04/07/2014 Getting Hispanics into Grad Schools by Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine

APRIL 07, 2014

www.HispanicOutlook.com

Getting Hispanics into Grad Schools

VOLUME 24 â&#x20AC;˘ NUMBER 13

McNair Program

by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

Brother, Can you Spare a Dollar?

oca Raton where I live is a tony community of about 90,000 along the south Florida shores with large treelined boulevards, gated communities, a law and order mentality, an awareness of the public’s needs and an affinity for charitable deeds. Lately, I am seeing something I had not seen much of around these environs. More and more panhandlers are hogging some of the most upscale Boca corners wielding crude cardboard signs with all kinds of appeal but mostly, saying, “Lost my job. Hungry. God bless.” There’s no city ordinance against this so the cops mostly let them be since they tend to be low-keyed and unobtrusive save for the message they give. They work the choicest corners during the peak hours and then move on. Most look able-bodied; some are women, few if any are seniors. There are also more and more young adults who you’d think could at least find a job at a fast-food place or a carwash if not pursuing a higher education or job training. Almost all are white individuals who, as a group, have always been on top of the economic scale and still are, so you wonder, are they really that hard up, are they financing a social vice or, having lost all confidence in employment opportunities, has it come down to seeking alms on city streets? An interesting aspect is that blacks and Latinos are rarely seen working the streets in this vicinity although their numbers are growing in this area. Those minorities who are seen can be found at construction sites or landscape work with more moving into retail jobs. For those Latinos that do ask for help, most are not into out-and-out everyday begging. The elders will at least wipe off your windshield and the young might entertain you with a juggling act between light changes. The popular conception is that the mendicants come to Boca from neighboring communities because of its affluence and it is where the pickings are better and more charitable. Meanwhile, President Obama is leading the discussion on the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer but he has taken up a problem and an issue that thus far defies solution. It doesn’t seem like there would be that much poverty in our communities and among the different classes but as President Obama says at every opportunity, poverty has no boundaries or prejudices. He has picked up the anti-poverty challenge now in its 50th

year but the disparity is mind-boggling and he will probably leave office in two years without putting much of a dent in the issues that drive this socioeconomic structure and the disconnect between the wealthiest and the standard earnings of most Americans. For starters, the president wants to raise the minimum hourly wage from today’s $7.25 to $10.10 which his economic advisers say would lift 6.8 million workers out of poverty. Maybe so, say the detractors like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce but it will lead other Americans into poverty when they are fired or their hours are cut because of the increased hourly wage costs. An interesting aspect of all this conversation between the rich and the poor here and in other parts of the world is how unfathomable the difference is between the guy with a tin cup out in the street, or even the average American worker, and the financier obsessing in his office suite about the state of the billions in his portfolio. The 400 wealthiest Americans are worth about $2 trillion, which increased by $300 million over last year. The fantastically rich have become even more fantastically rich. To make the list you need a minimum net worth of $1.3 billion. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has regained his ranking as the world’s richest person with a net worth of $76 billion. He overtook the reigning richest person, Mexico’s Carlos Slim, now worth $72 billion. American Latinos are hardly even close to being in that rarefied financial atmosphere but there are a few that can be considered rich and almost all are Cuban-Americans. Sugar cane titans Alfonso and Alfie Fanjul are worth $30 billion. The rum- making Bacardi family is $30 billion rich. The family of the late Robert Goizueta, (Coca Cola) has $1.3 billion. Even Cuban entertainers, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, make the list with $700 million. Meanwhile back down to earth, it’s still, financially speaking, all about that old refrain, “el dinero no es la vida pero hay como ayuda.”

L K

A T I N O

A L E I D O S C O P E

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 07, 2014

CONTENTS Page 8

Top Grad Schools for Hispanics

Page 13

Graduate Degrees for Hispanics: Great 8 Strides Made, More Needed by Mary Ann Cooper

McNair Program Helps Hispanics Reach Graduate School by Michelle Adam

Posse Foundation Launches STEM Scholarships by Gary M. Stern

CSUSM Adopts Recruitment and Retention Strategies by Frank DiMaria

Hispanic Engineers Face Global Competition for Grad School by Peggy Sands Orchowski

You can download the HO app Page 18

Cover photo of McNair Program Students

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Published by “The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Publishing Company, Inc.”

Executive Editor – Marilyn Gilroy

Managing Editor – Suzanne López-Isa News & Special Project Editor – Mary Ann Cooper

Administrative Assistant & Subscription Coordinator – Barbara Churchill

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Contributing Editors –

Carlos D. Conde, Michelle Adam

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Gustavo A. Mellander

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DEPARTMENTS Latino Kaleidoscope

Avedis Derbalian

by Carlos D. Conde

Brother, Can you Spare a Dollar?

Interesting Reads

Book Review

by Mary Ann Cooper

Uncensored

by Llanet Martín

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

Priming the Pump... One Step at a Time

by Miquela Rivera

Joanne Aluotto

Sr. Advertising Sales Associate – Angel M. Rodríguez

Article Contributors

Frank DiMaria, Llanet Martín, Miquela Rivera, Gary M. Stern

Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian-Americans, and the Achievement Gap

Scholars’ Corner

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Editorial Policy

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national magazine. Dedicated to exploring issues related to Hispanics in higher education,The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is published for the members of the higher education community. Editorial decisions are based on the editors’ judgment 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 views expressed herein are those of the authors and/or those interviewed and might not reflect the official policy of the magazine. The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® neither agrees nor disagrees with those ideas expressed, and no endorsement of those views should be inferred unless specifically identified as officially endorsed by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine®.

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Esquina E ditorial

here are many rungs Hispanic students have to climb on the ladder to a successful career. The first step is completing high school. Much emphasis has been put on this step. It took years to convince minority and Hispanic students that without a high school diploma prospects for a job or career would be scarce and salaries would be low. In recent years, it has become clear that a high school diploma is not enough to have a piece of the American Dream. The next generation of Hispanic students is discovering that advanced degrees might be necessary to succeed in a world economy. In this issue HO celebrates schools that are enrolling and bestowing graduate degrees on the most Hispanics. As we report, it’s an uphill battle to improve the number of Hispanic masters and doctoral degrees granted, but the schools featured on our lists are employing innovative programs to attract Hispanic students and help them succeed. Access to financial aid is vitally important for any student to attend graduate school. Also in this issue we report on the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program. This federally-funded program currently helps more than 4,000 students at 153 colleges and universities nationwide. Fifteen of these schools are Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and within these, about 404 Hispanics are served by the McNair program making that next rung on the ladder a little easier to climb. ¡Adelante! Suzanne López-Isa Managing Editor

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Interesting Reads

Pepón Osorio by Jennifer A. González

Pepón Osorio is an internationally recognized artist. With a wry sense of humor, he probes sober topics, including prison life, domestic violence, AIDS, and poverty. Osorio asks his audience to reconsider their assumptions and biases. In this book, Jennifer A. González shows that although Osorio draws on his Puerto Rican background and the immigrant experience for inspiration, his artistic statements bridge geographical barriers and class divides. His work is represented at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. 2013. 150 pp. ISBN: 978-0895511270. $24.25 paper. University Of Minnesota Press Minneapolis, Minn., (612) 627-1970. www.upress.umn.edu. Rascuache Lawyer: Toward a Theory of Ordinary Litigation by Alfredo Mirandé Alfredo Mirandé, a sociology professor, Stanford law graduate, and part-time pro bono attorney, represents clients who are rascuache – a Spanish word for “poor” or even “wretched” – and on the margins of society. For Mirandé, however, rascuache means to be “down but not out,” an underdog who is still holding its ground. Rascuache Lawyer offers a unique perspective on providing legal services to poor, usually minority, folks who are often just one short step from jail. Bookending the individual cases, Mirandé’s introductions and conclusions offer a vision of progressive legal practice grounded in rascuache lawyering. 2011. 272 pp. ISBN: 978-0816529834. $29.95 paper. University of Arizonan Press, Tucson, Ariz., (800) 621-2736. www.uapress.arizona.edu. Privilege: A Reader Michael S. Kimmel (editor), Abby L. Ferber (editor) Innovative and thought-provoking, this timely anthology expands the concept of privilege in America beyond the traditional limiters of being white and male. In addition to readings from wellknown authors in the field, this edition includes pieces from contemporary scholars breaking new ground in superordinate studies. Seventeen carefully selected essays explore the multifaceted aspects of privilege: how race, gender, class, and sexual preference interact in the lives of those who are privileged by one or more of these identities. 2013. 304 pp. ISBN: 9780813348711. $39.00. Westview Press, Boulder, Colo., (303) 444-3541. www.westviewpress.com.

