APRIL 6, 2015
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VOLUME 25 • NUMBER 13
Graduate School Issue Latino Graduation Rates Propelled
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LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE
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Goodbye to Father Hesburgh By Carlos D. Conde
.S. Latinos, particularly Mexican-Americans, may not remember Father Theodore Hesburgh, president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, or have heard of him, a religious man who walked with presidents and potentates but he was one of the ethnic community’s great friends and advocates. Father Hesburgh died in February at his beloved University of Notre Dame where he had served as its president for 35 years; a man of international stature whose council and advice was sought from presidents to laymen, serving as the example of what many wish we could be in principle and courage. My direct association with him was brief but I got to know him well through his role in public service and his actions and what he stood for. He was a man for all seasons and of all people, a mission in life he fulfilled without exception. Though he was born and raised in Syracuse, N.Y., he showed a strong and sincere affinity with the U.S. Hispanic community. He never mastered Spanish and I still remember at times his hilarious but sincere attempts. He did his best work, not in the social trenches but in the higher echelons of religious, educational and government institutions. From that perch, there was no greater advocate for the pursuits and service of the common man, the essence of his holy vows. He was blind and feeble at the time of his death but he still celebrated daily mass and still attended every home Notre Dame game until his infirmities overtook him. Father Hesburgh remained forever humble and forever giving in accordance with his spiritual pledge, yet honest and forthright in his many roles as cleric, educator and civic appointee and all his energies went into fulfilling those commitments. I met and worked with Father Hesburgh when he was the chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission(CRC), which he served on for 15 years, and I was its communications director before I moved on to Nixon’s White House. I loved the man for no one I have known then or since came with such strong commitment, honesty and grit toward his work at the height of the civil rights movement.
Father Hesburgh was like most priests, charitable and caring, but a no-nonsense leader who strongly believed that the U.S. minority community, Latinos among them, lagged considerably in advancement in civil rights and socioeconomic opportunities and the federal government and other public institutions were not giving them their due. He was willing to take on whoever or whatever, top to bottom, in righting social and economic inequities and at least thru CRC studies, bring it to the attention of those in position to do something about it. He had other arguments on civil rights issues like suffrage and outside topics such as the Vietnam War that didn’t sit well with the policies of the then current administration so President Nixon fired him. During his tenure as Notre Dame president, he still found time to serve on 16 presidential commissions in both Democratic and Republican administrations and was awarded 150 honorary degrees. The story goes that presidential candidate, George McGovern, considered asking Father Hesburgh to be his running mate in the 1972 elections against Nixon which was politically absurd. Like many others, I have fond recollections, some hilarious, of Father Hesburgh. Once in a contentious civil rights meeting of mostly black leaders in Washington in which he was presiding, he slammed his fist on the table and brought the room to halt when he said, “All right, it’s time to call a spade a spade.” The then CRC Director, John Buggs, a black, went “Ahem Father Hesburgh, you think you could rephrase that.” The good Father caught on quickly, “Oh yes, sorry.” Another, which is my fondest remembrances of Father Hesburgh, is when, without hesitation, he took the time from his hectic schedule in Washington to baptize my first born and got a box of cigars for it. Such was the man. Carlos D. Conde, award-winning journalist, former Washington and foreign correspondent, was a communications aide in the Nixon White House. Write to him at CDConde@aol.com HISPANIC OUTLOOK
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Contents 6
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Business, Education, and Health Sciences Majors Dominate Graduate Schools’ Growing Numbers by Mary Ann Cooper
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Santa Clara University: Training Teachers to be Culturally in Tune by Sylvia Mendoza
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Graduate Schools and Students Face Funding Issues by Michelle Adam
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Mellon Foundation Supports Latino Doctoral Students in Humanities by Frank DiMaria
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Cover: Santa Clara University’s Dr. Marco Bravo. Photo by: Charles Barry
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Improving the Academic Skills of Hispanic Graduate Students by Paul Hoogeveen
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Published by “The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Publishing Company, Inc.” Publisher José López-Isa Executive Editor Marilyn Gilroy Senior Editor Mary Ann Cooper Washington DC Bureau Chief Peggy Sands Orchowski Contributing Editors Carlos D. Conde, Michelle Adam Contributing Writers Gustavo A. Mellander Chief of Human Resources & Administration Tomás Castellanos Núñez Chief of Advertising, Marketing & Production Meredith Cooper Research & Development Director Marilyn Roca Enríquez Art & Production Director Wilson Aguilar Digital & Social Media Coordinator Jenna Mulvey Web Development Director Ricardo Castillo Director of Accounting & Finance Javier Salazar Carrión Sales Director Magaly LaMadrid
Departments 3
Latino Kaleidoscope Goodbye to Father Hesburgh
by Carlos D. Conde
22
OWN IT! Faculty Members Have Their Own Individual Brands
by Marvin Lozano, EdD and Miquela Rivera, PhD
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Targeting Higher Education Graduate Schools: A New Day by Gustavo A. Mellander
25
Uncensored
by Peggy Sands Orchowski
Back Priming the Pump cover Helping Latino Students Cope with Life’s Transitions by Miquela Rivera
Article Contributors Michelle Adam, Frank DiMaria, Paul Hoogeveen, Marvin Lozano, Sylvia Mendoza, Miquela Rivera Editorial Office 299 Market St, Ste. 145, Saddle Brook, N.J. 07663 TEL (201) 587-8800 or (800) 549-8280 Editorial Policy The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national magazine. Dedicated to exploring issues related to Hispanics in higher education, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine®is published for the members of the higher education community. Editorial decisions are based on the editors’ judgment of the quality of the writing, the timeliness of the article, and the potential interest to the readers of The Hispanic Outlook Magazine®. From time to time, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® will publish articles dealing with controversial issues. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and/or those interviewed and might not reflect the official policy of the magazine. The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® neither agrees nor disagrees with those ideas expressed, and no endorsement of those views should be inferred unless specifically identified as officially endorsed by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine®.
