08/20/2012 Nothing Succeeds like Success

AUGUST 20, 2012

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VOLUME 22 • NUMBER 21

Also available in Digital Format

Discrimination in Academia

Pew Report on Hispanic Identity

Diversity in Motion

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® Editorial Board Publisher – José López-Isa Vice President & Chief Operating Officer – Orlando López-Isa

Ricardo Fernández, President Lehman College Mildred García, President California State University-Fullerton

Editor – Adalyn Hixson Executive & Managing Editor – Suzanne López-Isa News Desk & Copy Editor – Jason Paneque Special Project Editor – Mary Ann Cooper

Juán González,VP Student Affairs University of Texas at Austin Lydia Ledesma-Reese, Educ. Consultant Ventura County Community College District Gustavo A. Mellander, Dean Emeritus George Mason University

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Loui Olivas,Assistant VP Academic Affairs Arizona State University

DC Congressional Correspondent – Peggy Sands Orchowski

Eduardo Padrón, President Miami Dade College

Contributing Editors – Carlos D. Conde Michelle Adam Online Contributing Writers – Gustavo A. Mellander

Antonio Pérez, President Borough of Manhattan Community College María Vallejo, Provost Palm Beach State College

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Editorial Policy The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national magazine published 23 times a year. 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

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

Article Contributors Frank DiMaria,Thomas G. Dolan, Marilyn Gilroy, Eileen Mercedes González, Mitchell A. Kaplan, Miquela Rivera, Jeff Simmons, Gary M. Stern

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

“He

knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you’re awake.�

No, not Santa Claus, but Professor David Rosengrant, Kennesaw State University, who is conducting research on student eye movement during lectures. The students are wearing special glasses called Tobii that take out the guesswork.

The good news so far – student attention does NOT drop off after the first 15 minutes of lecture, as was previously thought, but varies based on factors such as statements by the speaker that aren’t showing via PowerPoint. Especially if they are funny. A third factor is: how close is a student sitting to the instructor?

The bad news so far – digital devices we’re so eager for Hispanic students to not miss out on can provide a major classroom distraction. The Web and Facebook in particular.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported July 23 on a project said to show that “one-third of colleges are on a financially unsustainable path.� The project is by Sterling Partners, a private-equity firm, and Bain & Company, which has links to Bain Capital and presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The project analyzed nearly 1,700 public and private nonprofit colleges and universities. An interactive website is said to show rankings of specific colleges. Cornell, Harvard and Princeton are among the one-third at risk, according to the article by Goldie Blumenstyk.

An Internet ad we saw recently offered “An authentic University degree +transcripts for $699. No coursework required.� How’s that for cost-cutting?

Meanwhile, Fox News reports that Sheriff Joe Arpaio has raised $6.8 toward his re-election, most of it from outside Arizona. And we await outcomes of the seven lawsuits lodged against the immigration law he loves to enforce. ÂĄAdelante!

Suzanne LĂłpez-Isa Managing Editor

NETWORK FOR ACADEMIC RENEWAL

AAC&U Working Conferences for 2012–2013 Modeling Equity, Engaging Difference:

Next Generation STEM Learning:

General Education and Assessment:

New Frameworks for Diversity and Learning

Investigate, Innovate, Inspire

A Sea Change in Student Learning

Baltimore, Maryland October 18–20, 2012

Kansas City, Missouri November 8–10, 2012

Boston, Massachusetts February 28–March 2, 2013

Student Success and The Quality Agenda

Miami, Florida April 4–6, 2013

Network for Academic Renewal: Exploring together the latest advances in teaching and learning; faculty roles and leadership; general education and outcomes assessment; diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence; and strategies for student success in undergraduate education.

&OR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER WWW AACU ORG MEETINGS NETWORK s s NETWORK AACU ORG

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by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

If

Sheriff Joe Says to “Shut Your Mouths”

you want to commit a crime, violate traffic ordinances or mock the law, you don’t want to do it in Maricopa County, Ariz. You certainly don’t want to do it if you are Mexican or look Mexican, or to use the generic word, Latino, because “Sheriff Joe” and his deputies will be after your butt quicker than a speeding bullet.

You may have heard of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County. He likes being called “America’s toughest sheriff,” and – at least with the Latino population, predominately Mexicans, some legal, some not – he doesn’t disappoint.

Arpaio and his deputies, his critics say, like to drive around Phoenix, the county seat, indiscriminately picking on and picking up Latinos or those resembling Latinos because they discriminately tend to look illegal or criminal or both.

So much so that two civil rights organizations and the federal government are now after Arpaio’s derriere and have filed class-action lawsuits, for, as The New York Times editorialized, “discrimination and harassment against Latinos and those who look like them.”

Some think this action has been a long time coming, except for Arpaio, who feels he should be decorated for his work, not denigrated.

Don’t expect any amicable agreement. Sheriff Joe might have outlasted the feds again and continued with his tough, somewhat unorthodox methods of law enforcement, which some ethnic and civil liberties organizations charge are not only abusive and belittling but target Latinos unfairly with their so-called sweeps.

Latinos and other Arpaio detractors want him to stop.

Arpaio says he’s just doing his job, and a fine one at that.

He claims he doesn’t single out Latinos – except that many live in Maricopa County and get in trouble more often than other community members, and many are indeed illegal.

Arpaio says the only way to stop this is to vote him out of office. He smugly points out, however, that he has been elected to five consecutive terms and that, he adds, ranks as hero status.

Almost one-third of Maricopa County’s 3.8 million population is Latino, and an undetermined number are undocumented. The sheriff prides himself on chasing many of them down, to the vexation of the legitimate Latino population, which feels discriminated against in the process.

The Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against Sheriff Arpaio accusing him and his department of racial profiling and civil rights abuses.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also sued Arpaio. The litigators on behalf of Latinos are seeking a cease-and-desist order, which Sheriff Arpaio says interferes with the job he was elected to do, even though his job description is not about rounding up illegal aliens or challenging the status of dubious Latino citizens.

“At its core, this is an abuse of power case involving a sheriff and sheriff’s office that disregarded the Constitution, ignored sound police practices, compromised public safety, and did not hesitate to retaliate against his perceived critics,” said Thomas E. Pérez, assistant attorney general at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

The suit said Sheriff Arpaio mounted a campaign against Latinos, regardless of status or citizenship, through sweeps of homes, workplaces

and traffic stops.

Arpaio said he would fight this “to the bitter end” and has accused the Justice Department of a political vendetta for his daring to question President Obama’s birth certificate, and of pandering to the Latino vote.

“I hate to say this is political, but the timing is suspect.” he added.

The MALDEF/ACLU suit charges that the sheriff and his deputies “made illegal stops, searches and arrests, staged wrongful neighborhood and workplace raids and provoked widespread fear among citizens, legal or undocumented immigrants alike.”

You have to say that Sheriff Arpaio brings a unique approach to law enforcement and rehabilitation that makes one wonder about his methods and why he’s picking on Mexicans or Mexican look-alikes.

Heck, Sheriff Joe could almost be one of us.

He was born and raised in Springfield, Mass., to immigrant Italian parents. He worked as a Drug Enforcement Agent in Argentina and Mexico before coming to Arizona as DEA regional head, and in 1992 he was elected sheriff.

Lawsuits and civil rights complaints don’t seem to bother the sheriff because, based on his long incumbency, he feels the local citizenry is on his side against what he considers federal and civil rights interlopers interfering with his work.

He does have some quirky approaches to his job.

Arpaio’s sweeps terrorize some of the Latino population to the extreme of being guilty until proven innocent, so much so that some have had to alter their living habits.

He set up a “Tent City,” described by some as barely above a concentration camp, as an extension of the Maricopa County jail, where the inmates sweltered in heat above 100 degrees, to a chorus of complaints.

Arpaio didn’t yield, saying that our fighting men were experiencing worse heat in Afghanistan and they weren’t complaining, “so shut your mouths.”

Arpaio issued pink undergarments to the prisoners and uses pink handcuffs. He sold the undies stamped with the logo “Go Joe” to the public as a fundraiser for the Sheriff’s Posse Association, his volunteer group that helps out with the sheriff’s duties.

He banned smoking, coffee, movies, pornographic magazines and unrestricted TV. Arpaio claims he serves the cheapest meals in the U.S., each costing about 40 cents, and inmates are fed only twice a day.

He started an in-house radio station, KJOE, which plays classical music, opera and Frank Sinatra ballads, and he chronicled his law-enforcement career in a vanity book, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, American’s Toughest Sheriff.

I guess you can also call Sheriff Joe a narcissist. He truly believes he’s doing a good job, which he claims the voters confirm by re-electing him.

Come what may, he doesn’t seem to be backing off – so shut your mouths.

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® AUGUST 20, 2012

CONTENTS A Program to Retain Latinos in Its Fourth Decade at UIC by Gary M. Stern

Page 11

Discrimination in Academia by Thomas G. Dolan

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Pew Report on Hispanics and Identity Generates Hearty Response by Michelle Adam

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Community Colleges Driving N.C. Economy for 50 Years by Frank DiMaria

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Columbia College Chicago: Diversity in Motion

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by Jeff Simmons

Latino Policy Forum Puts Education at the Top of Agenda by Marilyn Gilroy

Online Article HACU Focuses on HSI Funding, Student Votes

by Peggy Sands Orchowski To view this and other select articles online, go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

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DEPARTMENTS Latino Kaleidoscope

by Carlos D. Conde

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Sheriff Joe Says to “Shut Your Mouths”

Scholars’ Corner

by Eileen Mercedes González

FYI...FYI...FYI...

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26 Page 17

Hispanics on the Move

Interesting Reads Book Review

by Mitchell A. Kaplan

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29

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Hispanic Families at Risk: The New Economy, Work, and the Welfare State

Priming the Pump...

Creating a Happy Child

by Miquela Rivera

Back Cover

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

Page 20 Cover photo courtesy of University of Illinois at Chicago

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INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

A Program to Retain Latinos L

by Gary M. Stern ocated in the heart of the country’s third-largest city, the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) is a large public college that tries to meet the needs of its multicultural student body. It has a history of offering specialized services to Latino students.

In 1975, it launched Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services, or LARES, a separate program to attract Latinos, help them navigate admissions and encourage Hispanic students to graduate. LARES focuses on “recruitment, admissions and retention,” explains Hugo Teruel, its interim director who has been with the program for 20 years.

“LARES advisors go into the

school, into el barrio, meet the

community and develop rapport with students.”

Hugo Teruel, interim director, LARES LARES emerged, not from an initiative by the administration, but out of protests sparked by the civil rights movement in the U.S. Community Protests Launched LARES In the early 1970s, students, faculty and community leaders were protesting the lack of programs for minorities at the University of IllinoisChicago. At one point, the protest leaders occupied University Hall and

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demanded more services for the Latino community, which it said was being ignored. Many of the protestors noted that Latinos were admitted, but many dropped out and there weren’t enough services to meet their needs.

In response, UIC administrators launched LARES, first as part of Latin American studies and soon as an independent program. At the outset, it had one full-time staff member and a minimal budget.

In 1975, it helped about 100 Latino students. By 2012, it advises about 2,700 of the 3,700 Latino undergraduates who attend UIC about scholarships, internships, courses and workshops. In fact, currently it’s the largest academic support program on the UIC campus.

In the 2011-12 semester, University of Illinois-Chicago had close to 17,000 undergraduates. Of that student population, 42 percent were White; 22 percent, Latino; 22 percent, Asian-American; 8 percent, AfricanAmerican; and 2 percent, mixed race. LARES has played a crucial role in attracting Latino students, reaching out to the Hispanic community in Chicago and statewide and letting the community know that Latino students are welcome on the UIC campus.

Though many academic support programs have been slashed due to state budget cuts in the last few years, LARES has been spared, said Teruel.

The administration recognized that the Latino population has been increasing at the University of Illinois-Chicago and opted to preserve its budget of $630,000 in 2011-12.

Thirty-seven years after its inception, LARES still aims to help Latino students succeed at UIC. The program has expanded greatly since its inception, due to the rising Latino population, which “has been expanding exponentially,” Teruel says. But the first-generation Latino student still requires help navigating the admissions process, handling financial aid and, once admitted, succeeding at a large urban university. LARES offers a variety of services including an advisor, a summer bridge program to help incoming freshmen improve academic skills and adapt to college life, tutoring and financial aid assistance.

One-on-One Advising Critical to Retention Standing at the crux of LARES is the academic advisor who serves many roles, including recruitment. LARES has four full-time academic advisors and one part-time advisor. “Our advisors are the recruiters. They go into the school, into el barrio, meet the community and develop rapport with students,” Teruel says. By the time many Latino students apply to UIC, they already know the advisors and the large anonymous university has a welcoming face to greet them. Students are assigned an advisor based on their major and can change advisors if there’s a better match. Those relationships go a long way to helping Latino students succeed.

The initial role that advisors fill is helping Latino students apply to UIC and deal with the complex FAFSA and other financial aid forms and requirements. Since advisors recognize that problems with financial aid are the main reason Hispanic students drop out of college, ensuring that students receive the maximum amount of financial assistance is the first step toward helping them gain acceptance and eventually graduating.

in Its Fourth Decade at UIC Summer Transition and Enrichment Program To acculturate students to the life of a college campus and to meeting academic demands, Latino students are invited to participate in a six-week Summer Transition and Enrichment program, prior to starting their freshman fall semester. The emphasis of this summer bridge program is on teaching math and English to ensure that students possess the academic skills necessary to enroll in credit courses. Students also take one course in Latino literature, and this is often the first time they’ve studied this subject, Teruel says.