Academic Profiling: Latinos, AsianAmericans, and the Achievement Gap by Gilda L. Ochoa 2013. 336 pp. ISBN: 978-0-8166-8740-4. $25.00. Paper. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minn., (612) 627-1970. www.upress.umn.edu

hile there is an ongoing debate in the United States about the achievement gap that exists at every level of educational instruction, there is no debate about the fact that the gap exists and not all schools provide equal opportunity to quality education. And if this book accomplishes anything, it should personalize the struggle by Latinos and Asian-Americans to compete academically with those who seem to have Easy Pass to all the advantages of a solid education can provide. It also should be a deterrent to those who oversimplify the argument for equal access to quality education by suggesting school choice and voucher programs as easy solutions to narrowing the achievement gap. There’s a good reason why this book concentrates on the unique challenges of Asian- Americans and Latinos. It is because when the achievement gap is debated among pundits, politicians, and educators the conversation seems to focus on the two fastest-growing demographic groups in the United States: Asian- Americans and Latinos. In Academic Profiling, Gilda L. Ochoa drills down as she investigates the very roots of the gap by going directly to a locale where she could interview Latino and Asian-American students and get their input and impression on this subject. At one California public high school where the controversy is lived every day, Ochoa turned to the students, teachers, and parents to learn about the very real disparities – in opportunity, status, treatment, and assumptions – that lead to more than just gaps in achievement. Ochoa features candid and emotional testimony from students who provide vivid detail about the ways they were encouraged and discouraged from pursuing a path that would lead to graduation. Ironically, some of the discouragement they received was not overt, but was a form of neglect. These students and their parents explained that they felt isolated by a system that only gave them access to unequal middle schools and curriculum tracking in which they are divided by race, class, and gender. As the author notes, “While those channeled into an International Baccalaureate Program boast about Socratic classes and stress-release sessions, students left out of such programs commonly describe uninspired teaching and inaccessible counseling. Students unequally labeled encounter differential policing and assumptions based on their abilities – disparities compounded by the growth in the private tutoring industry that favors the already economically privileged.” But the news isn’t all bad. The students, faculty and families interviewed exhibit a sense of optimism and hope that things are getting better. They attribute this optimism to the methods students and teachers are using in concert to work around inequities in the system. These methods are outlined in this book, providing a blueprint for others to see the new possibilities – and limits – of change. Reviewed by Mary Ann Cooper

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GRADUATE SCHOOLS/RANKINGS

Graduate Degrees for Hispanics: Great Strides Made, More Needed

by Mary Ann Cooper

ith so much emphasis on undergraduate degrees as evidenced by the Obama administration’s push to increase students completing degrees by the year 2020, there is a tendency not to examine the impact Latinos are having in obtaining graduate degrees – particularly doctoral degrees. So, it might come as a surprise in some circles to find out that the number of Hispanics pursing doctoral degrees has risen more than any ethnic group or race. The University of California (UC), Berkeley researchers were some of the first in academia to note this growth phenomenon. According to a study released in 2012 by UC Berkeley, the number of Hispanics holding a doctorate degree rose 161 percent from 1990 to 2010, the non-Hispanic rate during that same period of time was just 90 percent. At the start of the 2011 school year there were 385 Hispanic students working on a doctorate at Berkeley, a 46 percent increase in 20 years. Even though the number of non-Hispanic, white doctoral students fell 25 percent in the same period, they still numbered 2,529. The foundation for this dramatic increase starts at the secondary school level. The number of Hispanics who successfully graduate high school and go on to college has increased, creating a larger pool of students seeking to advance to graduate school. Part of the reason for the increase in students finishing high school is, ironically, the sorry state of the economy. The word is finally sinking in that in this competitive job market, education gives students the edge in landing lucrative employment. This all sounds promising, but Hispanic degree numbers are only showing dramatic improvement because the numbers of Hispanic degree earners were so low to begin with any improvement represents a giant leap forward for this demographic group. For example, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently released a new study revealing a disappointing percentage of Hispanics enrolled in college complete their degree. In the category of four-year colleges and universities, only about half of Hispanic students graduate. That percentage is even more disappointing when it’s noted that the number represents Hispanic students who complete a bachelor’s degree – not in four years – in six years. That percentage compares to almost 60 percent of white students that earn their undergraduate degrees in six years. The curious thing is that gap remains constant no matter how talented and able these students are and regardless of how highly ranked the school is academically. It doesn’t matter also how dominant Hispanics are in a particular school in terms of the student population. In federally designated Hispanic-Serving institutions Hispanic students attending these schools go on to get their degree there only 50 percent of the time. With the Hispanic population growing, imagine how many doctoral degrees Hispanics would have if schools could produce more undergraduate degrees in this ethnic group. Hispanics

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have a lot of ground to make up. Despite increasing numbers of Hispanics in higher education, the group is still a minority compared with non-Hispanic whites. White students pursuing PhDs at UC Berkeley outnumber Hispanics almost 7 to 1. However, schools don’t vary all that much in their rate of success for Hispanic graduates. In Rising to the Challenge: Raising Hispanic Graduation Rates as a National Priority, authors Andrew P. Kelly, Mark Schneider, and Kevin Carey explain that one criteria that does determine how successful an institution’s general population will be in completing their degree at a particular school is the kind of success these schools have among Hispanic students attending that school. For instance, colleges and universities that register higher percentages of success granting degrees to Hispanic students typically have high completion rates among other demographic groups. What these successful schools have in common is that they all have instituted policies and programs designed to improve degree completion across the board. When schools make a commitment to improve the completion rates of minority groups, higher graduation rates are produced for all demographics, races, genders and ethnic groups for that school. The knee jerk reaction by the public and sometimes frustrated school administrators is to place the blame for poor graduation and degree completion rates squarely on the backs of the students, themselves. Factoring in student backgrounds and skills, the case is sometimes made that there is not much more institutions can do to improve graduation and degree rates. But there are measurable differences in the way schools encourage or discourage degree completion. Schools that pay attention and nurture Hispanic students in their pursuit of degrees are more successful in this regard than those who don’t. “These data show quite clearly that colleges and universities cannot place all of the blame on students for failing to graduate,” said Andrew P. Kelly of the American Enterprise Institute. “Colleges struggling to graduate their Hispanic students should learn from the successes of leaders like Whittier College, which has successfully closed the gap between its Hispanic and white students.” Recommendations from the UC Berkeley study and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) include shining a light on the schools that have improved the number of Hispanic students attending and receiving degrees. The AEI report concludes that the “disseminating information about schools that have a successful track record with Hispanic students could lead to a better match between Hispanic students and colleges and universities. In turn, this would increase graduation rates.” And with that recommendation, we present this year’s lists of schools enrolling the most Hispanics and issuing degrees to them. Hopefully shining a light on these schools will promote that better match between Hispanics and other schools not featured on HO’s lists.

2012 Graduate Schools Enrolling Hispanics Hispanic Totals 1.

Institution Name

Nova Southeastern University

State

1,808

3,854

3,014

1,142

1,872

78%

4,726

2,830

1,120

1,710

60%

9,200

2,401

917

1,484

26%

5,560

1,983

1,233

36%

978

Walden University

62,072

University of Southern California

22,830

28,576

10. Capella University

42,076

12. American Public University System

14. National University

14,729

16. California State University-Los Angeles

4,620

The University of Texas at El Paso

University of New Mexico-Main Campus

The University of Texas at San Antonio

Grand Canyon University

11. University of Florida

13. Arizona State University

15. Texas A&M University-Kingsville

17. The University of Texas at Austin

44%

5,725

The University of Texas-Pan American

3,126

30,154

Florida International University

1,981

11,563

20,775

21,469

16,288 2,911

All

Men

Women

Total

Hispanic Percentage

5,107

2,945

2,504 2,116

756

2,189

908

1,596

529

750

1,943

3,917

1,587

517

1,426

1,671

1,053

618

1,543

518

1,694

716

1,576

633

1,535

493

1,528

1,025

1,042

522

1,006

468

938

13,904

6,092

21. Webster University

21,158

1,323

615

708

23. University of La Verne

4,713

1,298

432

866

25. Texas State University-San Marcos

18. New Mexico State University-Main Campus NM

19. California State University-Long Beach

20. CUNY Graduate School & Univ. Center

22. University of Miami

24. University of South Florida-Main Campus

NY FL

4,404 6,117

6,424

12,380

6,248

1,412

943

627

1,406

1,396

450

1,375

538

1,301

559

1,293

453

1,246

473

785

946

19% 5%

11% 7%

10%

53%

33%

10%

32%

23%

837

22%

742

20%

840

10%

773

28%

20%

Source: NCES-IPEDS 2012

â&#x20AC;Ś the number of Hispanics pursing doctoral degrees has risen more than any ethnic group or race.