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GRADUATE SCHOOLS/RANKINGS
Business, Education, and Health Sciences Majors Dominate Graduate Schools’ Growing Numbers By Mary Ann Cooper
ith the recent emphasis in minority communities on the importance of a community college education it might be easy to lose sight of what’s trending in graduate schools. This issue of Hispanic Outlook shines a spotlight on the best schools in the United States enrolling Hispanic students and granting them graduate degrees. The lists of schools that follow are an important part of our coverage. Another is a comprehensive survey conducted each year by the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees jointly sponsored by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board. Conducted annually since 1986, the survey provides information about applications for admission to graduate school, first-time and total graduate student enrollment, and graduate degrees and certificates conferred. Here is a summary of the latest CGS survey’s findings as well as some statistics from Excelencia in Education’s 2015 factbook on Latinos and education:
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GRADUATE SCHOOLS/RANKINGS • The CGS 2013 survey (the latest available) was sent to 793 colleges and universities, and useable responses were received from 655 institutions, for an 83 percent response rate. Graduate applications institutions responding to the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees received 1.97 million applications for admission to graduate programs for studies beginning in fall 2013, of which about 798,000 (40.5 percent) were eventually accepted. • Overall, 42.9 percent of all first-time graduate students in fall 2013 were men and 57.1 percent were women. Eight of every 10, approximately 83.0 percent, of all first-time graduate students in fall 2013 were enrolled in programs leading to a master’s degree or a graduate certificate, while 17 percent of all first-time graduate students were enrolled in doctoral programs. Among first-time graduate enrollees in fall 2013 whose citizenship was known, 79.8 percent were U.S. citizens or permanent residents and 20.2 percent were temporary residents. Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, at least 32.3 percent of all first-time enrollees were racial/ethnic minorities. • Among graduate students in fall 2013 whose citizenship was known, 83.3 percent were U.S. citizens or permanent residents and 16.7 percent were temporary residents. Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents at least 29.7 percent of all enrollees were racial/ethnic minorities. Excelencia reports that Hispanics represent 7 percent of graduate students. • Applications for admission to U.S. graduate schools increased 1.0 percent between fall 2012 and fall 2013 at the institutions that responded to the survey for both 2012 and 2013. During the five-year period between fall 2008 and fall 2013, graduate applications grew 6.1 percent; between fall 2003 and fall 2013, graduate applications grew at an average annual rate of 3.6 percent. The over-
all application acceptance rate at public institutions was slightly higher than that at private, notfor-profit institutions. Research universities with very high research activity (RU/VH) and research universities with high research activity (RU/H) reported having lower acceptance rates than doctoral/research universities. • More than 459,000 students enrolled for the first time in graduate certificate, education specialist, master’s, or doctoral programs for the fall term in 2013. About six out of 10 first-time graduate students were enrolled at public institutions in fall 2013, and about one-third were at private, not-forprofit institutions. Excelencia reports that Hispanic graduate enrollment is somewhat concentrated (37 percent) in Hispanic–Serving Institutions. • Among institutions that responded to the CGS 2012 and 2013 surveys, total graduate enrollment decreased 0.2 percent between fall 2012 and fall 2013. During the five-year period between fall 2008 and fall 2013, total graduate enrollment increased 0.7 percent, and between fall 2003 and fall 2013, firsttime graduate enrollment showed an increase of 1.5 percent. • Natural sciences and engineering (biological and agricultural sciences, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, and physical and earth sciences) accounted for 40.2 percent of all doctoral degrees awarded in 2012-13. At the master’s degree level, business and education were the largest broad fields, accounting for 22.3 percent and 21.7 percent, respectively, of the master’s degrees awarded. More than half of Hispanics earned their master’s degrees in business, education or the health professions, according to the Excelencia study. • Nearly six out of 10 graduate students were enrolled full time in fall 2013, and roughly four out of every 10 were enrolled part time.