Because of budget cuts, only about 100 Latino students participate annually in the summer program. Other students obtain information from the college’s two-day orientation about academics, resources, housing, finances and how to register for classes.

The summer program also helps students adjust to campus life.

Students are introduced to the key deans on campus and made aware of the major Hispanic student organizations such as LUCHA (Latino/a Educators United for Change, Higher Education, and Action) and the student leadership program. “They form bonds with fellow students that may last through their four years on campus. They create a cohort of students, supporting each other,” Teruel notes.

Holistic Approach Most Effective Once admitted to UIC, Hispanic students are assigned an academic advisor. Teruel says that advisors with LARES adopt a holistic approach because several factors play a role in succeeding in college. A student’s personal life, family relationships, need to work and ability to pay for college are all interconnected. While advisors offer counseling and financial help, if problems persist, students are advised to meet with a financial aid officer or mental health counselor.

Luis Duarte, acting associate director of LARES and also an advisor, sees his main role as helping students reach their education and career goals. Often that entails encouraging them to continue their education beyond a bachelor’s degree to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees.

Another critical advisor’s role is student retention. That entails a wide variety of activities, Duarte suggests, including providing information on financial assistance including grants, scholarships and loans, helping students obtain academic support, including tutoring and creating a working relationship with parents. Helping them graduate often involves identifying a mentor on campus, ensuring that students understand credit requirements for graduation, and providing students with internship and research opportunities.

If a Hispanic student is having problems in pre-calculus, for example, students are offered assistance via a peer tutoring program in which upperclassmen are paid to teach undergraduates. If a Latino student is facing academic hardship, failing grades or encountering some financial problems making it difficult to pay tuition, academic advisors ask them to come in with their parents for a conference to set up a plan that could solve the situation. All the LARES academic advisors are bilingual, which helps when communicating with students and their parents.

Advisors also help Latino students gain acceptance into the Honors

College at UIC. In 2011, for example, 200 Latino students or 15 percent of the total were involved in the honors program.

Latinos constitute nearly one of every four students at UIC, and Teruel said that LARES plays an influential role in keeping those numbers up, attracting a large number of Hispanic students and helping retain them.

“LARES was my home away

from home. It was pivotal to my success as a student.”

LARES alum Sara Agate, clinical research coordinator, Northwestern Memorial Hospital “Our role has been that of an advocate for students and to help the community view the campus in a positive way. If there are any issues, they know they can contact us,” says Teruel.

As students approach graduation, LARES uses its networking contacts to arrange internships. “We target bilingual businesses in the community,” Teruel says. While LARES is separate from the Office of Career Services, employers occasionally contact the program when looking to fill specific posts.

UIC is close to becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), which requires having 25 percent Latino students. UIC is now at 22 percent. If admissions criteria were opened up and there was less dependence on SAT and ACT scores, more Latinos would likely apply and be accepted into UIC,

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Teruel said. UIC has been exploring the expansion of criteria and more emphasis on high school grades, experience and research.

LARES Alum Describes Impact Sara Agate, who graduated from UIC in August 2011 and is currently a clinical research coordinator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, participated in LARES as an undergraduate. Agate worked with a LARES advisor “who seemed different from other college advisors. He helped me get on track, recommended classes to take, helped me fill out my FAFSA forms, and kept me attuned to scholarship opportunities.” In 2008, Agate earned a scholarship that made her education more affordable.

When she was having some issues in math classes, LARES identified a tutor to help her. And Agate gave back to LARES, tutoring other Latino students in English.

Camaraderie among LARES students was a support too. “People of the same background can help you along your path,” she said.

LARES advisors were instrumental in helping Agate decide on her professional path. “They helped me understand what it would take to succeed professionally,” she said. Her LARES advisor connected her to the Hispanic Center of Excellence in Medicine at UIC. That contributed to Agate’s being accepted by the Medicina Scholars Program. In the future, she would like to earn a doctorate in mental health.

Her involvement with LARES also brought out her leadership skills. She became a leader at the Coalition of Latino Students and Health Oriented

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Latino Association (HOLA) and got involved in protests to pressure UIC to maintain LARES’ budget.

Ultimately, “LARES was my home away from home. It was pivotal to my success as a student,” Agate says. And as an alumnus, she continues to be involved with LARES, volunteering when her schedule permits.

More Progress Needed to Boost Latino Graduate Rates Despite the positive impact that LARES has had on Latino students at UIC, it also has its limitations. After six years, the Latinos graduation rate at UIC was 46 percent. So nearly one of two Hispanic students accepted into UIC fails to graduate. Why? “The major factor involves finances. The economy affects students on the lower levels, and most Latino students fall into that category,” Teruel notes. Many male Latino students are forced to leave college to earn money immediately and help the family pays its bills.

What needs to be done to increase the Latino graduation rate? Teruel says providing more scholarships would be a start. Educating Latino families on the long-term income benefits of earning a college degree would also help. Duarte adds that the state legislature has cut funding to state universities and increased tuition, two factors that contribute to making it more difficult for Latinos to graduate. He’d like to see more Latinos hired as faculty who can serve as role models. He says the best thing about LARES is “We understand the importance and positive impact a college degree can have in the Latino community.”

COMMENTARY

Discrimination in Academia C

by Thomas G. Dolan olleges and universities, those great bastions of idealism, are in the on the basis of SAT scores, overlooking a student’s grades and biased process of systematically eradicating discrimination against Hispanics toward the experiences of middle-class Whites. Hispanics score on average and other minorities. Correct?

219 points less on SAT tests than Whites, and the ACT is about as bad.”

As Hemingway’s character Jake says in The Sun Also Rises, “Isn’t it Soares adds that there has been a growing awareness of the built-in pretty to think so?” bias of these tests, and that some small progress is being made. For Yes, progress has been made, but ... instance, the top 10 percent (but only in Texas) of students are admitted to Before zeroing in on what’s happening in academia, it’s first helpful to the state universities on the basis of their good grades. And California review what’s going on before college as well as in the society as a whole. recently passed a measure that allows the top 9 percent to be admitted into “As a sociologist, I tend to think a local state university on the basis in aggregates of patterns,” says of good grades.

Joseph Soares, Ph.D., a full profesSoares says that higher educasor at Wake Forest University (N.C.). tion is more open to hiring minori“We know that Hispanics are the ties than in the past, but the latter largest ethnic group in the country, are still hurt by the pipeline effect. but substantially lag behind Far fewer go on to universities, Caucasians and Asians in educaespecially to get Ph.D.s. “Those that tion,” Soares says. “Hispanics are do tend to be disproportionate in less likely to graduate from high some disciplines and lacking in othschool, and, if they go to college, are ers,” he says. “There are more less likely to attend a four-year instiminority candidates looking for a tution. They are more likely to take a job in sociology, but fewer in chemlesser degree at a less costly school, istry or engineering.” and are tremendously at risk, with Also, though the student populagreat attrition all along the way.” tion is becoming more diverse, and Soares names the well-known most higher education schools are causes, including parents without making efforts to add diversity to the college educations and unable to staff, they often are not keeping up. provide their children with the necFor instance, Soares says, “Here at essary guidance and incentives, lack Wake Forest, 23 percent of our stuof financial resources, poor secdents are minorities, and 16 percent ondary schools, lower academic are faculty. Our faculty is aware of expectations, students not being prothis and is trying to change.” Finally, vided with satisfactory paths to highhe says what hampers minorities all er education, and so on. With the along the pipeline are a lack of both Joseph Soares, Ph.D., professor, Wake Forest University result of fewer degrees being networking skills and opportunities. attained by these students, and those Soares, who received his underoften not equivalent to those accessible to White students, it’s hardly sur- graduate degree in sociology and history and his master’s and Ph.D. at prising, as Soares says, “that there are numerous studies that show that Harvard in sociology, recalls that, at Harvard, “I spent most of my free time employers are more likely to hire Whites over Hispanics or Blacks.” with a friend from Cuba and a Turkish student born in Mexico. It was a The fact that racism may be less overt than it once was, and is more weird cultural dynamic in which there was a certain amount of self-segreresidual, even unintentional, does not make it that much less damaging. gation because we were comfortable with it. Looking back, I recall that “In some places more than others there are certain assumptions,” Soares other minorities who were joining in the mainstream seemed to do a better says, “such as the fact that a student may speak Spanish at home does not job of fitting in and making good networking connections. So it’s important mean he knows another language that Whites don’t, but that he may be less you don’t put yourself in a position of self-discrimination.” bright. There is little prestige or cultural capital in being Hispanic.”

Luis Ricardo Fraga, Ph.D., associate vice provost for faculty advanceBut, Soares continues, “Perhaps the most blatant form of discrimina- ment, Russell F. Stark University Professor, director of the Diversity tion is structural and systematic, and these are the SAT tests, which are a Research Institute, and professor of political science at the University of central filtering mechanism for admitting students into higher education, Washington, acknowledges that since the latter half of the 20th century especially the name schools. A third of our colleges are rejecting students challenges regarding discrimination against Hispanics have been

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addressed and much progress has been made. this increased diversity of students. However, when it comes to promoting However, Fraga also maintains that the main discrimination is currently these faculty and giving tenure, the older established criteria of teaching, coming not from society at large but more from higher education itself, research and service are utilized. But it’s the diverse faculty who are sought that this discrimination is self-imposed, institutionalized, and, at the out by diverse students. These faculty have usually high advisory and menmoment, almost intractable. toring loads which are not sufficiently valued.” Again, the measures of “A major challenge is the great difficulty institutions have in addressing merit used are based on privileged criteria from the past, and ignore the privilege,” Fraga says. “Most decisions, whether assessing the progress of merit brought by the new faculty. students in the classroom, reviewing As a final example, Fraga says, faculty for promotion and tenure, or “Many schools are facing tremendous deciding what programs should receive fiscal challenges, with reductions in greater or lesser financial support, are public funding and increases in tuition, based on traditional assumptions of for example, with the resulting need to merit. It’s assumed also that these reassess financial priorities. At many assumptions are grounded in objective institutions, unfortunately, the first procriteria. If this were so, then you and I grams cut or reduced dramatically are should be able to agree on what these those having to do with access and underlying objective criteria are. But inclusion, those very goals that instituone finds that the criteria are really tions have announced as necessary to based upon privilege, which means that increase diversity. Thus what is protectthe criteria underlying privilege should ed are historical privileges.” be able to be critically examined. But Fraga finds that at a time when this does not happen.” more Hispanics, African-Americans, As an example, Fraga cites the stuAsian-Americans, Native Americans and dent who comes into the classroom women have been hired as faculty than where “the professor begins to teach ever before, “though progress has been the material he is assigned to teach. He made, it has in many ways been miniworks on the assumption that this stumal, and the pace of continued dent, as well as all of the others, has progress is glacial.” been given the opportunity to attend his The problem is that, although new class and the opportunity to perform on diverse faculty are being hired, many the highest standards set for that class. for their cultural awareness and sensiThe professor generally has no respontivity, at the same time there is a sibility of knowing what educational tremendous institutional resistance to opportunities the student had before real change. attending the class. He has no knowlThe main reason for this, Fraga edge, is not required to have knowlsays, “is that each department has its edge, and most likely has no interest in Luis Ricardo Fraga, Ph.D., associate vice provost for faculty advancement, own dean to assess his own faculty, and Russell F. Stark University Professor, director of the Diversity Research whether his parents have paid for his that faculty is there to assess new faculInstitute, and professor of political science, University of Washington education, or the student has to work ty. But the old faculty was hired under a 20, 40 or more hours to pay his way. There is no structured way to exam- different set of expectations, so there is a mismatch between the work to ine how family, cultural background and financial resources impact this be done and the new values espoused and what has historically been student. This results in bias.” understood to be sufficient.

Fraga provides other examples of unawareness of the circumstances of “A criticism that is often brought to enlarging the criteria is that this a particular student, or those like him, for instance, that financial aid brings privilege to the new criteria,” says Fraga. “But this overlooks the packages for minority students are often insufficient to cover all of the fact that by ignoring the new criteria we’re giving an undue emphasis to the costs, thus these students are involved in efforts to lessen their debt load. criteria of the past. Both sides have a part of the reality, but it just shows They lack the wider range of choices of privileged students. The fact that how difficult it is to talk about the total reality. But how necessary this will these other issues are ignored, he says, means that the privileged student is be if higher education is to play a leading role in the changing demographcredited with achieving a degree of merit over less privileged students ics of the nation. based on criteria which are not merit-based.

“The problem is that institutions of higher education are not designed In showing how a similar set of dynamics is at work in terms of faculty, to change easily and the tremendous autonomy that departments have Fraga says, “Given the changing demographics in the country, now just allow them to exercise power. Although I never thought I’d say it, the greatabout all universities claim, in both their statements and literature, that est barrier to change is tenure. Faculty members who don’t have to change since they are committed to having a more diverse student body, they are to keep their positions tend to exercise power to keep things the way they also committed to hiring faculty from a variety of ethnic, racial, cultural were in the past.” and other backgrounds who can bring expertise and cultural awareness to In terms of his own professional growth as an advocate for changing

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the status quo, Fraga recalls, “I was born in Texas and went to de facto segregated schools in Corpus Christi, all overwhelmingly Mexican and African-American. When I went to college at Harvard in the fall of 1973, I was one of 16 Mexican-Americans of about 1,600. This was the fourth or fifth year of schools like Harvard making an effort to get MexicanAmericans enrolled.