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2012 Degrees Granted

All Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and PhD Degrees in Teacher Education

Hispanic Totals 1.

Institution Name

State FL

Total

1,302

All

341

Men

National University

1,694

260

190

15%

Lamar University

1,790

177

123

10%

Nova Southeastern University

Grand Canyon University

The University of Texas at Arlington

1,292

173

144

13%

The University of Texas at San Antonio

369

165

129

45%

The University of Texas-Pan American

Texas A&M University-Kingsville

10. Northern Arizona University

11. Florida International University

22. University of New Mexico-Main Campus

24. The University of Texas at Brownsville

Source: NCES-IPEDS 2012

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53%

259

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133

21. California State University-Los Angeles

136

25. Mercy College

152

1,364

19. California State University-Northridge

23. Concordia University-Texas

285

NY AZ

20. Ashford University

63%

18. Arizona State University

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93%

131

139

140

1,425

16. CUNY Lehman College

213

79%

163

215

257

1,624

14. Azusa Pacific University 17. University of La Verne

15. Touro College

171

1,004

13. University of Southern California Concordia University-Chicago

183

247

AZ FL

12. American College of Education

4,023

279

26%

The University of Texas at El Paso

353

254

Women

Hispanic Percentage

842

574

162

150

139

138

106

112 98

121

10%

101

26%

37%

23%

105

866

121

1,474

112

309

109

138

107

298

471

750

116

111

108

106

17%

10%

132

444

116

421

124

16%

24%

31%

14%

48% 8%

35%

78%

14%

2012 Degrees Granted First Major All Master’s Degrees in Business Management/Marketing

Hispanic Totals 1.

Institution Name

Florida International University

State

Webster University

Texas A&M University-Commerce

Nova Southeastern University

Hult International Business School

Ashford University

1,299

3,658

1,319

2,192

1,074

322

University of La Verne

10. University of New Mexico-Main Campus

1,321

University of the Incarnate Word

University of Florida

Total

578

303

13. The University of Texas at El Paso

162

14. University of Houston

382

234

150

126

108

114

31%

45%

263

190

130

154

182

135

132

109

2,324

574

Men

128

12. University of Miami

All

649

11. University of Maryland-University College

Hispanic Women Percentage

117

329

105

767

232

29%

14%

12%

20%

36%

32%

60%

11%

1,800

17. Arizona State University

940

18. Columbia University in the City of New York

1,281

20. Florida Atlantic University

428

14%

1,347

Texas A & M International University

19. The University of Texas at Austin

21. Full Sail University

22. Northwestern University

23. Texas Woman's University

TX FL

129

917

692

511

24. Regis University

675

25. Brandman University

383

The University of Texas at San Antonio Fairleigh Dickinson Univ.-Metro. Campus

TX NJ

201

490

43%

15. New York University

16. The University of Texas-Pan American

311

78%

50%

11%

27%

11%

14%

Source: NCES-IPEDS 2012, master’s in business management, marketing and related services

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2012 Degrees Granted First Major All Doctoral Degrees

Hispanic Totals 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17.

18. 19. 20.

21. 22.

23.

24.

25.

Nova Southeastern University The University of Texas at Austin Florida International University University of Miami University of Florida University of Southern California University of New Mexico-Main Campus University of California-Los Angeles University of California-Berkeley American University University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Harvard University University of Houston New York University Arizona State University U. of Texas Health Science Ctr.-San Antonio Cornell University University of Illinois at Chicago U. of Texas Health Science Center-Houston Florida State University Loma Linda University Stanford University Loyola Marymount University University of Arizona Yeshiva University University of Wisconsin-Madison Columbia University in the City of New York The University of Texas Medical Branch Temple University Boston University University of California-San Diego Texas Tech Univ. Health Sciences Center Fordham University University of Virginia-Main Campus Texas Tech University Ohio State University-Main Campus Alliant International University George Washington University University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Washington-Seattle Campus

Institution Name

FL TX FL FL FL CA NM CA CA DC MI MA TX NY AZ TX NY IL TX FL CA CA CA AZ NY WI NY TX PA MA CA TX NY VA TX OH CA DC NC WA

State

Source: NCES-IPEDS 2012, doctoral degrees

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1,743 1,372 381 911 1,929 1,508 496 1,326 1,264 526 1,566 1,474 798 1,437 828 393 775 912 443 850 475 1,019 430 850 684 1,514 1,329 340 1,154 1,177 717 397 593 904 467 1,628 354 1,050 1,179 1,273

Total

314 158 138 131 122 119 107 86 85 77 77 74 72 69 69 68 65 63 63 63 60 60 57 56 54 54 53 51 51 51 51 49 49 49 49 49 49 48 48 47

All

89 80 55 56 54 46 41 29 45 39 39 35 23 33 27 30 24 19 29 35 32 32 21 24 20 25 25 28 24 27 21 26 21 30 28 27 14 22 19 24

Men

Hispanic Women Percentage 225 78 83 75 68 73 66 57 40 38 38 39 49 36 42 38 41 44 34 28 28 28 36 32 34 29 28 23 27 24 30 23 28 19 21 22 35 26 29 23

18% 12% 36% 14% 6% 8% 22% 6% 7% 15% 5% 5% 9% 5% 8% 17% 8% 7% 14% 7% 13% 6% 13% 7% 8% 4% 4% 15% 4% 4% 7% 12% 8% 5% 10% 3% 14% 5% 4% 4%

GRADUATE SCHOOLS/PROGRAMS

Helps Hispanics ReacH GRaduate scHool

by Michelle Adam

icardo Romero, a Hispanic New Mexican who was the first in his family to graduate from college, is forever grateful to the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program for changing his life. As one of numerous scholars nationwide who took part in the first round of this federally- funded program in 1999, Romero discovered what he was capable of achieving in higher education, and has since helped others like himself do the same. “This program made all the difference in my life,” said Romero. “You can’t go from not knowing about graduate school to being offered to study for free at five graduate programs without the mentorship and experience of McNair.” Like so many Hispanics nationwide, he graduated from high school without a true sense of what was possible in academia. Romero worked as a forklift mechanic for more than seven years after high school before taking classes at the local community college and then the University of New Mexico (UNM). He had never given graduate school a thought, but was introduced to the McNair program, which helped him build up his confidence and abilities to pursue a master’s in U.S. history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has since worked for the McNair program, and is now helping other students like himself achieve similar dreams in his position as the director of this federally-funded program at the University of New Mexico. “Most of our students are the first in their family to go to college, and in

“Berkeley Symposium” – 2011-12 cohort traveled to UC Berkeley for a research symposium. many cases, they face a lot of challenges, “explained Romero, who said about two-thirds of their McNair scholars are Hispanic. “Several parents are substance abusers and a couple of our students were homeless. And even those that have a good support system have families that lack an understanding of how difficult college can be.” The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program currently helps 28 students at UNM, and more than 4,000 students at 158 colleges and universities nationwide. Fifteen of these schools are

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Hispanic-Serving institutions, and within these, approximately 400 Hispanics are served by the McNair program. According to McNair guidelines, schools compete every five years for grants that will provide their students the benefits of this program, and twothirds of all programs established are required to have low-income and firstgeneration students. The remaining students can be from underrepresented groups such as Hispanics, and in many cases, scholars fit into all or two out of three of these categories. They must all

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be motivated, high-achieving students. Given the fact that underrepresented students in higher education are targeted by the McNair program, which was established in 1989 as one of several federal TRIO programs, it is not surprising that it has helped thousands enter graduate school who might never have done so. It plays an important role in

al support, from mentoring programs and counseling services, to exposure to cultural events and academic programs not usually available to disadvantaged students The support services have yielded results in terms of providing confidence to scholars and helping them successfully apply to and enter graduate school.