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GRADUATE SCHOOLS/RANKINGS GRADUATE DEGREES GRANTED 2013
State Total
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
FL FL CA TX TX CA TX TX FL NY CA NY CA AZ CA NM MO FL IA TX CA TX CA MA TX FL NY TX
21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
Florida International University Nova Southeastern University University of Southern California The University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas-Pan American National University The University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at Austin University of Florida New York University University of California-Los Angeles Columbia University in the City of New York California State University-Long Beach Grand Canyon University California State University-Los Angeles University of New Mexico-Main Campus Webster University University of Miami Ashford University The University of Texas at Arlington University of La Verne University of Houston San Jose State University Harvard University Texas A&M University-Kingsville Barry University CUNY Hunter College Texas State University
3,014 3,708 6,332 1,110 744 3,101 1,298 3,058 3,929 6,965 2,978 6,958 1,696 5,356 1,152 1,231 5,433 912 4,548 2,984 1,080 2,052 2,352 4,041 663 1,045 2,211 1,444
Hispanic Latino Latina % Hispanic 1,461 1,117 836 691 616 615 532 486 428 408 405 396 386 383 369 353 348 347 316 310 310 308 304 299 299 293 288 288
578 370 309 273 213 188 223 234 213 134 146 170 102 99 116 127 179 126 104 120 82 130 87 109 101 64 52 93
883 747 527 418 391 427 309 252 215 274 258 226 284 284 253 216 169 121 212 190 218 178 217 160 198 189 236 195
48% 30% 13% 62% 83% 20% 41% 16% 11% 6% 14% 6% 23% 7% 32% 29% 6% 38% 7% 10% 29% 15% 13% 7% 45% 28% 13% 20%
Source: NCES/IPEDS – Total Graduate Enrollees – 2013
GRADUATE STUDENT ENROLLMENT 2013
State Total
Hispanic Latino Latina % Hispanic
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
FL FL CA TX AZ TX NY CA NM FL TX CA TX NY TX CA CA CA FL NJ NY NM FL MA NY
4,496 3,575 2,648 2,196 2,030 2,008 1,874 1,758 1,652 1,551 1,538 1,339 1,317 1,245 1,241 1,227 1,195 1,148 1,122 1,118 1,103 1,089 1,055 1,054 1,049
Nova Southeastern University Florida International University University of Southern California The University of Texas-Pan American Grand Canyon University The University of Texas at El Paso CUNY Graduate School and University Center National University University of New Mexico-Main Campus University of Florida The University of Texas at San Antonio California State University-Los Angeles Texas A&M University-Kingsville New York University The University of Texas at Austin California State University-Long Beach University of California-Los Angeles California State University-Fullerton University of South Florida-Main Campus Rutgers University-New Brunswick Columbia University in the City of New York New Mexico State University-Main Campus University of Miami Harvard University CUNY Hunter College
20,514 8,521 22,923 2,823 20,292 3,307 5,389 8,133 6,176 16,710 4,281 3,669 2,799 21,984 12,080 4,993 12,121 5,209 10,328 14,135 18,987 3,183 5,555 17,763 6,330
Source: NCES/IPEDS List Combining Doctoral Degrees with Masters Degrees 2013
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1,360 1,430 935 837 507 834 738 617 657 670 584 443 416 432 575 401 524 402 416 351 466 368 452 523 239
3,136 2,145 1,713 1,359 1,523 1,174 1,136 1,141 995 881 954 896 901 813 666 826 671 746 706 767 637 721 603 531 810
22% 42% 12% 78% 10% 61% 35% 22% 27% 9% 36% 36% 47% 6% 10% 25% 10% 22% 11% 8% 6% 34% 19% 6% 17%
INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS
Santa Clara University: Training Teachers to be Culturally in Tune By Sylvia Mendoza
hat does a panaderia have to do with teaching core value skills to high school students? According to educators and administrators at Santa Clara University in northern California, the Mexican bakery can have cultural relevance that might just add to a student’s understanding of math, history or English – and academic success that will eventually reap benefits for their communities. Cultural relevance and social responsibility define the integrative approach the university is already implementing with its future teachers. Right in the heart of San Jose, graduate students in Santa Clara’s School of Education and Counseling Psychology work simultaneously on their master of arts in teaching and their teacher credentials while learning innovative ways of teaching and creating culturally relevant material for young students in the predominantly Latino community. “We are fortunate to be part of the community,” says Nicholas Ladany, dean of the Santa Clara University School of Education and Counseling Psychology. When National Hispanic University (NHU) was closing its doors, Ladany was approached about the opportunity to move onto its Eastside campus. “It was a mixed bag of feelings,” says Ladany. “It was disappointing that the bedrock of this community is no longer here. That’s why we stepped in. Working directly in the community meets our social justice mission.” Within three months, a partnership betweent Santa Clara University and the National Hispanic
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Nicholas Ladany
University Foundation was established. NHU’s teacher education students were offered a place in SCU’s School of Education and Counseling Pyschology program, and SCU began developing their culturally responsive and technologically adept teacher education curriculum. HISPANIC OUTLOOK
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INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS Armed with a great faculty and staff, they actively recruited Hispanic students to become teachers, with a vision for rolling out a bilingual credential, and having students create culturally relevant materials that meet common core elements. “We have increased our diversity to better reflect the community,” said Ladany. “Core value is about multicultural approaches and social justice. Everything funnels through that lens.” Now, to expand that lens, in collaboration with the NHU Foundation, the School of Education and Counseling Psychology shares campus space with three Latino charter high schools. The goal: partner graduate school student teachers in these classrooms with master teachers, helping them get a real feel for the needs of surrounding underserved communities. They also work in tutoring or after school programs. The charter school students in the same building simultaneously get exposure to college life, seeing graduate students in action. “It’s a win-win situation,” says Dr. Marco Bravo, director of Latino Education at Santa Clara. He elaborates how teacher candidates benefit. They can: • become proficient in ways to leverage technol-
We invite parents to teacher education classes to share their math and literacy experiences in their daily lives at home and at work to illustrate the potential that teachers can tap into to support student learning.” Dr. Marco Bravo, director of Latino Education at Santa Clara University 10 |
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Dr. Marco Bravo