“Because of the cultural shift I had to adapt to, it took me two years before I felt comfortable. Because of what I experienced as an undergraduate, seeing there were absolutely no faculty members interested in the issues facing Hispanics in the Southeast, I felt a responsibility to try to bring to higher education a greater capacity for diversity.”

When he decided to get his Ph.D. at Rice University in Texas, Fraga says, “I was advised by one of my major professors, who respected me,

that I should study American institutions in a more traditional way, and that if I continued with racial and ethnic studies I would not have much of a career. He was a major supporter but said there was not much he could do for me unless I changed paths. I told him I appreciated what he told me, and agreed with his assessment, but felt I had to go my own way.”

Fraga started teaching at the University of Oklahoma, and then went to Notre Dame, and Stanford before arriving at the University of Washington, with one of his major roles being to help that school achieve a truly diverse and merit-recognized faculty.

“I’ve come full circle,” Fraga says. “What motivated me to set out on this career I’m now able to help accomplish.”

Scholars’ Corner Higher education is a way to enter a world of opportunities and cambio. As a Latina who grew up on the island of Puerto Rico and immigrated to the mainland United States at the tender age of 9, I was provided a unique glimpse into the divergent experiences of Latinos in schools in their native homelands as well as here in the states. The decision to pursue a career in education emanated from those personal experiences. I have always been captivated by the desire to teach and learn, and I wanted to pursue a career where I would pass this on to others.

As I entered the world of education in the public schools along the East Coast, I began to see that cambio was needed in order to have a greater impact on students’ lives – students who were a mirror image of me. It was then that I decided that the cambio needed to begin with me.

I began to navigate the doctoral program as the only Latina in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Connecticut, and I have been deeply inspired by Dr. Jason Irizarry’s work on social justice and youth participatory action research. It was he who encouraged me to be part of a community that actively seeks to find pathways for helping underrepresented students achieve success. Irizarry was a 2011 American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) faculty fellow himself and knew that I would embrace such an opportunity.

I took an interest in research related to the experiences of native-born as well as foreign-born Latinos in K-12. My personal struggles as a student have informed the lenses through which I approach my research projects.

Attending the AAHHE conference was a life-changing experience. For the first time in my professional life, I had the privilege of collaborating with other professionals committed to establishing and supporting the development of pathways into higher education for Latinos and other underrepresented students. My goal is to embark on a career as a college professor, teaching courses and conducting research related to the education of Latino students, particularly those learning English as an additional language. I believe that if educators have a strong positive impact on Latino students, this may lead to matriculation into programs of higher education, therefore leading to much-needed cambio.

As a 2012 AAHHE Graduate Student Fellow, I participated in a professional community where other graduate students and faculty fellows truly understood the struggles of navigating higher education. This same community shares research interests and a passion for cambio as we search for ways to meet the needs of a changing America.

The innovative work of AAHHE reminds me that cambio can and will happen if we continue to contribute to a national cohort of colleagues and the AAHHE community as a whole, because WE represent – through our personal identities as well as our professional trajectories – the population AAHHE has been established to serve.

By Eileen Mercedes González Curriculum and Instruction, University of Connecticut, 2012 AAHHE Graduate Student Fellow

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Pew Report on Hispanics and Identity Generates Hearty Response REPORTS

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by Michelle Adam

hen the Pew Hispanic Center published a report on Hispanics and their views of identity last April, the public responded in an unprecedented manner.

“In the days following the release, hundreds of people offered their observations on social media, and scores of newspapers and websites published articles, commentaries and editorials. Some of our readers e-mailed us with their own opinions and stories,” wrote the center several months after the release. The researchers were so surprised by the responses they received that they even decided to open up a forum of discussion around Hispanics and identity about two months after the report was published.

What was it about this publication called When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their View of Identity that drew such attention? The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the nonpartisan research organization Pew Research Center, had published reports like this before – in 2002, shortly after the center was founded, and in 2004 and 2009. And they revealed similar findings, one being that the majority of so-called “Hispanics” don’t label themselves as Hispanic; and even far fewer, “Latino.” This was stated very clearly in this most recent report: Nearly four decades after the United States government mandated the use of the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” to categorize Americans who trace their roots to Spanish-speaking countries, a new nationwide survey of Hispanic adults finds that these terms still haven’t been fully embraced by Hispanics themselves. A majority (51 percent) say they most often identify themselves by their family’s country of origin; just 24 percent say they prefer a pan-ethnic label.

While these revelations were nothing new to the center this time around, what was new were social media outlets that sparked a debate on what it truly means to be Hispanic (or not). A conversation on Latinos and identity was unleashed on Twitter by Univision’s anchor Jorge Ramos and became a topic of discussion far beyond the traditional media outlets of the past. And then toward early June, in response to strong public interest, the center decided to post its own pubic forum on the topic.

The Pew Hispanic Center chose to feature a writer for every day of its two-week forum, and thus sparked conversations on its Facebook page.

One contributor, Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, wrote, “It is no contradiction for Hispanics to value both English and Spanish or to be deeply proud of their countries of origin yet also fiercely patriotic to the U.S. That’s the multifaceted nature of Hispanic

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identity.” (The recent report revealed that 87 percent of those surveyed considered it important for immigrant Hispanics to learn English and that 38 percent were Spanish-dominant and 38 percent bilingual.)

Another contributor to the forum, Esther Cepeda, a nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group, wrote: “Any day you learn something important about yourself is a great day. That’s how I felt the day the Pew Hispanic Center published its report When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity. That was the day I realized I’m a minority within a minority – one of the mere 21 percent of respondents who trace their roots to a Spanish-speaking country but identifies primarily as an American.”

As the conversation on identity ensued, many Facebook respondents shared their own views. Responses ranged from “I actually swell with pride when I hear the term “Latina”; and “Having been conceived in Mexico, born in the USA and raised in Spain, I’m confused with all the labels”; to “We, U.S. Citizens, of Hispanic origin, do not enjoy being singled out with labels.” The opinions expressed mirrored those of the center’s most recent research. (The report included a sample of 1,220 Latino respondents ages 18 and older, from Nov. 9 through Dec. 7, 2011. Of those respondents, 436 were native-born, excluding Puerto Rico, and 784 were foreign-born, including Puerto Rico. Of the native-born, 246 were second-generation – that is, U.S.-born with at least one foreign-born parent; and 183 were third-generation – that is, U.S.-born with U.S.-born parents.)

According to survey results, more than half of all participants preferred to be called “Mexican,” “Cuban” and “Dominican,” basing their identity on their country of origin. Grouping people from Spanish-speaking origins as either Hispanic or Latino didn’t work for most, but of those who were fine with such labels, the term “Hispanic” was preferred over “Latino.” In addition, 47 percent said they were typical American (native-born Hispanics were more likely to say this), while 47 percent said they were different from the typical American.

This sense of identity was also split for Hispanics when it came to race and culture.

According to the report, “Most Hispanics don’t see themselves fitting into the standard racial categories used by the U.S. Census Bureau. When it comes to race, according to the Pew Hispanic survey, half (51 percent) of Latinos identify their race as “some other race” or volunteer “Hispanic/Latino.” Meanwhile, 36 percent identify their race as White, and

3 percent say their race is Black.”

Hispanic adults said they were more proficient in Spanish than they were Also, in terms of culture, “Most Hispanics do not see a shared common in English. Eighty-two percent of Hispanic adults said they could carry on a culture among U.S. Hispanics. Nearly seven in 10 (69 percent) say conversation in Spanish very well or pretty well, and nearly 78 percent said Hispanics in the U.S. have many different cultures, while 29 percent say they could read a newspaper or book in Spanish to an equal degree (the Hispanics in the U.S. share a common culture.” level of Spanish proficiency lessens with each generation in the U.S.).

Mark Hugo López, the center’s associate director and development This most recent report on Hispanics and identity also asked some coordinator of the report’s questionnaire, put his own words to these find- questions regarding experiences Hispanics had with media. Those surveyed ings: “There are a lot of different opinions on how Hispanics see them- were asked whether they listened to music in Spanish or English, and the selves and the terms they use to describe their identity. Yet, with this partic- results were as follows: “When it comes to listening to music, 35 percent of ular group, this is the only one that Hispanic adults say they do so only has legislation that defines them as a or mostly in Spanish, 36 percent say group. The term ‘Hispanic’ was used they do so only or mostly in English in 1976 to define this group, and the and 27 percent say they listen to Office of Management and Budget music in both languages equally.” then developed a formal definition of These results varied across genwhat it means to be Hispanic: to be erations, with more than twice as of Latin America and Spain. Yet, anymany immigrant Hispanics using one doing surveys relies on people Spanish (49 percent) than English identifying themselves as Hispanic.” for listening to music. For secondGiven report findings, many of generation Hispanics, the opposite those deemed “Hispanic” may not was true, and then for third-generabe identifying themselves at all as tion, 74 percent listened in English. part of this group. It makes it diffiWhen it came to television, more cult to interpret census data or any Hispanics overall watched Englishother survey material. The labels, as language television than Spanishthe report title suggest, “don’t fit.” language programs – 45 percent “One of the things we have found, versus 28 percent. And the longer if we ask this group what race they they lived and resided in the U.S., are, half of them will say they are the more they are likely they were to some other race than Hispanic or watch English television over Latino. This is interesting and imporSpanish television. tant because the Census Bureau has An unusual question that came been redefining race,” said López. out of this most recent survey was Beyond basic identification, that of whether participants were When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics more likely to think in Spanish or and Their View of Identity also English. The results were rather presought to reveal social and political dictable: “More Latinos say they use attitudes of Hispanics.

Spanish than English when thinking When survey respondents were – 45 percent versus 37 percent. asked whether hard work gets Meanwhile, some 16 percent say they results, 75 percent agreed, while 21 use both languages when they think.” percent said hard work and determiOf course, the use of English Mark Hugo López, associate director, Pew Hispanic Center nation aren’t always guarantees of increases through the generations. success. This compared to fewer than 58 percent of the general public “Among immigrant Hispanics, two-thirds (65 percent) say they use who believe hard work can lead to success, and 40 percent who said hard Spanish when they think, 15 percent say they use English, and 18 percent say work is no guarantee of success, according to the center. they use both English and Spanish. By the second generation, use of English On the other hand, most Latinos surveyed were less likely to trust than rises to 63 percent and use of Spanish falls to 18 percent. By the third generathe general public. Eighty-six percent said that you can’t be too careful tion, eight in 10 (80 percent) Latinos say they think in English, 13 percent say when dealing with people, while 12 percent said that people can be trust- they think in Spanish, and 7 percent say they think in both languages equally.” ed. Foreign-born Latinos were more distrustful than U.S.-born Latinos – 89 Beyond language and social patterns, When Labels Don’t Fit: percent to 81 percent. In contrast, only 61 percent of the general public Hispanics and Their View of Identity also looked at politics. According to seemed to feel you can’t be too careful when dealing with people. the report, “Much has been made about the socially conservative views of When it came to language, more than 61 percent of Latino adults said Hispanics. This is true on some specific issues (such as abortion), yet they could carry on a conversation in English very well or pretty well. Sixty results from the survey suggest that Hispanics are no more or less likely percent said they could read a newspaper or book in English to the same than the general public to describe their political views as conservative. degree. Of course, for those who were foreign-born or first-generation Some 32 percent of Hispanics and 34 percent of all U.S. adults say their Hispanics, these percentages went down to 38 percent and 37 percent, political views are “very conservative” or “conservative.” respectively. In terms of speaking or reading Spanish, a greater share of When it came to government size, about 75 percent of Hispanics said

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they prefer big government, while 19 percent would rather have a smaller government with fewer services (this contrasted with only 41 percent of the general public wanting bigger government). When asked to share their views on abortion, Hispanics held a more conservative view. More than half (51 percent) of adult Hispanics said that abortion should be illegal, compared to 41 percent of the general public. Foreign-born Hispanics were more conservative than native-born.

Other findings included the following: the majority of Latinos, 59 percent, and 58 percent of the general public believed homosexuality should be discouraged. In addition, 87 percent of Latinos said they were comfortable with their children marrying someone who was not of the same heritage – but only 63 percent felt comfortable with their children marrying someone of a different religion.

In terms of religion, Latinos were also more likely than the general public to claim a religious affiliation and to attend religious services more

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frequently. Immigrant Latinos were stronger in this category than those of third-generation upbringing. Among Latinos, most were Catholic (62 percent), while 19 percent said they were Protestant, and 14 percent were unaffiliated with a religion.

While this report on Latinos included some new areas of inquiry regarding Latinos and identity, the results were similar to years past. Latinos, as a whole, identify more with their country of origin than the U.S. (of course, depending on how long they have been here), and their sense as a collective unit is far from a clear match to census surveys and government identification.

Whether this information will impact public policy of definitions used to define this group of people from Spanish-speaking countries is hard to say. What is clear, however, is that “things have not changed very much,” concluded López. “When you look at other research that has been done on identity, it has had results that are similar to what we’ve found.”