2012-13 Cohort at the annual retreat held at the Seviletta Field Station—a research facility run by University of New Mexico near Socorro, N.M. providing these students support, training, and funding to become graduate students despite their limited experiences or that of their families. The success of the program is based on scholars receiving the following: research and scholarly activities at the undergraduate level; summer internships; seminars and other educational activities designed to prepare them for doctoral study; tutoring; academic counseling; and activities that support them in securing admission to and financial assistance for enrollment in graduate programs. Some of the 158 schools partaking in this recent five-year McNair competition also offer students addition-

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“This prepares students for doing research, shows them how to find money out there, be marketable, and have confidence. We have many smart and talented students out here, but they don’t know what they are capable of,” said Romero. “Our program also helps students from similar backgrounds connect with each other and allows them the space to interact so they can bring the best out in each other. Collectively they are a lot smarter than just us here in this office.” The effects of this growing confidence and ability to navigate higher education are evident. One UNM scholar, Elena Valdez, was accepted into two top-level

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graduate programs in English, with a full five-year scholarship – an unusual feat for this discipline. At the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), another student who grew up on the border, and never thought he’d go to graduate school, was funded to visit and interview with the graduate program of choice. “He came into my office with a thank you card because he was offered an interview with Emory for graduate school,” said Darrell Balderrama, director of retention programs in the office of P-12 initiatives at UTSA. “He never thought someone would fund him to visit a doctoral program. It’s an awesome experience.” In UTSA’s McNair program, 25 students serve as scholars, of which more than half are Hispanic. They are provided with research opportunities and conversations about PhD work once they’ve been chosen for the highly selective program. “It is important we identify students who are willing and able to do the work, since we have a waiting list and can’t afford to work with students on the fence,” explained Balderrama. “When they do get in, you would think these students won the lottery. These students are beyond excited to get their hands dirty and are humbled by the experience. They can’t wait to get in the lab and work with faculty. These projects help boost their academic career, and to see them grow in confidence and swell up with pride is a beautiful thing.” This past summer, the director saw the effect of the McNair program on his students firsthand when they presented their research. “You can see a great change in their confidence and command of language,” he said. “When they prepared to present they were like young professors walking in. They came in sharp and looked so professional. They handled themselves well.” While the current McNair competition that started its five-year track in 2012 is made up fewer projects than earlier years due to cut backs in funding, this recent round of grants is focused exclusively on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. This is due to the federal push to increase the number of underrepresented groups in the STEM fields.

Despite these changes, the McNair program has played an important role in increasing the number of underrepresented groups in graduate school, and more specifically Hispanics. On average, approximately 70 percent of McNair participants who attain a baccalaureate degree enroll in graduate school by the third year after attainment

of the baccalaureate degree (the graduate school enrollment rates are based only on those participants that received a bachelor’s degree and enrolled in graduate school within three years from receiving the bachelor’s degree). “The goal of this program has been reached,” said Katie Blanding, director of graduate and special focus programs

at the federal level. “This program has allowed these students to go to graduate school. It has established a culture of accessibility, encouragement, and affordability for students who may not have seen graduate school as an option. It has impacted the Hispanic community and all McNair students.”

Scholars’ Corner Community colleges play an instrumental role in the postsecondary access of Latinos; however, degree completion is inadequately low for our community. Current scholarship on the issue focuses attention on the sheer number of students that complete a degree and the inability of the larger group to do so, ignoring the reality that attendance and completion patterns for our community varies significantly to majority college trends. Furthermore, performance liability that solely blames students serves to shift attention away from the lackluster institutional accountability on providing adequate support to Latino students. As such, my research and professional commitment to improving the educational outcomes of Latino students stems from personal experience and understanding the powerful role of institutionalized supports. My research is deeply rooted in those formative mentoring relationships that shaped my ideology about higher education. As a product of the community college system, I have dedicated the past decade to working with underrepresented college students whose goal is to transfer to a four-year university. Born to Mexican immigrants, I was raised in one of that nation’s densest immigrant hubs – Los Angeles. My parents were determined to ensure that their seven children earned formal educations and did not encounter the same discrimination they did for not speaking English. Despite their utmost commitment to my educational pursuits, I learned at an early age that navigating the institutionalized practices of the education system would take more than my parents’ unrelenting support – it would take mentorship and culturally sensitive guidance. Along my educational trajectory, I sought out the mentorship of individuals who believed in my ability to grow, and I continue to receive support from pioneers who have invested in communities much like my own. The role of mentorship became salient to me when I started my college career at Los Angeles City College. The guidance and support that I received led me to complete a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a master’s degree from Harvard, and currently the pursuit of a PhD in higher education and organizational change at UCLA. The American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) has served as one of the staunch leaders in supporting the educational pursuits of Latinas, like me, who come from low-income, under-resourced communities. As a 2013 AAHHE Fellow, several moments come to mind about the unparalleled experience I had during and after the conference, but a true testament to our bond occurred earlier this year during the Boston Marathon bombing. One of our very own ran the marathon that day and within hours of hearing the news, the AAHHE community gathered via social media ensuring that our dear colleague was okay. Fortunately, our colleague survived that attack and I was once again reassured that I have an extended, caring and supportive familia in AAHHE. The intense love and support that surfaced that day when the news broke is encouragement that I walk alongside great AAHHE colleagues who will support each other to navigate the hidden curricula of the academy. By Llanet Martín PhD candidate, Higher Education and Organizational Change, University of California, Los Angeles

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GRADUATE SCHOOLS/STEM INITIATIVES

Posse Foundation Launches STEM Scholarships

Deborah Bial EdD President & Founder, The Posse Foundation

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by Gary M. Stern

ince Deborah Bial, founder and CEO of Posse Foundation, launched it in 1989, the nonprofit has helped students, including many minority undergraduates, earn 5,444 scholarships from 51 participating colleges. Its roster of colleges includes Cornell University, Bryn Mawr College, Dickinson College, Northwestern University and smaller school such as Agnes Scott College. Bial, a 49-year-old graduate of Brandeis University who earned a doctorate from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a MacArthur Fellowship “genius” grant in 2007, named it the Posse Foundation because of what a high school student once said to her. “I would never have dropped out of college if I had my posse with me,” the student said. Bial realized that many talented minority students are isolated and don’t know how to navigate the complex world of financial aid and require peer support. “If you grew up in Flushing or the Bronx and end up in Middlebury or Nashville, you’re less likely to turn around and return home, if you have a posse,” she said. Bial describes Posse as a “leadership and diversity program.” It consists of young people from mostly large, urban high schools who represent the diversity of America. “These are people who may not show up on the radar screen of mostly elite colleges in the U.S.,” she said. Posse students who graduate from Bryn Mawr, Northwestern and Brandeis, for example, “can draw on that position to take a job as CEO, journalist, head of a hospital or run for office, and their network will look much like other Americans. That’s the goal of Posse,” Bial said. Hence, it’s creating a new kind of leadership network. To retain students, Posse has devised a five-pronged program that includes pre-college training, campus training and career programs to keep their eyes on the target: graduation. Bial says that most years Posse Scholars graduate from college at a rate over 90 percent, though it varies year to year. In 2012-13, for example, the graduation rate was 89 percent.

When students drop out of the program, it’s mostly for personal, health and financial reasons. Urban and minority students at elite colleges often feel like a fish out of water, like the character Eddie Murphy played in the film “Beverly Hills Cop.” They often feel “nervousness, fear and trepidation but a lot of that is alleviated when you have a team of students, a program behind you, and you’re now part of a community,” Bial said. In developing the nonprofit, Bial devised a structure where 10 Posse Foundation students form a team or posse for support and work with mentors to stay in college. Since each campus accepts 10 Posse students, by the end of four years, 40 Posse students have developed on each campus. Students tell Bial that they know they have cohorts who hail from the same city, background or neighborhood, though she stresses that may include a Hispanic, Pakistani and Jewish colleague. The other secret sauce of the program is that the 51 participating colleges finance the scholarship of Posse students. That enables Posse to raise money to keep its organization thriving. The colleges “honor Posse students for their talent and leadership. It’s a merit scholarship,” Bial said. She says these students are capable and bright and offering their talent and expertise; it’s not a “deficit” program, but an opportunity program. In the 2013-14 over 15,000 students applied for the 660 spots. While Posse describes itself as a “race-neutral program,” more than one-third of the recent class identified themselves as Latino and more than half of its students are minority. The program is making an important contribution to the changing demographics of the American population, Bial suggests. In most urban centers, whites have become the minority. “If we continue to graduate homogeneous students from the best schools, we will not be serving national interests,” she said. The program not only benefits Posse students, but also the 51 colleges involved. “They want the best kids and Posse helps find the best kids. They want young people who will succeed and will be strong alumni and help build a community,” she said. Over the last 25 years of leading the Posse Foundation, Bial has accrued considerable clout. In fact, a press conference held at the White House in January 2014 with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attending announced that 10 leading colleges will receive $70 million in STEM scholarships for 500 Posse Scholars over the next five years. Posse has offices in nine cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Miami and attracts students from those cities. Though high school GPAs and SATs play a major role in accepting students, criteria include leadership, communication and collaborative skills. Students overlooked by colleges but still have the drive are potential candidates.