ogy to support student learning • decenter themselves and recognize but also utilize cultural resources from the communities that students come from without essentializing those cultural frames of reference • develop a foundation for both the art and science of teaching. Arcadio Morales, director of external relations, who builds relationships with potential donors and alumni in order to raise financial resources to support the School of Education and Counseling Psychology's various initiatives, emphasizes the need for cross perspectives. “It’s not a matter of political correctness,” he says. “Think about exams or testing. There is a lack of confidence for Latino students. It’s not an issue of learning, it’s about cultural connection. Education needs to be more flexible, making our materials fit them. The beauty of what we’re doing is we adjust to community. It’s not going to be the same old school of education. Our model can apply to different ethnicities.” Bravo believes two key pieces – becoming culturally responsible and technically advanced and integrating technology with specific criteria – will make
INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS Santa Clara’s approach different and viable for community change. “Our focus is certainly leveraging technology to capture the cultural resources of the Latina/o community in East San Jose.” Connecting common core elements where the text might be complex but the content is familiar builds literacy skills, says Bravo. That is the idea of producing an ebook on panaderias or street vendors, for example. They can meet common core criteria, but be an informational book fortifying cultural identity. It focuses on the familiarity of that bakery, teaching about different types of breads, how they are made, and what they cost. The book on street vendors can feature each food item sold, prices, ingredients and cultural roots. Bravo gives another example of how Banda music is a big element in the community. “One of our students is creating a digital text of the instruments used in a Banda group, with audio links that share what sound each instrument makes. The book will also have a video of one Banda player describing how he got into the music and what it represents for him.” Bringing to the forefront cultural elements that connect the students and teachers to the surround-
Arcadio Morales
ing communities takes concerted effort. The university is involving store owners, community leaders and parents and offering different types of resources. “We invite parents to teacher education classes to share their math and literacy experiences in their daily lives at home and at work to illustrate the potential that teachers can tap into to support student learning,” says Bravo. By leveraging technology to engage and motivate students to learn curriculum and accentuate what’s familiar to them, ELA standards can be achieved, and students can develop comprehensive skills and vocabulary development, and reverse achievement gaps, says Bravo. The vision is far-reaching. They are looking beyond school and higher education. “We ask: What needs to actually change to make this community thrive?” And Santa Clara University aims to make that happen through their approach to educating future teachers. Culturally Relevant Teachers Relate Better In the little farm town of Porterville, Calif., Jonathan De la Rosa was one of the lucky ones. As a young boy, he and his single mother lived in a lowincome neighborhood where there were many Latino immigrants – and where they could afford rent. He started kindergarten there. In first grade, however, his mother applied for and was able to get subsidized housing. This meant moving into a better school district. Even in his young life, De la Rosa already felt, rather than saw, the difference between his first school and the “better” school. Not only were resources and vibrant ambiance lacking at the first school, so was a higher level of commitment from teachers. Convinced he would have done fine at either location because he loved school and had his mother’s guidance, De la Rosa knew it might have taken him longer to get through college had it not been for attending the better school. “It set my life on a different path,” he says. “I was better prepared for college.” De la Rosa attended UC Berkeley and researched graduate programs before deciding Santa Clara University would be the best fit for him and his career goals. Working on his master’s in arts and a teaching credential, he is also a SEMILLA Fellows scholarship recipient. These recipients can receive reduced tuition rates if they pledge to work in underserved communities for two years after they HISPANIC OUTLOOK
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INNOVATIONS/PROGRAMS graduate. One goal of the program, which can be completed in 16 months, is to fund up to 100 teachers yearly to work with nearby underserved communities. As a student teacher working with middle school seventh graders, De la Rosa knows that like any other graduate program, commitment starts with working four to five days a week, five to six hours a day but there is a difference here, he says. “The experience is a great melting pot, with diverse ethnic backgrounds and kids mixing in a way that’s organic,” he says. “You begin to live this culture, be a part of it. For my cohorts who were never exposed to this culture before, they must really be benefitting. It was the right choice for me.” Long Range Vision Builds Community Pride By 2030 Lations will make up 26 percent of the nation’s youth and future workforce, says Morales. “The entire country benefits from educating students today in a way that’s relevant for the future.” Ladany believes Santa Clara’s approach is on the right track. “In five years we hope to be a national model in what we are doing in best practices with teachers and teaching, showing how high quality higher education can serve societal needs.”
The impact can expand to leadership principles and counseling for Latinos and a national multidiscipline approach can connect facets like immigration law and business and entrepreneurship practices, community colleges and the National Center for Latino Research. Being on the same page will help communities continue to grow. “We need to discard old methods of teaching and use a collaboration to bring the best minds, materials, practices, and goals together,” says Morales. “We have to change traditional textbooks because they lack cultural content that may help particular groups of students relate to and learn the material. If texts are not culturally inclusive, there is going to be a mismatch in the teaching and learning process. Instead of using a 1950s teaching education model, let’s be the new model.” When De la Rosa finishes the master’s and credential program at Santa Clara, he intends to go back home to Porterville to teach, knowing it is difficult to recruit good innovative teachers to venture to the small farm town. “This personal and rewarding program has given me a roadmap on how to effectively teach. I want to be a responsible teacher who focuses on the needs of individual students. I want to be the kind of teacher they deserve.”