Community Colleges Driving N.C. Economy for 50 Years INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

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by Frank DiMaria

the early 20th century, tobacco, furniture making and textile manufacturing drove North Carolina’s economy. But by mid-century, North Carolina policymakers realized the state had to change its economic focus to thrive. That’s when a group of visionaries began establishing industrial education centers across the state that would later comprise the North Carolina Community College System. In October, the system will kick off events to mark its 50th year that will culminate in its 50th Anniversary Gala on June 5, 2013, at the Raleigh Convention Center.

Although the system was not officially established until 1963, some colleges within the system were established decades before. Louisburg College – the system’s oldest – was established in 1901, just eight years after America’s very first community college was established in Illinois. Today the North Carolina Community College System has 58 colleges that serve nearly 900,000 students, making it the third-largest community college system in the nation.

Scott Ralls, Ph.D., seventh president of the system, says that the size of the system is not nearly as important as its comprehensiveness. “We do more things than any other type of community colleges that exist,” says Ralls. For example, some states have junior colleges that offer university transfer as well as technical colleges that offer job training. But in most states, both are separated into two different systems. In North Carolina, junior colleges and technical colleges exist within one system, allowing it to provide more choices to its students.

North Carolina is one of only 14 states in which community colleges are the primary deliverer of adult basic education such as the GED and adult high school. In about 10 states, community colleges are responsible for customized job training tied to economic development. According to Ralls, North Carolina started that practice through its community colleges.

“We have the most extensive offerings of nondegree occupational training that is subsidized by the state; that’s job training that is not just corporate, contract-based training but is actually state-supported job training,” says Ralls.

North Carolina’s system has one of the largest networks of small business assistance centers in the country, one at each of its 58 colleges. These business centers offer free training, counseling and assistance for budding entrepreneurs.

When it comes to educating minorities, the North Carolina Community

College System has been proactive through its role in the Early College High Schools Initiative. This initiative allows low-income students, firstgeneration students, English-language learners, students of color and other young people who are underrepresented in higher education to attend high school on a community college campus and earn an associate degree or up to two years of credit toward a bachelor’s degree, tuition free, while completing their high school education.

Seventy-three of the nation’s 240 Early College High Schools are located in the state of North Carolina, and 60 of those are on North Carolina Community College campuses. “When you put all these different things into the mix, you really don’t find any other system that offers the same breadth of all these different areas. And thinking about our 50th anniversary, this goes back to our core philosophy,” says Ralls.

The person who developed that philosophy is one of the system’s most important early advocates, Dr. Dallas Herring, then chair of the State Board of Education. Herring championed what he called “total education.” He believed that there is an incomparable worth of every human being and that everyone’s life has value. Educational systems, he believed, that take a total education approach would be most effective.

“He used to preach, ‘Take people where they are and carry them as far as they can go.’ I think, as much as anything, that the notion of taking people where they are means that you have to be very comprehensive – because people come with different skill sets and different circumstances and with different aspirations. So if you’re not comprehensive in your approach, you really can’t take people where they are to start with or help them go a great distance,” says Ralls.

Some view community colleges as institutions that react to the U.S. labor market and economy by designing programs and courses based on the skills needed most by American workers. Ralls believes that community colleges – at least those in North Carolina – are a driving force behind the state and national economies, and have been since the earliest days of the North Carolina Community College System.

Following World War II, North Carolina policymakers implemented an economic strategy that included establishing industrial education centers across the state that became catalysts in transforming North Carolina’s economy from agriculture to industry.

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One of those policymakers was Luther Hodges, a businessman with a knack for economic development. Hodges was governor of North Carolina from 1954 until 1961 and later U.S. secretary of commerce under John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

Some would argue, says Ralls, that he was North Carolina’s truly first economic governor. When Hodges took office, North Carolina was the second poorest state in the country, with a per capita income of 63 percent.

It’s economic stool had just three legs – growing tobacco, making furniture and manufacturing textiles.

Scott Ralls, Ph.D., president, North Carolina Community College System

“It was his vision that we would need to diversify beyond that. And education and workforce development was the way to diversify. He had what people thought were two really crazy ideas at the time, ideas that created a link between education and economic development,” says Ralls.

Hodges’ first idea was to create a research business park in a pine forest surrounded by three universities. Today that business park is known as Research Triangle Park, one of the top four hubs for innovation in the U.S. His other idea was to create the industrial education centers that would train people for jobs that did not yet exist in North Carolina. Through his actions, Hodges was sending a message to companies that were looking to open facilities in North Carolina and create jobs in the state that North Carolina was guaranteeing trained employees.

Terry Sanford, who followed Hodges as governor, kept Hodges’ vision

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alive by turning the 20 industrial education centers into what is today North Carolina’s Community College System. Over a period of 40 years, North Carolina’s per capita income increased from 63 percent to 94 percent. Much of that increase was the result of the leverage Sanford exerted on the federal government to further expand Research Triangle Park, sparking an economic surge in the state that lured IBM and the United States Environmental Protection Agency to the Triangle area.

Throughout the ’50s and ’60s, the North Carolina Community College System was a key component of the economic strategy to diversify the North Carolina economy. “Certainly before we existed there was not the same breadth of economic activity in North Carolina,” says Ralls. Today the mantra in North Carolina is “education is economic development,” and this economic development is taking place in three industrial sectors: energy, biotech and aerospace.

Community colleges are not franchises. This allows them to remain more nimble than four-year schools by offering those programs and courses that are in demand in a particular region within a state. In and around Charlotte – a major player in the financial sector – energy is hot. The North Carolina Community College System finalized a plan this summer to extensively re-design its technical education programs to focus on energy.

“We have taken 80 of our technical education programs and are restructuring them to be more flexible with the industry demands around certification and those types of areas,” says Ralls.

The system is not creating green programs just to be trendy. Rather, it is shifting the focus of its existing programs to make energy efficiency and sustainability the core of the program. “We want to make sure that our students understand manufacturing and energy efficiency with building and understand new fuel sources within transportation in terms of automotive,” says Ralls.

Even companies that are not known as players in the energy sector are growing thanks to the green movement. Siemens, for example, has expanded its production of gas turbines in Charlotte.

Of course not all jobs in the energy sector are high-tech. As companies build energy facilities worldwide, there has been a demand for welders and pipefitters.

“Even in our rural colleges in the mountains, you’ll see welding programs that are tightly connected to the energy sector because students leave the rural areas and go off for nine months and work on energy plants around the world and come back to North Carolina,” says Ralls.

Ever since Hodges suggested building a business park in a pine forest near Raleigh, biotech companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer and United Therapeutics have set up shop in Research Triangle Park. Ralls says that the North Carolina Community College System has focused on bioprocess manufacturing and has developed relationships with vaccine and plasma facilities. North Carolina also has the largest base of contract research organizations. “As a part of that relationship we do a lot of lab tech training and clinical trials education,” says Ralls.

As is true with the energy sector, biotech opportunities extend outside the biotech sector. Colleges within the North Carolina system offer certificates and degrees associated with the biomedical devices, food manufacturing and bio agriculture industries.

The aerospace sector is somewhat new to the North Carolina Community College System, but it has established itself in several pockets within the sector. The state has had a small foothold in aerospace for several decades, but not to the same extent as states like Washington and

Kansas. “Beyond the Wright Brothers, we have the history of our air bases like Cherry Point, a Marine Corps air base and two Air Force bases. So we can build off some of that strength in eastern North Carolina,” says Ralls.

In the north central region of the state, known as the Piedmont Triad, a large private aerospace hub is forming. Cessna, which is headquartered in Wichita, Kan., has a facility there, and Honda Jet opened its headquarters there in 2007. “We’ve got a whole aviation aerospace cluster that’s also spreading out to manufacturing and logistics,” says Ralls.

Currently, the system has a new venture with Spirit Aerosystems, which builds fuselages out of composite material. The results of this venture are new programs in aerostructures and the strengthening of the system’s aviation maintenance programs.

In 2011, the North Carolina Community College System’s IPED graduation rate (based on first-time, full-time students, who are only one-third of the system’s student population) was about 21 percent. Although that number may seem low, it is higher than that of most of the community colleges in the southeast.

Ralls says he pays very little attention to that number because it is unfair to calculate the graduation rates of nontraditional students with a formula designed for traditional students and based on a four-year plan. To underscore his point, he notes that “the valedictorian at North Carolina State University two years ago was an N.C. State completer but a community college noncompleter.”

Three years ago, Ralls began an initiative called Strategic Focus on Student Success. His goal is to double the number of students who finish

North Carolina Community Colleges with degrees, certificates or diplomas by the year 2020.

“We have taken some significant steps, and in many ways we’re seen as perhaps the leading state in community colleges that are paying attention to this. We’re one of four states that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is focusing on in terms of these efforts and we were recognized by the Brookings Institution and the Ford Foundation,” says Ralls.

Like any other community college system, North Carolina’s is asked to do a great deal with very little. When Ralls became president four years ago, the unemployment rate was 5 percent. Ten months later, it was 11 percent.

During his four years as president, the system has grown 25 percent.

“We’ve never had a period of time where we’ve had such an increase in growth and, simultaneously, budget challenges to work through,” says Ralls.

That said, he is pleased with the way in which individuals associated with the system have responded to the most recent adverse conditions, particularly in taking on the system’s Strategic Focus on Student Success.

“During these past fours years, we’ve said, ‘Let’s be defined by our opportunities – not by our challenges.’ I’m proud of how the folks in our system took on the challenges of the recession with registration lines way longer than ever been before, with classrooms more crowded than ever before, with instructors teaching more classes than ever before and having fewer resources than we had before.

“Our system took on the challenges.”

Small A Hispan Issues Due: Size: Cost:

West Chester University of Pennsylvania Bowdoin College Brunswick, Maine Bowdoin College anticipates tenure-track openings, beginning fall 2013, in the following fields: Biology: (senior level) Marine biology Chemistry: (senior level) Physical Earth and Oceanographic Science: marine/coastal/ ocean Economics: Macroeconomics English: Medieval literature Government: International relations Mathematics: Combinatorics and/or probability Neuroscience / Psychology: Cognitive neuroscience Romance Languages: French Sociology: Environmental / Latin America

For more information about Bowdoin and these positions, please visit: http://www.bowdoin.edu Bowdoin College (founded in 1794), a highly selective liberal arts college of approximately 1,750 students of distinction from across America and around the world, is located on the Maine coast approximately 21/2 hours from Boston. Bowdoin is committed to equality and diversity and is an equal opportunity employer.

DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES West Chester University of Pennsylvania invites applicants for the Dean of the College of Health Sciences. The Dean will serve as chief academic officer of the college and provide leadership to advance educational and scholarly missions of the programs in the college and fosters an inclusive environment that encourages an academic climate that is responsive, focused, innovative, entrepreneurial and values diversity. For more details and qualifications, visit our website at www.wcupa.edu/vacancies.

Developing and sustaining a diverse faculty and staff advances WCU's educational mission. The University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer encouraging diversity. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

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Small A Divers Issues Due: Size: Cost:

INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS

Diversity in Motion As

by Jeff Simmons

she neared graduation from Columbia College Chicago, a matter of weeks, Ariel Aguilera was on the cusp of realizing her career dreams. To start, she would launch into marketing internships at agencies or nonprofits. And as she saw it, she would then step into junior marketing positions on her way up.

“In five years or so,” the 21-year-old said, “I’d like to start my own business with a friend, a public relations and entertainment promotion company specializing in film and music.”

Those aspirations seemed all the more attainable because of her experience at Columbia College, where she majored in marketing communications with a concentration in public relations.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “Columbia College is as great as you make it. Students who say they didn’t make any connections with people to enhance their careers should know that it’s all about how much effort you put in. If you talk with your peers, you get a whole lot out of your education. If teachers see that you are really engaged and passionate about what you are studying, they will help you out.”

To Aguilera, attending Columbia College was about proximity, community and responsibility. The campus – a few miles from where she grew up – was a home away from home. Attracted to Columbia because of its offerings in television and film, she first visited one of its open houses when she was a high school freshman. She immediately fell in love.

“As freshmen, a lot of people don’t know what they want to do, but I knew this was the school for me,” she said. “All through my years of high school, I engaged myself with the TV broadcasting program, served on the prom committee and event planning for school events.”

Aguilera returned to Columbia every year during high school to keep tabs on its offerings and strategize about enrolling and attending. She also debated attending the University of California-Los Angeles after visiting that city, but foremost in her mind was remaining close to home.

“As much as I want to be independent, I’m very close to my family,” she said. “I was attracted to the diversity of the campus, and that it was in the heart of Chicago. I grew up on the South Side but always found myself in the city. I was always a city girl. It was the atmosphere, the curriculum, the programs. I knew I would be a perfect fit.”

Three years ago, she started classes at Columbia, hoping to major in film, armed with an Opportunity Scholarship provided by the college as well as ones from the Hispanic College Fund and the Simon Scholars Program. Aguilera received her diploma in May at the Chicago Theatre.

Columbia College Chicago Journalism Classroom

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Aguilera said that her transition into college was eased by Columbia’s welcoming environment, she said, particularly the presence of a growing number of Hispanic students on campus. Columbia, which was founded in 1890, enrolls about 11,600 students, and about 13 percent are Hispanic.

Last year’s entering class was comprised of 43 percent minority students; 427 new undergraduate students were Hispanic (additionally, 459 were African-American and 107 were multiracial). The 427 included 300 freshmen (a 37 percent increase from the 188 who had started as freshmen five years earlier) and 127 transfers (an 11 percent increase over that same period).