Most Posse students attended public schools, but private and parochial students are considered. The $70 million STEM program was triggered by a request from Brandies University. It asked if Posse’s concept could be applied to STEM majors, and Posse tested it out. It liked the results, and with the help of its board, raised $70 million to fund it. “We learned that these programming elements could be applied to STEM field and work extraordinarily well,” Bial said. Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., became the first college to partner with Posse Foundation to provide scholarships because it wanted to “expand deeper into diversity of the student body.” This program was pedagogically sound since

Posse Houston Scholars

students have a posse or support system,” explained Douglas Christiansen, Vanderbilt’s vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions. Christiansen, accompanied by Vanderbilt’s head of admissions, scholarships and student affairs travel to New York to interview about 30 Posse students and select 10 for scholarships. Students are selected based on their academic credentials, grades, rigor of courses and also observed in a variety of team-building exercises. Vanderbilt is looking for students with “analytical thinking and collaborative skills,” he said. Vanderbilt finances these 10 scholarships, which, based on need, can encompass tuition, room and board, books and cost about $60,000 annually. Once students are selected, they work with Posse mentors and a Vanderbilt faculty member. The program is successful because it’s very “hands-on, joint and collaborative,” Christiansen said. Having a more “varied thought process and voices in the classroom” strengthens Vanderbilt, he added. After 25 years at the helm of Posse, Bial concludes that “I think these kids have what it takes to succeed. The problem isn’t with the kids; it’s with the system. We need to shift focus from looking at the deficiencies of kids to how we can improve the structure of the system to make sure all kids succeed.”

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GRADUATE SCHOOL/ENROLLMENT/RECRUITMENT

CSUSM Adopts Recruitment and Retention Strategies

by Frank DiMaria its short time in existence the Graduate Program at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) has compiled an impressive, and still growing, list of accomplishments. Established in 1993 it accepted its first students in the fall of 1995. Today it offers 13 master’s degree programs and one joint doctoral degree program. Cal State San Marcos is an Hispanic-Serving Institution in which 31 percent of its students are identified as Hispanic and 50 percent of its students are first-generation college students. The school has a student body of 11,000 with about 600 in the Graduate Program. Gerardo M. González, PhD, dean of graduate studies and associate vice president for research in the Office of Graduate Studies and Research is proud to list the graduate school’s accomplishments. In the fall of 2006 the one-year continuation rate in CSUSM’s Graduate Program was 74 percent. By the fall of 2010 that number had increased to 87 percent. In one year, from the fall of 2006 to the fall of 2007, CSUSM experienced a surge in the three-year retention rate, from 59 percent to 70 percent. In a five-year span, from the fall of 2006 to the fall of 2011, CSUSM decreased its time to degree from three years to 2.7 years. Finally CSUSM’s graduation rates have remained stable, between 40 and 45 percent. González says the school’s accomplishments were attained through sustained, high-quality advising and mentoring of its students. The small numbers in CSUSM’s Graduate Program actually work to its advantage. With just a fraction of its student body enrolled in CSUSM’s master’s program it means the student to professor ratio is about three students to every one professor. “Because we are a relatively small university with about 11,000, of which only about 600 are graduate students, we have opportunities to work with students across all levels. That means our faculty takes the time and effort to work closely with students to make sure they are successful. Faculty members are accessible and available to work with them on their research, in particular supervising them with their research projects and in their courses,” says González. Even with his duties as dean of graduate studies, González takes time to work with graduate students as a psychology professor, meeting with them on a regular basis and working with them on their program of study and their research ideas. González and his colleagues work closely with CSUSM stu-

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“You have to go to India,

China, Europe, Latin America and send people out and let everyone know about the university. This is happening through extended learning.” Gerardo M. González, PhD, CSUSM dean of graduate studies

dents, which often helps them complete the graduate program in fewer semesters. “If you can graduate your students in three years, that’s pretty darn good. Students have five years to finish their programs, that’s our policy, it’s not open ended or unlimited. To have students finish in three years, it’s the efforts of the faculty and the office of graduate studies and research to support them as much as possible through accessibility and high-quality supervision, advising and so on. The best way to ensure student success is to work with them as closely as possible” says González. But despite these accomplishments, González is aware that the Graduate Program faces a long list of challenges, challenges he is ready to meet. His Graduate Program is poised to meet the growing list of challenges, like increasing tuition; limited student financial aid packages and scholarships; teaching and graduate assistantships; tuition waivers; limited graduate studies infrastructure; declining master’s student enrollment (average 2.3 percent annually from fall 2007 to fall 2011); and a lack of international or out-of-state students. González has a number of strategies in place to help the Graduate Program meet these challenges head on. Unlike many of its competitors CSUSM is at a bit of a disadvantage, at least financially. Many of the schools that compete with CSUSM for the most talented students attract them because they offer very good financial aid packages. “I have to bring to attention that with rising tuition and with a lack of commensurate financial aid that is not keeping up with tuition, we lose out to other universities that can offer more attractive financial aid packages. Whether it’s a public or a private school, some schools just have more resources to help students minimize their debt or pay their way through school, and that’s what students are looking for,” says González. Talented students have learned to market themselves, and they are sought after by America’s most competitive schools. As a result, the most desirable students can choose to attend the schools with the best financial aid packages. CSUSM just does not have the resources to compete with its neighbors, like San Diego State or some of the other campuses in Los Angeles. These schools “can actually offer things like tuition waivers or assistantships to help students (by paying them) stipends and so on. I think that’s where the challenges are. We can’t offer them similar packages even though they want to come here because of the accessibility to faculty and the culture,” says González. “The more you invest, the more you get on your return. If you want the best talent you have to offer the most competitive financial aid and have to recognize that tuition costs are an issue so you have to create ways to minimize student debt.” Financial aid packages notwithstanding, CSUSM’s Graduate Program does attract its fair share of in-state and domestic students. But one of the school’s greatest challenges is attracting out-of-staters and international students. Currently only 2 percent of graduate students at CSUSM are from out of state or from other countries.

This is an area, says González, in which CSUSM has an opportunity to expand. To ensure that his graduate program grows to maturity, he works closely with extended learning (CSUSM’s online program) to build better marketing and promotion. He hopes that as word spreads about CSUSM, students will consider attending his graduate program when choosing a graduate school. “If international students come to CSUSM and have a positive experience then the word of mouth helps. This is how ambassadors work. They take back their good experiences and talk about it,” says González. Although using alumni to “talk up” CSUSM is a great recruitment tool, González knows that the school needs a proactive commitment to student outreach. “You have to go to India, China, Europe, Latin America and send people out and let everyone know about the university. This is happening through extended learning,” says González. “Extended learning is committed to growing the number of international and out-of-state students so they are doing more national and international promotions and visits. We support all of that because it’s about visibility and having positive experiences that students can take back home then the word gets out that CSUSM is a great place to go.” González understands the importance of not just growing a graduate program but also the need for developing a graduate community and culture. His goal is that CSUSM graduate students have a sense of the campus experience. He has worked hard to build a community specifically for them. “Here our graduate students feel they are part of the campus so they don’t feel their only world is the small graduate program they are in or the cohort they work with. My goal is to offer them an expanded experience. We’ve done a lot to try to create a network among the graduate students,” says González.

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GRADUATE SCHOOL

Hispanic Engineers Face Global Competition for Grad School

by Peggy Sands Orchowski ast fall Jesús Medina was enthusiastic, optimistic and excited. He was starting his senior year at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) as a hardworking engineering student. The first in his family to go to college, he had spent the last two summers away from his immigrant parents in Los Angeles to participate in a personalized, paid research mentoring graduate program at UCSB. All through high school and at UCSB, he had been supported by MESA, an organization mainly in the Southwest that mentors underrepresented minorities K-16 in mathematics, engineering and science achievement. Medina had happily given back by being an out-