Jonathan De la Rosa
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P ER A L OD G ER RA SMHSI P
Graduate Schools and Students Face Funding Issues By Michelle Adam
rom her office at the Council of Graduate Schools, Suzanne Ortega expressed concern that we as a nation are not investing enough in creating the leaders for the future of this country. “Our failure to invest in a highly innovative workforce is undercutting our future capacity to be a successful knowledge-based society,” she said. “Innovation and our national security depend deeply and importantly on well-educated scientists, engineers, and other specialists, as well as those committed to the arts and social sciences.” Her opinion comes from a place of deep commitment as president of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), an organization that represents more than 500 universities in the U.S. and Canada, providing them with best practices, initiatives, public policy support, core activities, and global engagement for more than five decades. While the federal government is considered a global leader in supporting and investing in graduate education, its commitment is not what it used to be. According to Ortega, major subsidized loans for graduate students have all but disappeared since 2012 along with diminishing federal support for these same students. The end result is that students, especially those of first-generation families and minority backgrounds, are less likely to invest in a graduate education. “For PhD students, a major source of funding comes from research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Health (NIH). The NIH budget has been slashed since
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Suzanne Ortega
2004, which means that the amount available to support research projects has decreased,” said Ortega, who pointed out that NSF’s budget has increased, but is still smaller than that of NIH, which doubled the decade before this one. “The fact that research budgets go up and down is almost as challenging as having HISPANIC OUTLOOK
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LEADERSHIP ones that aren’t growing or growing slowly, since graduate work requires years of work. It has the potential of impacting retention.” Also, those students who are attending graduate school are taking out more unsubsidized loans than they used to. “There is real financial pressure as universities try to meet our access to education goals and student education goals with a shrinking pot of money to do so,” said Ortega. “We have made progress over the past five to eight years in graduate school retention and completion rates, but we are worried that this progress may erode as financial situations get more difficult.” When it comes to first-generation, low-income students, their capacity to successfully attend and complete a graduate education is of even greater concern during this time of financial pressure. “There is good evidence that lower-income and first-generation students are more averse to taking out loans than majority students because many of our first-generation Hispanic students, for example, have had to borrow for undergraduate school,” said Ortega. “We worry that their current debt serves as a barrier to considering post-baccalaureate education.” Despite Ortega’s concerns, there’s some good news for Hispanics. Of all graduate students, Hispanics have had the highest enrollment increase rate, with an average first time annual growth rate of 7 percent, according to Ortega. This compares to the national graduate enrollment growth rate of 2.6 percent between 2003 and 2013 (the growth rate was faster among all students in the first half of this time period compared to the second half, where the growth rate flattened). Keep in mind, though, that part of this growth rate increase among Hispanics comes from the fact that they began with a small base, explained Ortega. Also, Hispanics still remain only 8.3 percent of all graduate enrollment, a low number compared to their overall population representation, and when contrasted to the growing number of international students who now make up about 20 percent of graduate students. While the U.S. remains a leader in graduate education, other countries such as Brazil are investing in their graduate students, and are now catching up with us. It is especially important at this time, therefore, for the U.S. to provide financial support to its students – and especially first-generation students with the greatest needs – in order to remain a global leader. Enrollment of a diverse and substantial graduate school population depends on this, as does being able to foster and support graduate retention and success – another key issue Ortega addressed.
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We have made progress over the past five to eight years in graduate school retention and completion rates, but we are worried that this progress may erode as financial situations get more difficult.” Suzanne Ortega, president, Council of Graduate Schools.
“When students drop out of a program, they lose, the institution loses, and the workforce loses,” she said. “We have been working on this issue in the past decade.” According to Ortega, when CSG and graduate schools started calling attention to doctoral degree retention rates 10 years ago, evidence suggested about 50 percent of doctoral students who started their degrees completed them within eight to 10 years. “I think the figures are more like 58 to 59 percent now. We’ve made progress, although some programs like life sciences do pretty well in getting their students through and other programs have a tougher time,” she said. “We know that the completion rates for African-Americans and Hispanics have been increasing and the gap between their completion rates and those of majority and international students has closed slightly, but there is still room for improvement.”
P ER A L OD G ER RA SMHSI P For CGS and graduate schools, there’s much more to do to address the 40 percent who do not complete graduate school. “The rate of completion is too slow, knowing that there is a looming shortage of students prepared to step into technology, science, and public sector jobs,” said Ortega. Beyond financial issues and the retention of students, the CGS president considered another issue of importance – that of making post-graduate career pathways more transparent. For many years, universities have held the assumption that students pursuing a PhD wanted to become faculty members, but today, this isn’t necessarily true, and institutions need to offer career advice and other options for those graduating from their programs. “For the past 20 years, most students who complete a PhD go into careers outside the academy. They are going into government agencies, think tanks, industries, and starting their own companies, yet we don’t know much about them,” said Ortega. “Universities are employing fewer faculty members in research and teaching than they used to, so we need to understand about the full range of career opportunities available to doctoral students and we need to help prepare students for them.” In an effort to address this issue, CGS just completed the first phase of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation study, “Understanding PhD Career Pathways for Program Improvement.” The study is designed to explore methods for tracking career pathways, and to help their graduate school members begin the process of collecting data on non-academic careers. As graduate schools do their best to adapt to the changing needs of students, while grappling with financial challenges, graduate online programs are growing. At this point, a recent IPEDS report estimated that there were about 25,000 master’s degrees offered online, a number that Ortega says is hard to
When students drop out of a program, they lose, the institution loses, and the worforce loses,” Suzanne Ortega, president, Council of Graduate Schools.
track but is certainly a gross underestimation of what exists. Meanwhile, traditional universities are working hard to make their campuses an inviting place, especially for first-generation students. The challenge remains, though, that no matter what efforts and changes universities make, and no matter the number of programs available to students – and jobs waiting for those who graduate – without financial support for the highest levels of education, many students, especially those who are first-generation, will not be able to attend or complete their graduate education. “I can’t turn on the TV on any single day and not think that in addition to having talented scientists and engineers to help rebuild worn-torn areas, we need to also know more fully who our neighbors are,” said Ortega. “If we ignore the need for advanced training in these fields, I think we ignore the deep foundation of our democratic principles and our deep responsibility as a society in the international arena.”