While Columbia’s Hispanic student population is below the threshold to become designated a HispanicServing Institution, its numbers are steadily rising. Of the 11,600 enrolled last year, 1,379 were Hispanic. And many of those students – more than half of the last incoming freshmen class, for example – were arriving from out of the city and out of Illinois. In 2001, Columbia enrolled 409 out-of-state freshmen; this past academic year, it enrolled 1,043.

“We are the second leading importer of all out-ofstate students coming to the 70 private and public colleges in Illinois, second only to Northwestern,” said Mark Kelly, Columbia’s vice president of student affairs, who has been with Columbia for nearly three decades. “It speaks to the power of Columbia and the singular nature of who we are. Part of it is the fact that we are here in Chicago. We have a wonderful urban campus in 25 buildings, all in the South Loop, all within walking distance.”

“We’ve become this beacon to creative young people from across the country,” he said, “and we are starting to see more and more Latino students coming from around the country.”

For those like Aguilera, proximity is paramount. But for many students from out of state, the lure is Columbia’s reputation for providing a solid education in the arts, and its strong ties to leaders in the arts communities beyond the college walls. The college offers more than 120 academic majors or programs, and tuition is just over $20,000 per year.

“We are not an arts college that wears a capital ‘A’ for Artiste,” Kelly said. “We are much more of a college of creative young people who want to be in the mix of the professional world. Our relationships with advertising agencies, galleries, museums, all feed into the education of our students.”

“Diversity is central to all of that. It’s very common to find students who say ‘I want to find a diverse campus.’ I don’t think that was necessarily true 10 years ago, but it’s now a conscious decision, and Columbia beckons,” Kelly noted.

It also beckons to those from the greater Chicago area, and Columbia makes inroads into public schools early on. One attraction is its Open Doors Scholarship Program, established in 2004. These are awarded to incoming freshmen who graduated from a Chicago Public High School with a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher (out of 4.0).

The scholarship was established to bridge the gap between state and federal financial aid programs and defray the costs of tuition and fees.

Scholarships, now $7,000 a year, are awarded based on academic achievement and financial need, and are renewable for up to four years (though after the first year, students must maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA to be eligible).

Nearly a third, 32 percent, of Columbia’s Open Doors Scholars are Hispanic.

Serafin López, a 21-year-old whose parents emigrated from Mexico, was awarded Open Doors Scholarships every year during his four years at Columbia, which culminate in graduation in December of this year.

As a student at Curie Metropolitan High School in Gage Park, Cook County, he knew he wanted to pursue a degree in the arts. A digital photography teacher informed him about Columbia and the Open Doors Scholarships.

López submitted a 12-minute documentary he produced his senior year about the cultural loss of Latinos moving to the United States. The film included interviews with his high school peers about the loss of language

Columbia College Chicago Conway Lab

through generations.

“The scholarship was a good financial help for me,” he said, “and I knew Columbia had a decent graphic design program and interesting faculty, so that drove me to apply. They had really good programs and were not as expensive as other arts programs in Chicago.”

A graphic design major, he was enrolled in the Art and Design department, one of the more popular programs on campus, and minored in Latino studies. He was driven to learn more about his culture and heritage, but also a desire to give back to his community.

“I did feel that my community was lacking in resources and wanted to know as much as I could to help my community,” he said.

On campus, he became president of the Latino Alliance, leading projects such as a partnership with Benito Juárez, a Chicago Public School with a large Hispanic student population. The partnership included developing a pen pal program with students, providing them with college role models; instituting art gallery days to showcase local student professional art and performances; holding panels for student discussions; and offering support to area students to apply themselves and stay in school.

“We always focused on political activism and community service,” he said, indicating that the Latino Alliance has a team of about 50 dedicated members. The organization, he said, was rooted in political activism, founded 25 years ago, and urged Columbia to recruit more Latino faculty to its campus.

His Columbia experience was enriched by the diversity of students he

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met, as well as that of staff and faculty. “Meeting important faculty really made an impact on my life,” he said. “Faculty here go far beyond what is required, and I have become really close with them. They are excellent with the students.”

López hopes Columbia continues to recruit more Hispanic faculty to the campus because “they knew the realities of what happens in Latino culture. They know what Latinos experience. It gives you a sense of family.

The person knows what I’ve been through and makes it more personal and attractive to students.”

After graduation, he plans to pursue work in a design firm and eventually launch his own firm. And he expects to retain his desire to help others, envisioning opening a community center to help inner-city children in his neighborhood.

Columbia College Chicago Journalism Classroom

“I see the problems and issues that many Latinos and non-Latinos face because of a lack of resources – and they drop out of school or get involved in gang life and make bad decisions,” he said. “I want to be a catalyst for change in my neighborhood.”

Daniel Aranda, who has served as advisor to the Latino Alliance and is Columbia’s director of cultural affairs, said students like López express similar aspirations, seeking to utilize the skills they’ve learned on campus to benefit the greater good, and not just their wallets.

Aranda, who moved from DePaul University across the city to Columbia five years ago, was attracted to the campus because of its “progressive nature and interest in embracing diversity.” He now works within Columbia’s Multicultural Affairs Unit.

“We build community, help with retention at the institution, help with recruitment efforts, and hold multicultural events,” he said, detailing a number of offerings that bring “value added” to the student experience.

“We want to give students firsthand accounts from different speakers, let them hear lectures from artists, so they can see diversity in action and how it applies to arts in their particular majors,” he said.

The events bring in vibrant Hispanic artists who inform students about how they integrate their culture into their craft. The sessions create an awakening in many students, and often spur greater enthusiasm in pursu-

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ing their goals. Aranda said the sessions provide tangible evidence that students can accomplish their goals.

“Being able to see and work with and get mentored by these artists is a phenomenal experience,” Aranda said. “These artists are huge influencers on our students.”

Artists like Coco Fusco and Enrique Chagoia and Guillermo GómezPeña have come to campus to lecture students. And Aranda launched El Columbiano, a newsletter aimed at existing and potential students. “It was designed to build community,” he said. “We profile a Latino faculty member and highlight Latino alumni who have gone on to prominent accomplishments,” he said, pointing out one alumnus, Pepe Vargas, the founder of the Chicago Latino Film Festival.

Aranda also helps lead In the Mix events, all-day events that draw about 100 Hispanic and African-American students from area high schools. The events provide a platform for faculty and staff and students from cultural organizations to “mix it up” with potential college students. Additionally, student volunteers take part in a “Call-A-Thon,” an effort in which Columbia students raise money for their organizations by contacting potential students to talk with them and answer questions.

“They have a lot of questions about the transition to college,” Aranda said.

“Students are attracted to Columbia for the curriculum and the reputation of the institution. First and foremost, they know they are going to get a superb academic education that is going to prepare them for a career in the arts. But what keeps them here is the dedication and resources that the institution gives to students of color.”

Aguilera, who is Mexican and the first in her family to attend college, said the campus is extremely welcoming to Hispanic students. She joined the Latino Alliance, and Aranda connected her with members of the Hispanic community outside of the campus walls.

“Any type of networking event in Chicago, like festivals or gallery openings, I would be one of the first people to volunteer and attend,” she said.

“He was very nice and made sure they could pay fees for me to attend, or he would give me free tickets.”

By Aguilera’s sophomore year, she switched focus, instead veering into marketing. She also moved out of her home – but not too far – to live in an apartment with friends closer to campus. And, a job in the school’s Office of Student Engagement put her experience in event planning to work.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “I grew up in a single-parent household. It was my mother, my older brother and me. My older brother didn’t go to college. My mother always pushed me to keep going at it, talk to people, make friends, network.”

“I am very close with my mother, and it was very difficult to continue my education and internships for she was just diagnosed with cancer. This has been tragic and life-changing, but she begged me to continue, for I was so close to finishing. The fact that she can see me graduate is not only a miracle but something I know my mother and I will never forget. My entire family, and especially my mother, is proud that I went to college, am getting a degree, and will do great things.”

Latino Policy Forum Puts Education at the Top of Agenda CONVENTIONS/CONFERENCES

If

by Marilyn Gilroy

we cannot overcome the challenges facing Latino education, the result could be a Latino underclass with dire implications for the country’s economic future and social structure. The need to improve Latino achievement, one of the nation’s most pressing education issues, was the focus of the first-ever Latino Education Summit organized by the Latino Policy Forum.

“We are not only talking about the future of Latinos – we also are talking about the future of the country,” said Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, research and policy analyst for the forum.

The summit, held earlier this year at the City Colleges of Chicago’s Arturo Velásquez Institute, was convened to discuss barriers that limit Latinos’ academic achievement and, ultimately, their economic success. More than 200 educators and policymakers attended the event to hear about intervention strategies needed to produce change.

“We invited a broad range of stakeholders, including community leaders and educators,” said Navarro. “It is the culmination of our strategy to move into K-12 as part of our effort to ensure Latino student success in early education years.”

The Latino Policy Forum is a Chicago-based organization founded in 1988 with an original mission of working to change policies and procedures related to housing discrimination in Chicago. Over the years, the organization has expanded its scope and now advocates on a variety of issues important to the well-being of the Latino community, including immigration, health, jobs community safety and education.

Its education agenda started with an early childhood program aimed at increasing participation among younger Latino children.

The forum currently is examining a systemwide approach to improve academic outcomes for Latino students at all levels. The ultimate goal is to get more Latinos to enter and persist in college.

Keynote speaker for the summit was Dr.

Pictured from l. to r.: Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, Dr. Frances Contreras, Miguel del Valle and and Sylvia Puente at the Latino Policy Forum Education Summit.

Frances Contreras, assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Washington. Contreras has been concerned about what she calls a “looming social and economic disaster” that could result from lagging academic skills and high dropout rates of Latino students.

“The future of this country is closely intertwined with the educational and economic future of Latinos,” she said. “That’s why we must look at the K-12 sector policies that continue to play a role in holding back Latino students.”

If current trends are not reversed, Contreras sees an undereducated and underemployed class of Latinos with lower income levels. The consequence will be a negative effect on tax revenues, thus impacting Social Security and social services as well as funding for amenities such as parks and libraries. That is why it is critical to increase the earning power of Latinos and other minorities through higher education.

“We know that college graduates earn much

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more in a lifetime than those without degrees,” said Contreras.

This year, a study released by the Georgetown Center on Education on the Workforce showed that people with bachelor’s degrees make 84 percent more in their lifetime than high school graduates, up from 75 percent in 1999. The study also predicted that 63 percent of American jobs will require some sort of postsecondary education or training by 2018.

“We cannot afford to not invest in the future of Latinos and all students,” said Contreras.

Contreras is recognized as a leading authority on issues of equity and access for underrepresented students in the education pipeline. Her research addresses transitions between K-12 and higher education, community college transfer, faculty diversity, affirmative action in higher education, and the role of the public policy arena in higher education access for underserved students of color. She serves on the boards of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic

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Policy, LEAP, and the ACLU of Washington.

Although many of her studies have dealt with factors affecting how students in middle and high school transition to college, Contreras now believes the focus on improving Latino educational achievement should target earlier interventions. Many experts support a P-20 approach, which aligns education curriculum from preschool through the college continuum.

“We need to start earlier – in the primary grades, even beginning with preschool,” said Contreras.

The sense of urgency about this issue is being propelled by demographics. Illinois is a state that already has experienced shifts that will impact other areas of the country in the next 10 years. Nearly one in every four students in Illinois schools is Latino and one in four children under the age of 5 is Latino. Rebecca Navarro said that is why the focus on educational attainment is starting to shift to earlier years.

“Statistics show that when Latinos enter kindergarten, they already are six months behind their peers in cognitive skills,” she said.

“What happens to these students in the early stages of their education is critical to their academic success.”

The Latino Policy Forum summit addressed these issues, with presentations and breakout sessions on how to raise academic and instruction levels for Latinos, including preparing the teacher workforce for the changing student population.

Attendees at the Latino Education Summit

As Navarro says, most teachers are not prepared to deal with the influx of Latino students, even though educators have indicated they want such training. And this affects not only teachers in Chicago, where four in 10 public school students are Latino, but also the suburbs and outlying areas. “Six in 10 Latino families live in Chicago’s suburbs and downstate Illinois,” she said.

Latino Education Summit breakout session

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How teachers interact with Latino students can be critical to their success. Indeed, the role and perceptions of the teacher can influence the entire direction of a student’s academic future.

By the time they are in middle school, Latino students often are tracked outside the college-prep curriculum. To find out why, Contreras has examined the problem by drawing on national and statewide data sets and interviewing teachers, parents and students. One of her studies used a sample of math teachers in rural and urban schools in the state of Washington with large Latino populations. Her findings showed that a majority of teachers, 65 percent, believed that only 25 percent of their Latino students would go to college. As she explained, these numbers have profound implications because the teachers’ beliefs set the tone.

“If the teachers do not believe their students are going to college, those students are not likely to get the information and encouragement they need to see college as a goal,” said Contreras.

“Of the 450 students we interviewed, 80 percent said the primary source of college information was their teacher.”

Latino students also have been impacted by the contentious debate about bilingualism.

Navarro contends that there are fundamental misunderstandings about the language needs and abilities of Latino students. To begin with, she says, the majority of Latino students are non-

Assistant Director of Admissions, AFT, Range 24

English-language learners (ELLs), meaning they are not formally learning English as a second language.