olds completing bachelor’s degrees will surpass that of blacks in the near future, be close to that of whites and close the gap with Asian-Americans. Like Medina, the report found that a large proportion of first-generation Latino college students enrolled first at community colleges and four-year state universities close to their homes and families. Universities such as UCSB. And like Medina, many Latino high school graduates are declaring majors in the STEM fields. This is partly due to a broad range of national support groups like the National Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Excelencia in Education, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) among others. Nationally, Latinos’ share of advanced degrees in engineering and engineering-related fields increased more than any other underrepresented group, according to the NACME August 2012 report. In 2009-10 the growth was 9 percent and the trend is continuing. UCSB also has experienced this growth. In April 2013, UCSB had recorded its most selective admissions year in the school’s history for both graduates and undergraduates. Overall the University of California reported an 80 percent increase in applications since 2008; UCSB saw a 67 percent increase. Moreover in Engineering student leaders participate in a leadership event coordinated 2012, the seaside campus was one by the Equal Opportunity in Engineering Program of the top two UC campuses in the number of applicants from underreach fellow with the organization that in 2012 had been given represented minorities (URMs) – 30 percent. Of California UCSB’s “most active club” award. resident students at UCSB, 27 percent are URMs, mostly Medina now was looking eagerly forward to going on to Latinos. Similarly, 27 percent of UCSB’s non-residents undergrad school, to earn a master’s degree in engineering that he graduate students (about 20 percent of the total) are underhad been told would open up jobs in the $80,000 range. His represented minorities as were 27.2 percent of the 3,853 backup plan: get a job with a company that would help him to transfer applicants. get a master’s degree. He was assured of help from MESA’s The number of Hispanic students graduating with bachemany active alumni. Everything that he had been working lor’s degrees in engineering and science at UCSB also toward as an active Latino student was about to come true. increased. In 2013 a record 126 Hispanics graduated from He wasn’t the only one with high expectations. Medina and the largest engineering departments on campus: computer his MESA friends at UCSB are part of an historic surge of science and electrical engineering. They made up 15 percent Hispanic students in the U.S. graduating from high school and of the graduating class. Nationally, the NSF Graduate Student going on to college. A Pew Hispanic Center report in May Survey for 2005-11 shows that the number of American 2013 had some surprising revelations: the percentage of Hispanic/Latinos (citizens and permanent residents) graduatHispanic high school graduates enrolling in college had sur- ing in engineering in 2005 was 23,267 and in 2011, 30,808 – passed that of whites – 69 percent compared to 67 percent. an increase of almost 24 percent. If the trend continues, the Hispanic share of 22 to 24- yearNow Medina and his fellow students surging through col20

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lege needed support to go on to grad school. When inter- the U.S. increased 5.7 percent to a record high of 764,495. viewed in early fall of 2013, they were confident and happy Of those, almost 300,000 are graduate students – an about their prospects. increase of 9 percent according to the Council on Graduate But it wasn’t to be. By winter when such decisions have Schools. The majority of foreign grad students in the U.S. been made, Medina had not found any support for going on to graduate school. “Graduate school does not seem like a possibility for me – at least not in the near future,” he said in a January 2014 email. “I am planning to apply for jobs and hopefully take one after graduation. I didn't really have support when it came to graduate school … Only two of my friends that I know of have gone to grad school this past year.” The numbers out of UCSB College of Engineering bear out Medina’s story. By December 2013, only four Latinos were admitted for the fall 2013-14 into UCSB’s electrical and Latino students have to learn how to find computer engineering graduate program, only one Latino had filed a their own resources. “Statement of Intent to Register” (SIR). A total of 10 Latinos had been admitted to all five UCSB engineering grad programs (chemical, computer, Enrique Dominquez, director of the University of Texas electrical and computer engineering, materials and mechanical – where at Austin’s Equal Opportunity in Engineering Program actually no Latinos had been accepted). A total of two SIRs from Latinos were listed by December 2013 in all those programs. study in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and Why? math) fields: specifically, some 136,000 graduate foreign stuThe most common narrative is that there is a lack of a sup- dents in the U.S. in 2012 were studying engineering; 65,000 ply of good applicants. “Americans – especially minorities – math and computer science; and 63,000 physical and life sciaren’t studying engineering and science,” the mantra goes. ences. Most attended state-funded universities and colleges. “Our best and brightest are all going into high finance on Wall While always labeled as “the best and the brightest”, obviously Street” is the more positive common reason given by many, only a small proportion is so truly elite that they were qualiincluding educators. The more negative one commonly men- fied to attend MIT and other elite private universities. tioned: “American kids are lazy.” At UCSB, almost 75 percent of the new grad students enrolling in the computer science department were internaThe Biggest Challenge – Follow The Money tional; 64 percent of the new grad students enrolled in the There’s another reason for the “lack of American supply” electrical engineering department were foreign students. In that can be seen easily in admissions statistics if one can get 2012 the percentage of new international students in computtheir hands on them. But this reason is so sensitive that even er engineering was lower – 56 percent, but higher in electriwhen those-in-the-know are confronted with it, the almost cal engineering – 66 percent. immediate reaction is a “shush.” The IIE estimates that 42 percent of all foreign grad stuIn December of every year, University of California admis- dents get full support from their host colleges and universities sions offices release the figures of accepted students for the with a small percentage (less than 1 percent) from the U.S. next academic year along with the number of students who government and private sources. The rest are supported have filed a “Statement of Intent to Register” that are awaiting either from their own governments or from personal funds. final confirmation. While these figures in December 2013 While there are no official limits to the support a foreign showed that for AY 2014-15, four (American) Latinos had student can get from public sources, “no international student been accepted into the electrical and computer engineering working on a master’s degree at UCSB gets university supdepartment at UCSB plus two Latino SIRs, in fact 237 foreign port,” said Simron Singh, a director at the UCSB Office of students had been accepted into that department, with 93 International Students and Scholars (OISS) said. But almost more filing a SIR. A total of 357 international students had all the PhD students do. While figures weren’t available it been admitted to all the UCSB graduate engineering programs appears that most foreign graduate students are in combinawith a 142 total SIRs – compared to 10 Latinos overall. tion MS/PhD programs. UCSB, like most good public universities, has experienced Off the record, UCSB officials estimated that at least 60 percontinual record growth of the numbers of foreign students on cent of international engineering grad students at UCSB get campus. According to the Institute of International Education university support such as paid teaching and research assist(IIE), in AY 2011/12, the number of international students in antships, readerships, research fellows, other paid intern-

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ships and the like. Despite repeated requests to university departments and national organizations for over a year, specific data was not available. But anecdotally this reporter was told that in some engineering and science departments, close to 100 percent of all TAs and RAs were international students. The primary reason why foreign students often have priority for available various campus support is because foreign students and their spouses are not allowed to work off-campus during the academic year, according to the Sr. Vice President of the American Council on Education Terry W. Hartle. Although the restriction on foreign students and their families from working off campus is rarely if ever enforced, nevertheless, “they could be subject to deportation if they violate the work law,” said UCSB’s Singh, who also is in charge of the campus SEVIS – the National Student and Exchange Visitor Information System required by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In fact, foreign students and their families are increasingly coveted by university, college and even community colleges. The competition for them has been likened to a “gold rush.” Deans openly admit their departments depend on foreign students “for the revenue they bring in.” That’s because at most colleges throughout the United States, foreign students pay full tuition – and at public universities that can be up to three times more than what subsidized in-state students pay. Every year in its annual Open Doors Report, the IIE reveals ever-larger annual revenue attributed to the burgeoning foreign student industry. In FY 2011-12 “international exchanges in all 50 states contributed $22.7 billion to the U.S. economy,” the IIE reported (up from $11 billion just a few years ago). A good part of that revenue comes from the out-of-state tuition that foreign students pay at state colleges and universities. At UCSB, international graduate students pay about $45,000 annual tuition compared to $31,000 charged for in-state students (international undergrads pay $55,000 annually compared to domestic students $32,000). Foreign students are not eligible for any state or federal scholarships, although a few campus merit-based research grants may be awarded to qualified international students and scholars. Just the revenue advantage could be said to favor foreign student admissions by revenue-hungry state universities. Ironically, California’s extremely generous attitude to residency requirements (relative to most other states) squeezes the need for full-paying students even more. California law allows that U.S. out-of-state students can claim residency after six months of living in the state while attending college and thus be eligible for the significant in-state subsidies. Foreign-born students who are illegally in the country – have no papers or permits to live or work in the U.S. – are given automatic residency status if they graduated from a California high school. But out-of-state fees for foreign students are rarely waived no matter how long they’ve been at the university. There is no limit to the number of foreign student visas that can be given out every year. Heavy Competition For American Latinos This is heavy competition for American students, especially minorities who need support to go to graduate school. Some blame the economic situation and increasing student debt. “(While) it’s a very good thing that we continue to attract strong applications from international students, it has to be a matter of concern that we are failing with American students,” said the president of the Council of Graduate Schools in 2012. 22