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I NENNOTVOARTI INOGN S & P R O G R A M S M
Mellon Foundation Supports Latino Doctoral Students in Humanities By Frank DiMaria
inancial constraints, family obligations and lack of mentors in a specific discipline are among the myriad obstacles PhD candidates face when trying to complete their dissertations. For the average student earning a doctorate is a daunting task. For the low-income, underserved student this task can become all but impossible. To help remove, or at least reduce, these obstacles the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR), a national Hispanic research consortium based out of the University of Illinois at Chicago, has received a three-year, $800,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant is designed to support doctoral students working in Latino humanities and aims to develop a national fellowship program to mentor Latino studies scholars as they complete their doctoral research and improve their job-market readiness. “I’m very grateful. The Mellon Foundation saw in us the opportunity to leverage a national consortium and not only help individual students but also to contribute to the building of a field,” says María de los Angeles Torres, PhD, the project’s principal investigator and executive director at IUPLR. Many universities, says Torres, support their doctoral candidates through the first five years of a doctoral program. Once they hit that sixth year, however, they are on their own financially. As a result low-income graduate students often are forced to find a means of support. “At that point they start working part time, they start working at a community college. They have one or two chapters complete and we lose them,” says Torres. The bulk of the $800,000 grant will be spent on fellowships. For each of the next three years IUPLR will choose six fellows and offer them a stipend of $25,000.
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María de los Angeles Torres
“So they will not have to be working at the time they are writing their dissertation,” says Torres. “This is going to give them one year of concentrated time just to write. They’ll have no other obligations except to participate in the support programs we are developing,” she says. To be eligible for the stipend and to participate in IUPLR’s support programs doctoral candidates must
MENTORING be entering the sixth year of their doctoral studies. They should have defended their dissertation, have written a significant portion of it and must present a coherent proposal demonstrating the feasibility of completing their work within a year. Because Mellon is committed to supporting the humanities, candidates must be pursuing their doctorates in the humanities. Students in the social sciences, Torres says, have the luxury of working with professors who have big grants. But students working on doctorates in the humanities rarely have that luxury, she says. Candidates must be from one of five participating member institutions in IUPLR: American and Latino studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Latin American and Latino studies program at University of Illinois at Chicago; the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California-Los Angeles; Center for Puerto Rican Studies at City University of New York’s Hunter College; the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin; and the Dominican Studies Institute at the City College of New York. IUPLR will align each of the six fellows with one of these centers (one center will have
The Mellon Foundation saw in us the opportunity to leverage a national consortium and not only help individual students but also to contribute to the building of a field.” María de los Angeles Torres, PhD, project principal investigator and executive director at IUPLR
two fellows) to help bolster the intellectual support network the candidates will have at their disposal while completing their doctorate. At the heart of this support network is the all-important mentor. IUPLR matches its six fellows with mentors who are knowledgeable in the field that the students are studying. Every university has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, says Torres, and might or might not be able to offer support to every single doctoral candidate. Hispanic doctoral candidates who are researching Latino studies often find themselves paired with mentors who know little about Latino literature and culture and have never even read a Hispanic scholar. Mentors working with students who are studying subjects outside of the mentor’s comfort zone find it difficult to wade through the literature and to offer sound advice on how to position a dissertation within the context of Latin American and American literature. Some are unable to discuss theoretical questions. “Our idea is that in many disciplines, humanities included, Latino studies are marginal to the discipline. Those who are studying Latino studies don’t have the support and the mentorship from their faculty,” says Torres. If a doctoral candidate does not have a suitable mentor, IUPLR will find one, ideally from the fellows’ university or from one of the five IUPLR centers. In January Torres hired a post doc who researched a number of similar programs to the one IUPLR is putting together and identified the best practices at each. She is using that information to design a variety of support programs. Each month there will be a teleconference session during which the fellows will discuss their progress and challenges. Torres wants the support that IUPLR offers to be more than just reading through the dissertations and providing a monthly check. “The idea is to form a national cohort of fellows who will be able to be supportive among themselves as they go out into their professions,” she says. HISPANIC OUTLOOK
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I NENNOTVOARTI INOGN S & P R O G R A M S M Since its inception in 1983 IUPLR has been presenting conferences on Latino studies and has encouraged exchanges between Latino scholars. In the late 1990s Jose E. Limon, who at the time was the director of the Mexican-American Studies Center at the University of Texas, named IUPLR’s biannual conference Siglo XXI. On the years that IUPLR does not hold the Siglo XXI conference it holds its Latino Art Now! conference. Although their fellowships technically start in July, IUPLR has invited the six fellows to attend its Siglo XXI conference at Notre Dame this month. The fellows will present their work and meet with Torres and their mentors. “This will be the first opportunity to bring the fellows together,” she says. When their fellowships actually begin they will take part in IUPLR’s summer institute. Torres has taken a close look at the work the six fellows have done and is designing a summer program that will address their specific needs. “Whether they feel they need help getting things published or whether they need help strategizing. Those kind of things are what we are going to address during the summer institute,” she says. The grant provides the fellows with professional development offered by a number of experts. The fellows will meet journal editors and acquisition editors from a variety of university presses who will speak to them about academic publishing. And for those fellows who are interested in working outside of academia upon completing their doctorate, the director of the Illinois humanities council will talk with them about the opportunities for PhDs in the humanities to work in state councils. To give the fellows a feel for the hiring process, individuals who have chaired search committees will talk with them about what they look for in a job candidate and walk them through the hiring process. So the IUPLR program actually comes full circle, those who complete their fellowship this year will attend next year’s summer institute and share their experiences with a brand new cohort of six fellows. IUPLR comprises 25 university-based Latino research centers that promote policy-focused research to advance the Latino intellectual presence in the U.S.