“Only one-third of Latino students are ELLs; two-thirds are non-ELLs,” she said.

Navarro says it is important to understand that many Latinos students are on various steps of the language spectrum. Some know no English, some are proficient socially, and some are still working to raise their level of English to academic proficiency, in which they write or comprehend English accurately.

For example, a student who is still working toward academic proficiency might hear a math teacher ask for the “sum of the numbers.” If a student has not mastered all of the nuances of English, he or she might hear that as “some of the numbers” and do the problem incorrectly.

These mistakes can be compounded when using textbooks and other materials written in technical terms that are not in common usage.

But the controversy over bilingualism and committing resources to helping students become competent in English has made it a hotbutton issue for those who tie it to concerns about immigration. Contreras argues against this view, countering that the U.S. education system has been shortsighted in understanding that helping children be fluent in two languages has enormous advantages.

“Most of the world sees multiculturalism and bilingualism as an asset,” she said. “We treat it as a deficit. These kids come to school already prepared to be bilingual, and we don’t support it.

We are failing our kids by not fostering this ability which is an asset to this country and to our global competitiveness.”

These policies also alienate the parents of Latino children, who should be treated as partners in the education process, says Contreras.

Latino parents often are unfamiliar with the U.S. education system, and there are very few bilingual personnel available to help them navigate the terrain. Nevertheless, studies show that Latino parents have high hopes for their children.

“Latino parents have high aspirations for their children. Many have come to this country for the American Dream,” said Contreras. “Even though the parents themselves do not have a high school diploma, they want their children to obtain a bachelor’s degree.”

The struggle to enact policies that will boost Latino academic achievement has been highlighted by the debate over the DREAM Act,

Rowan University at Camden Academic Services

which would help undocumented students complete their education and provide a pathway to citizenship.

“We don’t have to do much for these students,” said Contreras. “They are already at the door, and they are high achievers who should be integrated into our communities.”

Contreras has made many appearances in the past few years on college campuses and at conferences in which she has presented her research on Latino education and advocated for change. She says Latino education needs the kind of aggressive policymaking that occurred in the 1960s when so much civil rights and equity legislation was passed.

“At that time, there was a whole confluence of events and outside pressure that forced leaders to respond and enact changes,” she said. “It happened once in our history, and it can happen again when enough people get hungry for change.”

She is especially gratified when she meets with Latino students and other underrepresented young people who want to become actively involved in the political process and serve as catalysts for change.

“I think we are going to see continuing policy debates on the issues of immigration, language, multiculturalism, affirmative action, equity and uneven access to higher education,” she said.

At the local level, groups such as the Latino Policy Forum are mobilizing to develop solutions and act upon them.

According to Navarro, the forum has enlisted a group of 35 education advocates, academics, business leaders, teachers and parents from both Chicago and the surrounding suburbs to serve on the forum’s newly launched K-12 Education Advisory Committee. The committee is co-chaired by Miguel del Valle, a former Illinois state senator and onetime candidate for mayor of Chicago, and Clare Muñana, former vice president of the Chicago Board of Education.

Navarro says the group is working on an agenda for students in kindergarten through high school while future summit meetings will look at assessment and common core standards.

Description: A dual report to the Assistant Provost/Dean of Rowan at Camden and the Associate Provost of Strategic Enrollment Management, the Assistant Director of Admissions coordinates recruitment and admissions activities which support the mission and vision of Rowan University at Camden in enhancing student admissions and enrollment.

This position is responsible for planning and implementing recruitment strategies and coordinating and executing all recruitment and admissions activities for prospective and current students of Rowan University at Camden. Effectively administer the following duties: advise and counsel students about specific majors and selected programs of Rowan University at Camden; conduct admissions information sessions and oversee recruitment activities at local high schools, college fairs, community events and open houses; review and evaluate student admissions applications based on University admissions criteria and policies; collect, analyze and report data on recruitment and admissions trends. The individual will also serve as a member of the Office of Admissions, travel between the two campuses of Rowan University and serve as campus lead person for all enrollment management matters.

Qualifications: Required Qualifications: • Master’s Degree in Education, Management, Business or related field required.

• Ability to communicate fluently in English and Spanish required.

• Highly motivated, works well independently • Availability to work day, evening and some weekend hours.

• Valid driver’s license required.

• Three years related professional work experience required.

Five years preferred.

• Student-centered and able to balance multiple projects in a fast-paced academic environment.

• Highly proficient with technology, Banner and Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Access, Word).

• Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications: • Experienced team leader with proven analytical and communication skills.

• Ability to complete projects on time and within budget, and report on status and progress.

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to interact positively with various university constituent groups.

Starting Date: September 15, 2012 or soon after Salary: Competitive

General Information: All positions are contingent upon budget appropriations.

Rowan University is a comprehensive public institution with over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in seven colleges (Business, Communications & Creative Arts, Education, Engineering, Performing Arts, Graduate and Continuing Education, Sciences & Mathematics and Humanities and Social Sciences and with a branch campus.

Rowan University at Camden is the branch campus located in the University District of Camden, New Jersey. Rowan at Camden has over 700 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in day and evening courses. The campus offers academic programs with an urban focus. Rowan at Camden is located 15 minutes from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and 30 minutes from the main campus in Glassboro, New Jersey.

Rowan University values diversity, is committed to equal opportunity in employment, and encourages members of diverse groups to apply.

Contact: Interested applicants should send a cover letter highlighting relevant education and experience, a curriculum vita, and the names of three references by September 1 to: Office of the Dean Assistant Director of Admissions Search Rowan University at Camden 200 North Broadway Camden, New Jersey 08102

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The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education

www.hispanicoutlook.com

Carnegie Corporation Calls for Renewed Commitment in Higher Education

August 20, 2012

percent) believe access to higher education should be a right, with nearly half (46 percent) responding that they feel this strongly.

As the Civil War raged on and the Union was in jeopardy, President Abraham Lincoln and the members of the 37th Congress passed monumental legislation for the benefit of all Americans. The passage of the Morrill Act of 1862 enabled educational institutions in each eligible state to promote “the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.” Only eight months later, Congress passed, and Lincoln signed, legislation calling for the founding of the National Academy of Sciences, which became a guiding force in the evolution of American science and technology.

“It is hard to argue that today we are not a nation divided,” said Gregorian. “Politically, socially, culturally and even philosophically,

most Americans have chosen their positions, hardened their opinions, and it seems like nothing will make them budge. We have to do a better job of educating the American public about the role of higher education – both public and private. There is a kind of amnesia engulfing our country today where we are detached from our past.”

The survey found that 53 percent of Americans do not feel that under current conditions Congress and the White House could accomplish substantial bipartisan work similar to the Morrill Act of 1862.

However, the survey found that there is a strong appetite throughout the U.S. for bipartisanship in Washington. In the Carnegie poll, 72 percent of Americans surveyed said they would like to see their elected officials work in a bipartisan fashion than have them stand firm with their party on the issues.

This year’s scholarships were awarded to Four College-Bound Hispanic María Fabre, from Edinburg, Texas, attendStudents Selected to Receive ing the Massachusetts Institute of $100,000 RMHC/HACER National Technology; Kevin Pardinas, from Miami, Scholarship Award

“Recent figures presented by the Census Bureau show that the number of Hispanics with college degrees has increased by 80 percent in the last 10 years, and we’re especially proud to have assisted more than 15,000 Hispanic students since 1985 with more than $22 million in RMHC/HACER college scholarships. In 2008, the first $100,000 National Scholarship was added to the program, which makes this a special year as we celebrate our first National Scholarship college graduating class.”

The RMHC/HACER Scholarship Program was founded in 1985. Applications for the 2013 scholarship program will be available this fall. For more information on the scholarships and other education resources, visit www.rmhc.org and www.MeEncanta.com.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

On the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Morrill Act, Carnegie Corporation of New York released a new national poll that indicates the majority of Americans believe that access to higher education is a right.

The poll was conducted in conjunction with a major gathering of leaders in education and science to commemorate the groundbreaking legislation that provided funding for land-grant colleges and universities.

“This is an occasion for a renewal of America’s commitment to higher education,” said Carnegie President Vartan Gregorian.

According to the Carnegie poll of 1,000 Americans, three out of four Americans (76

OAK BROOK, Ill.

Following a five-year tradition that has provided $1.9 million in scholarships for college-bound Hispanic students, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) recently announced the names of four Hispanic high school seniors who will each receive an RMHC/HACER National Scholarship of $100,000 to help finance their college education. The students were selected for their academic achievement, investment in community service and financial need.

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Fla., attending Princeton University; Emily Salvador, from Vero Beach, Fla., attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Carina Zuñiga, from San Juan, Texas, attending Baylor University. They were selected as the top achievers among a group of thousands of students who applied for the RMHC/HACER Scholarship Program.

“The 2012 RMHC/HACER National Scholarship recipients are joining a special family of young Hispanics who are both committed to academic excellence and to service to their communities,” said Martin J. Coyne, president and CEO of RMHC.

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The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education

For Minority College Students, STEM Degrees Pay Big LOS ANGELES, Calif.

Minority college students who major in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math – earn at least 25 percent more than their peers who study humanities or education, according to a new study.

And those who took jobs related to their STEM degrees earned at least 50 percent more than their classmates who majored in humanities or education fields.

Published in the June issue of Research in Higher Education, the study followed more than 1,000 Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino and Black students over nine years.

The students were scholarship applicants to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates

Report Takes the Measure of Title IX’s Promise of Gender Equity WASHINGTON, D.C.

As the nation was marking the 40th anniversary of the passage of the landmark Title IX civil rights law in June, a new report was issued calling on policymakers to commit more resources and attention to strengthen enforcement of the law’s ban on sex discrimination in education.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) released the following statement by AFT Executive Vice President Francine Lawrence in conjunction with a Capitol Hill briefing on the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education’s report Title

www.hispanicoutlook.com

August 20, 2012

Foundation, which awards grants to highly motivated low-income minority students.

While minority groups continue to be underrepresented in the STEM fields, the study’s researchers believe this will change if students understand how much more money can be earned in those fields.

“The premiums for majoring in STEM fields are huge,” said lead author Tatiana Melguizo, associate professor of education with the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. “We need to educate students that if they get a job in a STEM-related occupation, they have an even higher earning premium. Otherwise, students aren’t reaping the economic benefit of all the hard work they went through as undergrads.”

Overall, Latinos reported the highest average earnings after college – $42,180 annually – relative to the other minority groups. Black students reported earning

$35,900, and Asian Pacific Islanders earned $40,261 (data in 2006 dollars).

Latinos majoring in STEM fields also reported the highest earnings among the groups studied: an average of $56,875 per year, higher than the reported average salaries of $39,365 for Blacks and $47,530 for Asian Pacific Islanders.

The study’s authors said more research must be done to determine whether these discrepancies are attributable to different career preferences among racial/ethnic groups or employers’ hiring decisions, as well as the role colleges and universities play in the career and occupational development of minority students.

Funding for the study was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

IX at 40: Working to Ensure Gender Equity in Education (also, AFT members were among those who participated in the Title IX 40th Anniversary Celebration at the White House): “As we celebrate the progress we have made since the enactment in 1972 of Title IX’s promise of equal treatment and opportunity for boys and girls in our schools – and for young men and women in our colleges and universities – we must also recognize that our journey to equality is not complete.

“While Title IX may be best known by Americans for its impact on scholastic sports, it is about much more than athletics.

If properly applied and enforced, this important law offers opportunities for advancement in many other endeavors.

“For example, as this report and research by the American Association of University Women make clear, women are still greatly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The law also could help protect girls and women from bullying in school based on gender-behavior now understood to be a form of sex discrimination.

“The AFT is proud to be a member of the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, which produced this new report.

Title IX protects all students – male and female – from discrimination on the basis of sex. We must all be watchful to make sure that new policies and practices do not violate the commitment we have made to equality.”

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HI S PAN I C S O N T H E MO VE Reif Becomes MIT’s 17th President

Photo © Dominick Reuter

L. Rafael Reif, a distinguished electrical engineer who served as provost for seven years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was selected as MIT’s 17th president in May. Reif has been a member of the MIT faculty since 1980 and most recently was the Fariborz Maseeh Professor of Emerging Technology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Reif was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Venezuela’s Universidad de Carabobo.

He earned an MS in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

ning from the University of New Mexico, and is currently earning a doctorate in education, with an emphasis on leadership in higher education, at California State University-Long Beach.

Acosta-Salazar Elected to California Community College League Board Rio Hondo College board member Angela Acosta-Salazar was elected to serve as a trustee of the Community College League of California (CCLC), a nonprofit public benefit corporation whose voluntary membership includes 72 community college districts in California.

She will serve a threeyear term. Acosta-Salazar has been a member of the Board of Trustees for Rio Hondo College since 2005. An adjunct instructor in the Los Angeles Community College District for the last decade, she has also been the community leadership mentoring coordinator for Puente, director of the HOPE Leadership Institute, director of public relations for Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, and a deputy director for the William C. Velásquez Institute, a research and policy institute. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California-Irvine, a master’s in community and regional plan-

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CSUSB’s Carrio Honored at Alcohol and Drugs Educational Conference Carlos Carrio, a health educator and wellness coordinator at California State University-San Bernardino (CSUSB), received the CSU Peer Education Adviser Award at the 2012 Alcohol and Other Drugs Educational Conference hosted by the California State University system and held at Fresno State in April. The Peer Education Adviser Award honors a faculty or staff member who is an adviser to one or more of their institution’s peer education programs related to alcohol and drug issues. Carrio manages the Center for Health Education and Wellness within the CSUSB Student Health and Psychological Counseling Center. He is a graduate of the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, where he earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in health education and health promotion, respectively.