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“In almost every field, there are fewer Americans enrolling in graduate programs and the opposite is true for international students. Rising debt burdens of undergrads may be discouraging some Americans from graduate education. But in 2013-14 increasing pressure by corporations and legislators to give green cards to foreign students who study at the university may make studying in American graduate schools even more attractive. No one is suggesting an affirmative action program in American graduate schools. But in 2012, a study by the National Institutes of Health – the nation’s largest funder of university research – found a wide race-based variance in its grant awards. Black scientists were found to be getting less than 1 percent of the main categories of NIH grants. The study, based on proposals for R01 grants – the main category of NIH science award – also found that black scientists accounted for just 1.4 percent of all applications. “NIH is committed to hiring and giving grants to underrepresented minorities and the disabled,” said Dr. Rodric Pettigrew, MD/PhD, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and the chief officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, a newly created position at NIH. A new $50 million dollar annual package of mentoring grants was introduced last fall for institutions with less than $7.5 million yearly in NIH research-grant support, and with at least 25 percent of their undergraduate students receiving Pell Grants. That is in addition to dozens of NIH programs to help minority science students at major universities, including a $60 million annual program of grant supplements designated for minority researchers. With decreasing authorization for federal research grants to universities however, and the on-campus priority to support foreign students, not many university or government resources are left over to support American graduate students including minorities. “Our students are going to have to do better in their academic performance in order to compete,” said Mario Castellanos, director of MESA programs in the Office of Education Partnerships at UCSB. “Latino students have to learn how to find their own resources,” said Enrique Dominquez, director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Equal Opportunity in Engineering Program (EOE) – a finalist in the “Examples of Excelencia 2013 Baccalaureate Level” awards. “I tell them that they should never have to pay for graduate school. But you have to do it yourself – the networking, the research, the applications for fellowships, research assistantships, papers co-authorships, paid internships and NSF partnerships and the like. It’s not only a lot of work but it’s a mindset. It starts and often ends at the academic department level.” The Hispanic student surge is real. Latino students are finishing their bachelor’s degrees at record rates. They want to get their MAs. No one is asking for affirmative action at the graduate level of college. But as Prof. Richard Tapia, director of the Rice University Excellence and Equity Center stated at a 2011 conference in the capitol building: “perhaps at least one NSF grant a year should be designated for an American, maybe especially a URM.” Medina and his American Latino fellow students would line up for those. Note: The Fund for Investigative Journalism helped with a support grant to cover some travel expenses for this story.

UNCENSORED

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

ARE HSIs a MODEL FOR HBCUs? In the century between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 105 colleges and universities were founded mainly in former slave states, with the “express purpose of educating African-Americans,” according to historical references. These public and private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were supposed to be treated as equals in funding and recognition. Many civil rights icons, such as Martin Luther King, attended HBCUs. One of the best-known is Howard University in Washington, D.C. It includes a teaching hospital and has a total of 5,474 employees and 10,297 students (3 percent Hispanic, 11 percent white). But HBCUs are in trouble. In 2011, only 11 percent of all African-American college students attended HBCUs because they are being recruited by colleges throughout the country which increasingly compete for African-American enrollment to meet their diversity goals. “Blacks look at attending a predominantly white institution as, in a sense, having arrived,” law professor Ray von Robertson is quoted as saying in USA Today. But only 30 percent of HBCU undergrads earned a BA degree in six years compared to 56 percent nationally and 37.5 percent of African- Americans nationally. On top of that, Howard is facing serious financial problems. Is it time for HBCUs to follow the model of Hispanic- Serving institutions (HSis)? Should all colleges and universities aim to be Black Serving Institutions – merging with HBCUs to increase the percentage of black undergraduates at their institutions? Some private liberal arts colleges in the South (Virginia Intermont College and St. Andrews University of North Carolina, for instance) are merging. Maybe it’s time to consider encouraging all universities and colleges to become BSIs as well as HSIs. After all, African-Americans are much more widely dispersed throughout the nation than Hispanics.

NO SUCH THING AS A SEPARATE HISPANIC IQ “We shouldn’t expect to find genetic differences in IQ between Hispanics and whites, because neither category exists in nature,” sociologist Lisa Wade wrote in POLITICO last August. “If we do find differences, that’s a red flag that something’s very wrong, perhaps cultural bias in the test. There is no relationship between genetics, race and IQ,” she concludes.

USA IS ONE COUNTRY WITH 11 DIFFERENT ‘NATIONAL’ CULTURES The Triple Package is a popular new book for “snow plow” parents (the upgraded term for high school “helicopter” parents whose kids are now in college or about to attend). The authors Amy

Chua and Jed Rubenfeld – a Chinese- and Jewish-heritage couple in Cambridge Mass., who were made famous by her 2011 Tiger Mother book – claim that parents from certain national cultures (namely Cubans, East Asians, Indians, Jews, Lebanese, Mormons, Nigerians and Persians) share a set of three characteristics and values – the Triple Package – that account for their kids success in college. The first two come from their national heritage: 1) a group feeling of “superiority”; and 2) a feeling of anxiety or “insecurity” about their place in the mainstream society that creates “driven personalities.” The third is discipline to resist temptation and endure in the face of opposition. One could say these are the traits of exiles, refugees and eager immigrants that are passed on to their second-generation American children. But “the U.S. is really a union of 11 different cultural nations, each with their own highly successful leaders,” according to the author of American Nations, Colin Woodard. The “Triple Package” may fit the “Yankeedom” culture of the Northeast and Western states, but not necessarily the Southwest El Norte Hispanic nation and the Deep South, Appalachian and Midwest individualist nations of the rest of America. Success isn’t just getting into Harvard; it depends on where you grow up, according to Woodard.

COULD A LATINA BE NATION’S FIRST FEMALE VICE PRESIDENT? OK. I know. I say it all the time. Electoral politics and analysis, not to say predictions, should focus at this time on the 2014 midterm elections -- namely the fight over the Senate majority that could flip from Democratic to Republican and ruin President Obama’s second term legacy (and comprehensive immigration reform). BUT, 2016 presidential race predictions are irresistible. So here’s mine: Susana Martínez of New Mexico for Republican vice president. She’s governor of the largest Hispanic-populated state, female, Latina and business-oriented, who wowed delegates at the Republican nominating convention in Florida in 2012. She’d balance almost any presidential candidate the Republicans nominate. Margaret (Peggy Sands) Orchowski was a reporter for AP South America and for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. She earned a doctorate in international educational administration from the University of California-Santa Barbara. She lives in Washington, D.C., where she was an editor at Congressional Quarterly and now is a freelance journalist and columnist covering Congress and higher education. 0 4 / 0 7 / 2 0 1 4

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niversity of South Florida System is a high-impact, global research system dedicated to student success. The USF System includes three institutions: USF; USF St. Petersburg; and USF SarasotaManatee. The institutions are separately accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. All institutions have distinct missions and their own detailed 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 $4.4 billion. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference.

Administrative and Executive Positions: University Communication & Marketing Academic Affairs Digital Marketing Director Director of Institutional Research (St. Petersburg Campus) Director of Events Regional Chancellor (Sarasota/Manatee) Assistant Vice President (Career Services) Regional Assoc. Vice Chancellor (St. Petersburg) Associate Vice President (Health Development & Alumni Relations) Clinical Researcher Administrator (Phys & Rehab Sci)

Faculty Positions: College of Medicine College of Public Health Full, Associate, Assistant Professor (Pharmacy) Postdoctoral Scholar Research Assistant Professor (Physical Therapy & Rehab. Sciences) Family Nurse Practitioner College of the Arts-School of Music PhD Prepared Nurse Assistant Professor (Composition) Assistant Professor (Gastroenterology/Esophagology) Assistant Professor (Piano) Assistant Professor (General OB/GYN) Assistant Professor (Cardiology) College of Arts and Sciences Assistant Professor (Dermatology) Visiting Instructor (English) Associate/Full Professor (Senior Faculty Biostatistician) Assistant Professor Postdoctoral Scholar (Pharmacy) Instructor Postdoctoral (Research) Visiting Instructor (School of Public Affairs) Dean (Honors College) Research Associate Patel Center for Global Sustainability Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Assistant/Associate Professor (Pharmacy) Director (Continuing Education) ESL Instructor (Pathway Program) College of Engineering

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Faculty Coordinator (E-Learning/Instructor-Sarasota Campus) Assistant Professor (Information Technology-Sarasota Campus)

Instructor (Mechanical Engineering) Instructor, Assistant Professor (Computer Sci & Engineering)

Assistant Professor, Education (St. Petersburg Campus) (2) Instructor, Management (St. Petersburg Campus) Assistant/Associate Professor, Accounting (St. Petersburg Campus)

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

ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE

PROFESSOR OF CHILD STUDY with specialization in Special Educaton St. Joseph’s College, Patchogue Campus is seeking a fulltime assistant professor in the department of Child Study, with a specialization in Special Education, for a tenuretrack faculty position beginning September 2014. Responsibilities include teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in special education in the Early Childhood, Childhood, and Secondary certification levels; supervision of practicum and student teaching experiences; advising majors at the undergraduate and graduate level; serving on department and college committees; and engaging in scholarly activity. Qualifications include a doctorate in Education from a regionally accredited college or university, and New York State Students with Disabilities certification, preferably in Early Childhood, Childhood and/or Secondary Education. A minimum of two years of teaching students with disabilities is required, and higher education experience is preferred. Infusion of technology into instruction is expected. Send CVs to Joan Silver, 155 W. Roe Blvd., Patchogue, NY 11772 EOE - M/F/D/V

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04/07/2014

WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY Division of Student Affairs Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs

DIRECTOR, COUNSELING AND TESTING CENTER

Western Kentucky University aspires to be the University of choice for faculty and staff who are dedicated to helping advance academic excellence. True to its spirit, WKU offers an inviting, nurturing, and challenging work environment, which is responsive to the needs of a diverse and ambitious learning community. WKU’s main campus is located on a hill overlooking the city of Bowling Green (population est. 60,000), and is acclaimed as one of the most beautiful in the nation. We invite you to consider WKU as a place where your academic and professional dreams can be realized.