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Hispanic doctoral candidates who are researching Latino studies often find themselves paired with mentors who know little about Latino literature and culture and have never even read a Hispanic scholar. Now in its 31st year IUPLR also works through interdisciplinary and interuniversity research working groups. Over the years it has created groups on the political economy of Latinos, questions of culture and electoral behavior. “These three were very important in contributing new paradigms to the study of Latino studies,” says Torres.
ILNENAODVE AR TSI HO INPS/ R&O P LE R OMG OR DA EMLSS
Improving the Academic Skills of Hispanic Graduate Students By Paul Hoogeveen
ispanic-Serving Institutions face several challenges in improving services for Hispanic and other minority students, many of whom are first-generation college goers. This is particularly true at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), where Hispanics make up approximately 55 percent of the student population and 36 percent of the graduate enrollment. In 2010, CSUDH was awarded a $2.4 million grant via the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) Title-V, Part B-PPOHA (Promoting Post-baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans) program to fund a new enrichment called Promoting Excellence in Graduate Studies (PEGS). As PEGS neared the end of its five-year run, in November 2014, CSUDH announced that it had been awarded a second PPOHA grant in the amount of $2.9 million to fund a new, more comprehensive program – Graduate Writing Institute for Excellence (GWIE). “Hispanic and other low-income students at CSUDH experience a range of significant academic challenges that include low graduation rates, ineffective writing and research skills, limited opportunities to conduct original scholarship, and lack of experiential knowledge such as academic and professional internships,” said Dr. Leena Furtado, project director and principle investigator of GWIE. “The Graduate Writing Institute for Excellence is a multi-pathway, comprehensive, modern academic center offering an array of development services to advance the overall level of students’ scholarly achievement and professional excellence.”
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Furtado said that the basis for developing GWIE was founded in the need to address three fundamental factors affecting student achievement: insufficient preparation, insufficient financing, and insufficient support. From this, GWIE was developed with three
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INNOVATIONS & PROGRAMS primary goals, each with its own set of measurable objectives. First, the program will “promote discipline-specific research, curricular modifications and enhancements, academic/professional services and activities to meet the specific educational needs of the target population within their programs of study.” Second, it will “measurably advance the academic skill-sets of students from the targeted population, in the areas of graduate-level reading, writing, and research skills within their discipline.” And third, it will “build practical and professional skills within the targeted student population via academic and/or professional partnerships and/or internships.” GWIE is intended to leverage the success of PEGS, which served over 4,800 students in its five-year run. PEGS programs included Independent Study for Research Writing, The Research Writing Virtual Lab, and Research Writing Workshops “PEGS grant program services validated the additional enrichment and support required by students
… many will discover to their dismay that they are simply unprepared for the rigors of graduate-level academia, and therefore they may seek guidance and support from a mentor with whom they can identify…” Dr. Leena Furtado, project director and principle investigator Graduate Writing Institute for Excellence, CSU Dominguez Hills
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and faculty to improve student success and completion of degree program studies,” said Furtado. “The PEGS grant helped CSUDH reach the threshold level of student excellence by supporting students across campus both in the graduate and undergraduate programs.” Nevertheless, she said, GWIE is not a direct continuation of PEGS, although it will build upon certain aspects of PEGS programs. One of the more successful means of implementing support in PEGS was oneon-one tutoring; GWIE will build on this through implementation of Cross-Aged, Peer-Assisted Student (CAPS) learning models. “CAPS learning has been, de facto, an informal model utilized by PEGS since its inception, but one which will be improved upon with the new GWIE grant,” said Furtado. “The unique leadership and academic characteristic of CAPS or formerly known as PEGS Graduate Writing Consultants (GWCs) are that they comprise of doctoral and completed master’s program students. The new CAPS Mentors, like PEGS Graduate Writing Consultants (GWCs), will demonstrate academic and scholarly leadership due to advanced studies; moreover, they will receive specialized training in order to meet the needs of the particular students they serve.” Furtado further explained that CAPS Mentors possessing discipline-specific skills and knowledge will be employed, and will work with faculty Fellows within their discipline, allowing GWIE programs to take advantage of relationships with other campus departments. “As Shakespeare once wrote, ‘every like is not the same,’” said Furtado. “So although PEGS and the new GWIE share similar programs, services, and resources, along with similar corresponding goals and objectives, they are decidedly different enterprises. Nonetheless, they share the same vision: with both entities, we see the need to adequately address the academic needs of the targeted demographic, doing so in novel and unique ways that encourage the acquisition and development of both agency and authorship that is independent yet collaborative.” Furtado said that GWIE will be open to all students at CSUDH. The program has been designed to provide a broad array of services to meet the variety of needs of underrepresented minority students. “Most Hispanic graduate students who would take advantage of the programs and services of the new GWIE would do so under a number of different scenarios (or a combination of scenarios), Furtado said. “For example, many will discover to their dismay that
they are simply unprepared for the rigors of graduate level academia, and therefore they may seek guidance and support from a mentor with whom they can identify, one who has successfully navigated these turbulent waters before. On the other hand, they may discover that they possess insufficient funds to continue pursuing a graduate degree, so they may come to the GWEI in order to apply for any number of research grants or perhaps also to secure employment as a CAPS Mentor.” The bottom line, according to Furtado, is that most students at CSUDH who need services through GWIE simply lack adequate support to address their unique needs outside the classroom. For example, many CSUDH students are bilingual, which can be an asset, but might also present unique problems as they learn to write in standard written English at the graduate level. Tracking outcomes of the GWIE will most play an important role evaluating and ine-tuning the program as it matures. In fact, said Furtado, reporting data that demonstrates the initiative’s goals and objectives to the federal government is a requisite part of the grant directive. “An external evaluator team will perform all summative and formative assessment service guidance, evaluation and analysis,” she explained. “The evaluation team will utilize a variety of instruments to collect data, instruments that will also be pedagogical in that they