Ibarguen Named Valedictorian at College of Staten Island Irvin Ibarguen, the first College of Staten Island (CSI) undergraduate to be admitted into Harvard University’s prestigious Ph.D. history program, was named CSI’s valedictorian for 2012. A senior history major with the Verrazano School honors program, Ibarguen has worked for the Institute of International Education; Crain’s New York Business, writing several articles for the seminal business newsletter; and is traveling to Tunis, Tunisia, to work for Amideast, a nonprofit organization offering education activities in the Middle East, as a program assistant. “Tunisia will be a radically different experience,” said Irvin. “I am looking forward to the challenge.” At Harvard, he hopes to write about illegal immigration in a way that can contribute to ongoing debates and establish himself in a tenure-track professor position in which he can produce quality scholarship and influence students’ lives for the better.

General Accounting Education University of Iowa. The Department of Accounting, Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, invites applicants for a tenure-track appointment(s) beginning fall 2013.

We will consider candidates at all ranks. Required qualifications include a demonstrated interest in and capacity to do research publishable in top-tier accounting journals, a high level of teaching competence, and an earned doctorate (entry-level candidates can be near completion). We offer a competitive compensation package. We will screen applicants at all ranks on an ongoing basis. To apply, please log on to our website, http://jobs.uiowa.edu/jobSearch/faculty/ and reference Requisition # 61273. You will be asked to upload a résumé, representative research output, evidence of teaching capabilities (if available); and to provide the names for at least three letters of recommendation. The University of Iowa is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, minorities and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

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Interesting Reads

Billancourt Tales

By Nina Berberova

The pursuit of happiness – either through financial, mental or romantic means – is the theme of this collection of 13 short stories about life in a Paris suburb settled by Russians during the 1930s. These stories occur against the impressionistic and sensuous backdrop of Billancourt, with its tree-lined promenades, dilapidated back streets and upwardly mobile populace, all re-created by the author’s attention to detail and unflinching eye. These stories present a comment on society at that time and showcase a minority struggling to find financial and emotional traction in a radically transformed world.

2001. 175 pages. ISBN: 978-0-8112-1833-7. $13.95 paper. New Directions Publishing, (800) 233-4830. www.ndpublishing.com

Malcontents, Rebels & Pronunciados Edited by Will Fowler A pronunciamiento is a formal list of grievances designed to spark political change. In 19th-century Mexico, a disgruntled individual, rebel, was called a pronunciado. Initially a role undertaken by soldiers, a pronunciado rallied military communities to petition for local, regional and even national interests.

This evolved from a military-led practice to one endorsed and engaged by civilians, priests, indigenous communities and politicians. The second book in a series, this volume examines case studies of individual and collective pronunciados in regions across Mexico. The essays provide a better understanding of the rebel leaders behind these public acts of defiance and reveal how an insurrectionary repertoire became part of a national political culture.

2012. 300 pages. ISBN: 978-0-8032-2542-8. $40.00 paper. University of Nebraska Press, (402) 472-3581. www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.

Resolana

By Miguel Montiel, Tomas Atencio and E.A. (Tony) Mares Villagers in northern New Mexico refer to the south-facing side of a wall as la resolana, meaning “the place where the sun shines.” Every culture has a resolana, a place where the resolaneros – the villagers – gather, dialogue and reflect on society, culture and politics. The buried knowledge that emerges from this process might be “pure gold,” or el oro del barrio, a metaphor for the knowledge gathered at the resolana. The authors offer a perspective on communities struggling to maintain their cultural and linguistic identities. They share an optimistic view of how ordinary people everywhere can take back control of their own destinies.

This book is about uncovering subjugated knowledge – el oro del barrio – through resolana, a dynamic process of thought and action.

2009. 216 pages. ISBN: 978-0-8165-2834-9. $26.95 paper. The University of Arizona Press, (520) 621-3920. www.uapress.arizona.edu.

Hispanic Families at Risk: The New Economy, Work, and the Welfare State

by Ronald J. Angel and Jacqueline L Angel Published by Springer Science Business Media 2009, 138 pages ISBN 978-1-4419-0473-7 Hardcover, list $148, ISBN 978-1-44190474-4, eBook list $119

R

onald J. Angel and Jacqueline L. Angel are professors of sociology at the University of Texas-Austin. Their book Hispanic Families at Risk presents readers with a critical analysis of the U.S. system of employment-based social benefits and identifies the barriers faced by the Hispanic population when it attempts to access such benefits. The book examines the different dimensions of the system and its implications for the economic security and health care access of Hispanic workers and their families. Using data from national population surveys, the authors point out that working-class Hispanics, particularly those of Mexican origin, tend to experience lower rates of participation in employer-sponsored health insurance and retirement programs than Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites because of their disproportionate representation in sectors of the workforce that do not offer these benefits to their employees. They believe that the high concentration of Mexican-Americans in low-wage jobs without social benefits places them at greater risk for health disparities and economic insecurity in their older years.

In the opening chapters, the authors set the stage for broader discussion with a review of studies that identify social factors that have contributed to the lack of upward mobility and economic success by some segments of the Mexican-American immigrant population in the United States. They argue that poor educational attainment and incomplete assimilation are among the key factors that have kept many Mexican-American immigrants from improving their social and economic status and stagnated their progress toward joining the American middle class.

Later chapters further enhance the discussion with in-depth analysis of the long-term effects of low-wage employment without social benefits upon the lives of Mexican-American women, children and older adults. The authors claim that when workers with limited economic resources do not have social benefits through their employer they are forced to become dependent on federal and state-funded social welfare programs such as food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) to provide basic services for their families. They also note that because Mexican-American workers tend to remain stuck in low-wage jobs over the course of their working years, they are not able to build the financial assets necessary to provide themselves and their families with economic stability and comfort when they enter retirement. In the closing chapter, the authors examine future directions of public policy reform that they believe have the potential to effectively address inherent problems in the current system of employmentbased health insurance and retirement benefits for low-wage Americans.

In conclusion, this book is a groundbreaking work that would be of considerable interest to college faculty teaching courses in cultural studies, public health and the sociology of work. It would also make an excellent resource for social work and public policy professionals in state and federal agencies that provide social benefits to Hispanic immigrants and their families.

Reviewed by Mitchell A. Kaplan, Ph.D., a program evaluation and grant writing consultant in New York City

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Director of Clearfield Branch Campus Lock Haven University seeks applications and nominations for a seasoned, entrepreneurial higher education administrator to lead the Clearfield Branch Campus into the next phase of development. The successful candidate will be familiar with the unique challenges and opportunities of branch campuses and will have a passion for providing public higher education in a rural setting.

LHUP is one of fourteen institutions in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, enrolling approximately 5,029 undergraduate students and 337 graduate students. The Clearfield Campus serves approximately 350 students and offers associate, bachelors, and masters degrees in disciplines as diverse as nursing, business, criminal justice, and physician assistant. Distance education technologies are used to coordinate educational experiences between two campuses and with the community.

Lock Haven University is a member of Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

Lock Haven University is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action employer and encourages applications from persons of color, women, veterans, and persons with disabilities.

For more information, visit our web site at www.lhup.edu.

The Clearfield campus is located in rural north central Pennsylvania in the scenic Appalachian Mountains along Route 80, one hour west of the Lock Haven campus, one hour northwest of State College, and two hours northeast of Pittsburgh. The borough of Clearfield has a population of approximately 6600. The Clearfield campus consists of Founders Hall, a very attractive three story building opened in 2001; a three story classroom building well equipped with instructional technology and a large meeting room for special events opened in 2009; and a privately owned and operated apartment complex. The Clearfield Educational Foundation has a history of strong advocacy for LHU’s presence in the region.

The director’s success is measured by the degree to which LHUP’s Clearfield Campus is considered to be an integral and vital part of the county’s economic development and by the degree to which students, faculty, and staff thrive at the campus.

S/he must have a vision for the role of the Clearfield Campus within the university and within the community and must be adept at translating that vision into the daily life of the campus.

The new president should bring progressively responsible experience in higher education administration or other extraordinary leadership experience at a large, complex organization. This leader should have a combination of education, training and experience that includes extensive knowledge and expertise in cultural competence, innovative program development, fundraising, government relations and legislative processes, accreditation, and budget and fiscal management. She/he should bring a proven record of hiring talented and diverse administrative leadership, holding them accountable, and inspiring high standards. A leadership style that is marked by vision, courage, integrity, transparency and collaboration will be required.

To learn more about Bellevue College, including detailed information about the presidential profile, please visit http://bellevuecollege.edu/presidentsearch.

APPLICATION PROCESS Nominations and applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

The target date for applications is: Monday, August 27, 2012.

To apply go to http://www.acctsearches.org For additional information, nominations or confidential inquiries, contact: Dr. Narcisa Polonio, Vice President for Education, Research and Board Leadership Services at ACCT, 202.276.1983 (mobile) or narcisa_polonio@acct.org; or Dr. Laurie Savona, Search Services Operations Officer, 202.775.4474 (office), 202-5954300 (mobile) or lsavona@acct.org Bellevue College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and operates under an Affirmative Action Plan, in accordance with applicable federal and state laws and regulations. Bellevue College reaffirms its policy of equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, age, marital or family status, disability or status as a disabled veteran or Vietnam era veteran.

Reporting to the Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, the director provides overall leadership and administration for the Clearfield Campus. The Director oversees the staff and operation of the campus, and coordinates all aspects of public relations. Specific duties and responsibilities can be viewed at: http://www.lhup.edu/clearfield/ Fullest consideration will be given to candidates with the following qualifications: 5 years of higher education experience within a branch campus or community college setting; strong leadership, diplomacy, communication, interpersonal, planning, time management, allocation skills; strong organization skills and the ability to work with others as a team member in creating a collegial atmosphere; commitment and appreciation for diversity and value international and multicultural perspectives within the educational environment. The successful candidate must be able to communicate well and/or perform well in an interview and successfully complete the interview process.

Preference will be given to those with a terminal professional degree; a master’s degree is required. Preferred qualifications include successful grant-writing and fundraising experience, familiarity with the capabilities of distance education, and experience in a collective bargaining environment.

SALARY: Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience. A generous benefits package is included.

NOMINATIONS AND APPLICATIONS: Applicants must apply on line at: https://jobs.lhup.edu.

Nominations may be submitted to: Director of Clearfield Campus Search Attn: Albert Jones East Campus J205 Lock Haven University Lock Haven, PA 17745 Review of applications will begin September 14, 2012 and continue until the position is filled.

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PRESIDENT Bellevue College, located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest near Seattle, Washington, serves more than 38,000 students with over 1,500 faculty and staff. The College is an educational leader, known nationally for its innovations. Bellevue Community College changed its name in 2009 to Bellevue College to acknowledge the growth of its programs to include four-year dAegrees.

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Vice President for Instruction

Skagit Valley College, located in Mount Vernon, Washington, is seeking candidates for the position of Vice President for Instruction.

The successful candidate will value the College’s mission, bringing education and work experiences that will further the College’s mission, and will demonstrate a leadership style that complements and enhances the College’s ability to serve our community.

Within delegated authority from the President, the Vice President for Instruction provides strategic leadership and vision in the planning, development, administration, implementation and evaluation of the instructional programs and services consistent with the College’s mission. The Vice President has overall responsibility and accountability for long-range planning, program development, problem solving, and staff development in the area of Instruction for the District.

Qualifications include: Master’s degree; five years of senior level administrative experience in an educational environment, and three years of teaching experience. Open until filled. For best consideration, apply by September 7, 2012. For complete details and application instructions, visit our website at www.skagit.edu or email us at VPSearchHR@skagit.edu or call us at 360-416-7679.

Skagit Valley College is an Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity institution.

MCC, a dynamic institution with state-of-the-art facilities, outstanding educational programs, and a strong commitment to diversity, is seeking candidates to fill anticipated openings for:

Director, Library & Educational Technology For a copy of the vacancy announcement, including minimum qualifications and application deadline, please visit our Web site at www.mcc.commnet.edu, or call (860) 512-3610.

Please send letter of intent, resume, transcripts, email address and the names of three references to: Deborah A. Wilson, Director of Human Resources Manchester Community College Great Path P.O. Box 1046, Manchester, CT 06045-1046 EOE/AA/M/F

HARVARD UNIVERSITY The Department of the History of Science at Harvard University is conducting a tenure-track (assistant or associate professorial level) search in the history of medicine, post 1800. A Ph.D. is required by the expected start date, and the Department is especially interested in candidates who show exceptional promise as scholars, teachers and mentors, and who can offer highimpact courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The appointment is expected to begin on July 1, 2013. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a brief outline of present scholarly projects and future plans, a brief statement of teaching experience and approach, and names and contact information for 3-5 references. We also ask candidates to submit a sample of recent scholarly work and copies of external teaching evaluations if available. All materials should be submitted directly to the Harvard academic positions site at http:// academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/4179.