Western Kentucky University’s Division of Student Affairs, Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs invites applicants for Director, Counseling and Testing Center (CTC). The University seeks an individual skilled as both an administrator and practitioner to provide leadership for a Center offering comprehensive services, individual and group counseling, and educational programming to Western Kentucky University students and crisis intervention and consultation within the University community. Additionally, the Center is a primary training site for the University’s graduate program in clinical psychology and provides a broad range of testing services to the University and surrounding community.

The Director is responsible for sustaining critical interactions and working collaboratively with other units on campus including, but not limited to, the Department of Housing and Residence Life, the Office of Judicial Affairs, the University Police Department, Health Services, the Office of Student Disability Services, the Center for Career and Professional Development, the Regional Campuses, the Office of Student Activities, Leadership, and Volunteerism, and the Division of Academic Affairs. This position reports directly to the Vice President for Student Affairs. This is a twelve-month, full-time position and the successful candidate will serve as a senior staff member within the Division of Student Affairs. The WKU Counseling and Testing Center was accredited in 2009 through the International Association of Counseling Services. Additional information about the Center’s programs, outreach activities, and staff members can be found at the following hyperlink: http://www.wku.edu/heretohelp/. Information about the city of Bowling Green and surrounding counties is available at this link: http://www.bgky.org.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities • • • • • • • • •

Provide day-to-day leadership to the CTC Develop and execute short- and long-term vision and strategic goals Oversee the Center’s clinical services, educational outreach, and consultation services Oversee fiscal and budgetary administration Provide supervision to counseling center staff and practicum students Provide culturally sensitive psychological services to students Oversee and provide guidance for testing services provided by the Center’s Testing Coordinator Serve as liaison for the counseling center with the Division of Student Affairs and the University community Coordinate training/prevention education within the campus community

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Experience: – Minimum five (5) years post-doctoral work experience in a clinical and/or counseling setting with at least one (1) year in a clinical and/or administrative supervisory capacity

Required Minimum Qualifications •

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Education: – Ph.D., Ed.D., or Psy.D. in Counselor Education, Counseling or Clinical Psychology or closely related discipline – Licensed or licensure eligible in the State of Kentucky within 12-months of employment

Knowledge, skills, and abilities – Ability to plan, direct, and evaluate a complex operation within a University setting – Ability to provide supervisory and administrative guidance for a diverse staff – Ability to work independently on tasks – Ability to plan and organize tasks with a keen attention to detail – Ability to respond to emergency situations in a timely manner – Competency with differential diagnosis and use of DSM – Clinical experience addressing suicide risk assessment and intervention, crisis response and intervention, case management, care coordination, and working with high risk/high acuity clients – Commitment to developing an APA accredited pre-doctoral internship program – Strong generalist clinical skills and interdisciplinary collaboration – Ability to provide quality and culturally-sensitive clinical services – Ability to work collaboratively within a team-oriented environment – Demonstrated strong interpersonal skills – Demonstrated excellent oral, written, listening skills, and technological communication skills – Outstanding educational outreach and presentation skills – Experience with common office equipment, common office technological equipment, and software – Willingness to work evening and weekends

Salary is regionally competitive. The offered salary will be commensurate with experience, education, and employment background.

Applications for employment will be accepted electronically only. Interested candidates must submit a letter of application, a 500-word statement summarizing the applicant’s vision for the Counseling and Testing Center at WKU, a current resume or curriculum vitae, and names, mailing and email addresses, and daytime phone numbers of three (3) professional references using the online application process. Please refer to the following website to apply: http://asaweb.wku.edu/wkujobs. Full consideration will be granted to application materials received by April 25, 2014. For further assistance contact the WKU Department of Human Resources at (270) 745-5934. Kentucky state law requires all public institutions of postsecondary education to conduct pre-employment criminal background checks to determine suitability for employment.

Western Kentucky University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, or marital status in admission to career and technical education programs and/or activities, or employment practices in accordance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Revised 1992, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Persons with disabilities, who need reasonable accommodations to participate in the application and/or selection process, should notify The Office of Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/University ADA Services at (270) 745- 5121 or at https://www.wku.edu/eoo/, a minimum of five working days in advance.

04/07/2014

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RESEARCH ASSISTANT (ECONOMETRICS) CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS PUERTORRIQUEÑOS HUNTER COLLEGE Centro is a research center dedicated to the study and interpretation of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States. Centro is the primary repository of archival and library materials dedicated to stateside Puerto Ricans. Centro is committed to facilitating research projects useful to those in community organizations, public policy, and academia. The Research Assistant supports research projects and activities in connection with CUNY programs by assisting in quantitative data management including data and database collection, reduction, formatting, and maintenance as well as data analysis. Performs multiple variable regression analyses. Assists in preparing literature reviews; tables, charts, and figure creation and formatting; and manuscript development. Projected start date: August 27, 2014. Appointment would be for one academic year. Subsequent appointments are contingent on funding and performance. Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience relevant to the research being performed required. Master’s degree in economics, statistics, policy, planning, computer science, math, or business or other related field preferred

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Priming the Pump...

ONE STEP AT A TIME Miquela Rivera, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with years of clinical, early childhood and consultative experience. She lives in Albuquerque, N.M.

Practice is the best of all instructors. – Publilius Syrus To help make practice on complex tasks more palatable (Roman writer, 85 B.C. – 43 B.C.) for Latino students, parents, teachers and coaches are wise to break the long-term goal into smaller ones and assign the ractice is a way to learn and master a skill through rep- smaller ones sequentially. For young Hispanic children etition. Think of the young Latino child with a set of learning to write, teaching upstrokes alone followed by traditional wooden blocks, stacking and restacking, loops and lines can eventually be grouped together to help a delighted each time the tallest height is reached as the last child form letters. The dance instructor can break the perblock is put in place and happy to start again once the thrill formance into various groups of steps to be practiced indiof knocking it down is over. vidually then performed in rapid succession as the entire If practice leads to mastery, why do people resist it? dance. For a research paper, requiring the older Latino stuWhen the goal gets in the way, practice – essential to dent to submit the topic first (and the major proposed mastery – loses its appeal. The child who is not into playing resources to be used), followed by an outline, the introducthe piano every afternoon is discouraged when he doesn’t tion and individual sections helps the Hispanic student focus play a piece well soon. The student who sighs and gives up on the immediate goal while building – one step at a time – when asked to revise a draft has determined that the first try the long-term product that is assigned. Parents can help is “good enough.” And the culinary novice who scraps a children develop good household habits by breaking chores challenging recipe that takes too long or does not taste quite into smaller steps and upping the ante progressively. What right gives up before tweaking the recipe. If a Hispanic stu- starts with emptying the trash can eventually add up to dent only looks at the end product – the ultimate goal – he straightening out (or at least making a good attempt at will become discouraged when falling short. straightening out) the entire work or play area. Prime a Hispanic student’s determination instead by Reaching closer, more attainable goals as they add up to focusing on each step as a goal in itself. Any given step is complex mastery has another benefit: habit formation. immediately in front of a Hispanic student, and she can Across time, daily working toward smaller steps forms the work toward that. Soon enough, those steps add up and the habit of repeated routine and focused practice toward part long-term goal is reached. As proof, look back on the of longer-term goals across time. It shifts the overwhelming young child stacking the wooden blocks. Typically he will perception of something major (like being able to run a not stop if his “tower” falls after three or four cubes are in competitive event in record-setting time) from being too place. If the stack falls, he starts again, trying for five on the hard to smaller, feasible pacing that can be done with focus, next attempt. With time, the long-term goal is reached: one day at a time. every block is used and the tower is complete. The focus Goal attainment for Latino students – from early childwas not on the end goal; it was on the process – the place- hood through adolescence and into the adult years – is ment of blocks in each successive attempt. The reward came essential to keeping motivation and achievement alive. with each trial being better than the previous one. Aspirations can become reality, one step at a time.

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