mom and Dad refurbished the interior. The brush streaks (yes, brush streaks!) on the car body were noticeable, and it was the oldest car in the school parking lot, but those were my wheels, all the way through high school graduation. Some classmates made fun, but only a few were too proud to hitch a ride – and 40 years later, many of them still remember. (I also remember Grandpa sitting at the kitchen table reading National Geographic. He commented that while he could not travel to all those fascinating featured places in person, he could travel there in his mind by reading that magazine.)

A grandparent’s humor can cut through tension, sadness, disappointment and frustration. Grandpa consoled my sister and me as we struggled to make our map-like tortillas round. “Don’t worry, mi’jita,” he kindly advised, “you’re not going to roll them into the dining room, anyway!” From that, I learned that effort counts – and not everything need be so serious.

Life is not for the faint of heart, and Latino children can learn mental strength along with kindness from adults in the family. Wise grandparents take the patience and time to talk with – and listen to – their grandchildren. They exchange their own wisdom of times-gone-by with information about contemporary things. (Pre-microwave stories fascinate children, and agile demonstrations of nanotechnology by grandchildren can fascinate grandparents in return.)

Perhaps the greatest gifts – and preparation – that Latino children receive from grandparents are through daily interactions that teach respect, manners, values, morals, family history and traditions. That soft spot to land when life is hard, that place to just hang out and spend time, that home away from home that belongs to grandparents can be a most significant classroom. And sometimes we think children aren’t listening.