Harvard is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer, and welcomes applications from women and members of minority groups.

Application deadline is October 15, 2012.

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

P ri min g the Pump. ..

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

Mthey want each child to have a satisfying, enjoyable life.

Fortune favors the prepared mind. – Louis Pasteur

ost Latino parents just want their kids to be happy. Understandably,

In my office sat a middle-class, intact Hispanic family. Both mother and father worked, but their teenage son was using drugs.

“We have worked very hard so that we can give our family a good life,” began the father. “The boys go to a good school, we have a nice home, our older boy has a car, and we belong to a gym. They each have a computer and TV in their room and the latest cell phones. We’ve done these things to make them happy.”

“Don’t look now,” I immediately thought to myself, “but this boy is anything but happy.”

Latino students don’t need parents to make them happy; they need parents to help them become prepared – for success, failure and everything in between – at school now and elsewhere in the years ahead.

There are other reasons, though, why trying to make kids happy is not the best idea.

First, it can’t be done. Happiness comes from within. We can’t borrow, purchase or grant it. Consciously or not, people, including children, decide how they will respond to things, including whether they will be content and satisfied.

It is essential, though, that Latino parents address domestic violence, addictions or other family conflict so their children can focus on something beyond their own survival and the family’s well-being. Free from such conflict and worry, Hispanic children can then find their own happiness.

Second, happiness is fleeting. Parents of teens know that trying to make an adolescent happy can be like playing a game of Whack the Mole. Just when you think you’ve found the key to his happiness, it shifts. A teenager might be excited with something today, disenchanted with it tomorrow. The mole wins.

Being happy now does not guarantee anything in the future. It does not assure future happiness. And it certainly doesn’t mean you can handle tough times or do the inevitably unsavory things you need to do, now or later.

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Finally, Latino parents who try to make their children happy give an important – and dangerous – message to their children: Someone else is responsible for your happiness.

With that, friends, teachers, family and spouses become fair game for a child who needs a happy fix. When it is not forthcoming, they learn to blame others, and the tumult begins.

The wisest approach for Hispanic parents wanting their children to be happy, then, is to first face their own everyday challenges positively and willingly. The strength of that modeling gives an important, lasting and subtle message to their children: face your own challenges accordingly. With encouragement and support, the long-range attributes like perseverance, determination and self-discipline develop, and the child naturally finds happiness for himself. He also learns that happiness comes and goes, and that he can survive the down times as naturally as they can enjoy the happy ones.

Latino parents also deserve some support. Educators can help by reaching out to parents starting in the early childhood years to help prepare their children for academic success. Whether it is teaching parents how the educational system works (from the early years through higher education), helping them use their resources (including time, money and social connections) for the greatest benefit or inviting them to participate in school activities, Hispanic parents can be affirmed that they are doing the right thing for their children.

Finally, Latino parents deserve support and encouragement – not criticism, doubt and undue questioning – from relatives. Since relatives often assume that their own way is the best way to do things, parents who approach things differently might not be popular, understood or accepted by others in the clan. For parents who need the approval of others, taking a different approach with their children can appear too risky. Fellow Hispanic parents, educators, clergy, neighbors and friends can lend support and encouragement when the going gets tough. In the long run, when a child, regardless of age, succeeds, everyone can be happy.

This article appeared online only in the 08/20/12 Issue

HACU Focuses on HSI Funding, Student Votes ORGANIZATIONS

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by Peggy Sands Orchowski

of the largest, most focused, professionally staffed and encourage their students to exercise their right to vote on their camHispanic lobbying and advocacy organizations in higher puses or in their college communities. education is HACU – the Hispanic Association of Colleges HACU’s Washington-based organization has a firm modus operandi to and Universities. Its growth, power further its legislative agenda: develand legislative priorities, such as op formal Partnership Agreements passing the DREAM Act as a standand Memos of Understanding alone bill, have the potential to drive (MOUs) with a diverse range of the national education agenda. governmental and nongovernmental HACU’s membership of colleges at institutions. Currently, HACU has all levels is continually growing. more than 30 such agreements.

HACU claims it is the only education “We are constantly talking with organization that represents agencies that want to advance their Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) own missions by collaborating with – accredited colleges and universiHACU,” said Dr. Antonio R. Flores, ties where Hispanics constitute 25 HACU’s president, in a phone interpercent or more of the total enrollview with The Hispanic Outlook in ment at either the graduate or underHigher Education Magazine. “For graduate level or both. As such, it instance, a recent agreement with represents a rapidly growing segment FEMA has increased not only the of colleges. The number of Hispanic number of college-based training students in college is increasing programs and internships for steadily. HACU’s HSI members repreHispanic students in emergency sent more than two-thirds of all management. It has also laid the Hispanic college students. groundwork for enhanced partnerThis year, HACU’s priorities not ships between colleges and the only are the expected ones in a year agency to upgrade and maintain the of tight budgets for state colleges facsecurity of their campuses, building having to raise student tuition at a ings and emergency procedures.” time when their state support is “We especially seek to facilitate diminishing. There is a new priority agreements between HACU memthat is particularly pertinent in this bers and agencies that are critical presidential election year. to the Hispanic community,” Flores The expected priority, as identicontinued. “That includes imporfied at the HACU Capitol Forum in tant partnerships with Health and Dr. Antonio R. Flores, president, HACU Washington, D.C., in late March, is Human Services, the Department of continued support for Title V funding Energy, Environmental Protection for HSIs and other programs benefiting Hispanic students – especially Agency and a longtime close relationship with the Department of first-generation college students. There is also increasing focus on support Agriculture.” for the elementary and secondary school reauthorization act that begins “We are also increasing partnerships with corporations that offer paid with identifying Hispanic-serving elementary and secondary school districts internships for Hispanic students. In some programs, more than half of the throughout the country. interns end up with a job offer; in one with Sodexal, more than 90 percent The new priority this year is a campaign to get more college students are extended offers to work after graduation. Some of the summer intern(and especially Hispanics) to vote. In partnership with the FAIR Election ships are really more like 10-week job interviews,” Flores laughed. and Legal Network (FELN), the campaign helps HACU members educate HACU also funds various scholarship and study abroad programs for

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Hispanic students.

The developing programs with pre-college initiatives include advocacy for increased support for college and career planning components in the ESA reauthorization act. “We want Hispanic-serving elementary and secondary schools to be recognized as critical to the early planning for a college education,” Flores said. “Some 2,700 Hispanic-serving elementary and secondary school districts have been identified out of a total 15,000 throughout the country. They’re increasingly not just in the Southwest.”

But the mother’s milk for the organization’s HSIs is the one-billion-dollar fund that Education Secretary Arne Duncan created in 2009 specifically for HSI development and programs under Title V of the higher education act.

“That money is mandated. It’s authorized. It’s fully funded at $100 million a year for 10 years,” said Flores. The HSI programs increasingly emphasize developing undergraduate and graduate programs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) at associate, bachelor’s and graduate degree institutions. Although it will be a few years yet before the real impact can be measured nationally, it is clear that, numerically, the number of HSIs is growing, as is their involvement in STEM education.

While HACU has specific legislative interests, “we are waiting for Congress to work again,” said Flores with a sigh. Little is being done in this period before the election.

But HACU has other projects.

Student Voting Campaign At the HACU Capitol Forum in March, the Campus Vote Project, a new campaign to get students at HACU-member colleges to register and to vote in national, state and local elections, was announced. Colorful packets, brochures and other campaign materials were available. CAMPUS VOTE! ACTIVATE YOUR CAMPUS! A Guide to Increasing Student Voter Access and other “toolkits” were distributed.

“Students have the right to vote in the towns and cities where they attend college. The Supreme Court upheld this right in 1979. Yet many college students have confronted false information and hostile community members that have tried to prevent them from voting where they attend school,” a brochure by the Fair Election Legal Network points out. “They face many barriers when it comes to registering and voting, especially on their college campus. The Campus Vote Project was introduced in the winter of 2012 to empower student activists with resources to break down barriers to voting.”

Harsh words. But Dan Vicuna, staff attorney for FELN, was a little less harsh in a long telephone interview one weekend in June. “It’s hard to quantify exactly our goals and our success for increasing voter turnout among students at HACU-member colleges throughout the nation,” he said.

“There actually has been a steady uptick among young people to register and to vote since 2000. But students move around a lot. And rules about residency requirements for voters are tightening in many states. Our mission is to inform students of their rights within the state and register them to vote.”

Especially in contention is whether a college dormitory constitutes a permanent residence. The general rule throughout the United States is that all voters, including students, must register and vote at the place that is their permanent residency (or submit an absentee ballot from that place).

Permanent residency is roughly considered the place “where one intends to stay.”

“A college dorm can be considered a permanent residence if the stu-

dents claim that they intend to stay,” Vicuna explained. “Even if they know they are going home for the summer, they can still claim their college dorm as their permanent residence if they intend to return – even if later they change their minds.”

Some students worry that registering to vote on campus would force them to change the address on their driver’s license or would affect state scholarships or financial aid received from their home states. The answer to both questions is no. “There is a lot of misinformation that makes many students hesitant to register to vote in their university communities,” Vicuna said. “That is what we are trying to address.”

Experience has shown FELN that more people will register to vote if they can sign up at a convenient local location. For a college student, that means on campus. But since voter registration is the purview of the local voting jurisdiction, arrangements have to be made locally to set up registration tables, to train (or not, depending on state requirements) registration takers, and to set up a voting poll on election day.

There are a number of ways that FELN suggests HACU-member campuses can ease the student registration and voting process and answer questions regarding voting. They include establishing a college/university voting website, with Facebook and Twitter accounts; providing state voter registration forms in easily accessible places (the library? the student union?); and planning a student poll worker program, with students working at polls during elections at either an on-campus or off-campus site.

“We urge campuses to be creative – to find ways to motivate students to become involved with voting registration and getting out the vote,” Vicuna said. “One way is to include voting registration information in new student orientation packets. Or to form a campus voting organization that can receive student funding. Or to have a competition between say dorms or sororities and fraternities or various minority organizations to register the most voters.”

“FELN also is targeting particular states for increases in student voter registration and turnout,” Vicuna reported. Those states include Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Sound familiar? Most are the oft-cited battleground states, also known as “swing” states, where the election between Republicans and Democrats is expected to be close and where, especially in the first six, the Latino population is growing.

Which brings up the question of partisanship.

FELN and the CVP and HACU are all nonpartisan, not-for-profit organizations. But it is well known that college students and Hispanics tend to vote Democratic. The states selected are crucial for Democrats, particularly to keep the White House. The Campus Voting Project that HACU is partnering with could be perceived as a project to increase the Democratic vote, to swing the presidential election by energized student voters who are being told that, especially in states like Florida, state and local official are trying to suppress their vote.

Both Flores and Vicuna rejected that perception.

“We don’t get involved in politics, especially presidential politics,” said Flores firmly. “We work closely with both Republican and Democratic legislators and are more interested in what stands various congressional candidates take on our issues than what party they belong to. We are supporting the campus vote campaign as a structural project and a way to promote students’ knowing about and fulfilling their civic duties.”

“We are a 501(c)3 and can’t be partisan,” said Vicuna. “But we are concerned about voter restrictions in states like Florida, which just pulled

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their polling places from campuses. It could be due to tight budgets or something else. It’s the decision of the local voting officials. We just want to be sure students know their rights.”

During the registration process, it is often possible to mark a party affiliation, but FELN does not advocate for any particular party, Vicuna continued. “In fact, on many campuses, the Student Vote coalition is made up of campus Republicans, campus Democrats and a growing numbers of organizations that represent Independents. In fact, nationally increasing numbers of Latinos are registering as Independents. “But if most students end up voting Democratic, well, that’s just the way it is,” Vicuna said.

In addition to concerns regarding partisanship, student-voting campaigns are sometimes criticized for glossing over two other more serious voting violations. One is allowing noncitizens (especially foreign students and scholars on campus who have long-term legal temporary visas or even green cards, as well as increasing numbers of illegal immigrant students, the so-called DREAMERs) to register and to vote.

“People who are registering potential voters have to accept any completed registration form. They have absolutely no responsibility to validate citizenship or even to ask about it. Indeed, many registration forms have only a small box to mark citizenship, if that. “It is up to the local voter registration office to check citizenship,” Vicuna said. “It may be that a few noncitizens may register accidentally, but it is such a minor problem that FELN does not feel it’s worth the resources that would be required to monitor that.”

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The other concern is the almost complete lack of a process to track whether a voter votes twice in different states, such as a college student who registers and votes in his/her university town, as well as casting an absentee ballot in the hometown in another state. “There are very few cross-state agreements to check something like that,” Vicuna said. “We assume most who register to vote know they must be citizens and that they can only vote once. These violations may take place, but we don’t know much about them.”

What is known by FELN’s Campus Vote/HACU project is that 13 percent of students on campus who are eligible to vote nationally are Hispanic, but under 50 percent of them register. It may be because many of them have an immigrant heritage and their parents don’t or can’t vote. “The same problem is seen among other immigrant communities,” Vicuna said. “Our challenge is to get this generation of eligible Hispanic voters to turn out.”

Whatever the issue, HACU is sure to have some clout, even internationally, with more than 400 affiliated colleges in the United States, Puerto Rico, Latin American, Spain and Portugal. There is a regional office in California, and others are being planned.

“We are truly the champions of Hispanic success in higher education,” HACU likes to say.