will actually contribute to novel learning, rather than simply documenting it. For example, pre- and post-assessment tools will be employed to measure learning progress, and these very tools will include subtle, yet discrete, built-in curricula such that the students are taught before they are taught—that is, students will be asked questions and given information that stimulates cognition and challenges critical thinking, this in order that they may be better situated to take advantage of the various structured learning-opportunities inherent to the formal lesson plan itself.” To Furtado, GWIE is ultimately not a CSUDH-specific initiative in terms of its utility. She believes that just as it has grown out of previous work, so can it provide a model for future initiatives, or for new programs at other institutions. “As much as the new GWIE reflects many of the approaches associated with other successful models,” she said, “it will also create new programs and services, presenting them in ways that meet the unique needs of the targeted demographic, and doing so in a manner that can be easily adopted and adapted by similar programs at HSIs elsewhere.” As we head toward a future in which 1 in 4 students will be of Hispanic background, the need to improve college participation rates among Hispanics will become more urgent – and new programs like GWIE will play an increasingly important role toward that end.
Own It! Faculty Members Have Their Own Individual Brands By Marvin Lozano, EdD and Miquela Rivera, PhD hat comes to mind when you think of marketing? A brand? Slogans and logos? Or promises and guarantees? The entrepreneurial mindset considers a brand to be one’s reputation. It is the sum total of one’s actions and beliefs. If you do what you say you will do and provide a quality service or product on time at the agreed-upon price you will have repeat sales and loyal customers. Customers will have confidence in you because you consistently deliver what they need and want. And so it is in the classroom. The professor who is known for being prepared, organized, open and fair is respected and admired. The instructor who listens to the students and works to meet their needs gains a reputation for caring. Latino students – especially those entering higher education with some trepidation – will often evaluate the professor based largely upon the instructor’s brand, not the research conducted or latest publications. The Latino student will quickly decide if the professor does as he says and is even-handed and fair in his approach to working with others. And that same student will often decide to stay or go based upon the professor’s integrity and caring. If either is missing, the personal connection seems lost or nonexistent for the student. But if a student feels that the instructor is a person of integrity – that the words, actions, beliefs and ideology all fit together cohesively; that the professor cares about the students and is there to help them solve a problem, then that student will feel a bond with the instructor – even if the student has been one of the quieter ones in the group. Getting something for your time, effort and money is a great feeling – especially when you are the student sitting in a class that you weren’t convinced would even be worth taking. Just as happy customers are the best advertising, word spreads about an instructor’s brand. Beyond the end-of-term teacher evaluations routinely collected from students and posted on the Internet, the student grapevine informs those in the pipeline which instructors are “good” and which to avoid. (And “good” doesn’t always mean easy. Students are very clear about distinguishing between those two traits). Like a business brand that assures you the same hamburger whether you are in Albuquerque or Harlem, a reliable instructor
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can assure the student that he will receive quality instruction and timely feedback in the class. And that is worth a student coming back for – it leads to retention and success. The natural, informal marketing that occurs in higher education results from spreading the news about an instructor’s brand. The professor’s reputation spreads, just like a brand being advertised in the media. When the student experiences the professor as the consummate professional who is timely, open to the viewpoints of others (rather than pushing only his own ideology), up-to-date on the research, approachable, concerned and satisfied with his work, the student feels like he is getting what he needs. He will be a return customer. He will recommend the instructor with the good reputation to others. He might even seek the professor out for mentoring or other guidance. Customers – and students – know when they’ve got a good deal and when they’ve got a lemon. An instructor’s brand – his or her reputation – also has a competitive advantage. Witness the classes that have waiting lists of students wanting to take the course - not simply because it is required or fits the schedule, but because the professor is reputed to be the best and worth the wait. Latino students will wait for the best and do their best because they are brand loyal. And in higher education, a good reputation is the best marketing strategy to reach the students. Marvin Lozano, EdD is a faculty member in the School of Business & Information Technology at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque. He is an experienced small business consultant, commercial banker and entrepreneur. He has been honored as a USDA National Hispanic Fellow and as a Sam Walton Fellow. Miquela Rivera, PhD is a licensed psychologist in Albuquerque with years of clinical, early childhood and consultative experience. Dr. Rivera’s column, “Priming the Pump” appears in each issue of Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. She lives in Albuquerque.
Graduate Schools: A New Day By Gustavo A. Mellander
istorically, foreign students were sought out and welcomed to our campuses because, among other reasons, they enriched the American student body’s experience. But their numbers were very small.
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Changing times After the World War II the Marshall Plan, the Fulbright grants and other programs brought many talented foreign students to America. Their successes were impressive. Many stayed and unfortunately precipitated a brain drain from their home countries. Once again unintended consequences. After Silicon Valley changed the nation, the need for entrepreneurial scientists exploded. They came from all over the world. Today three out of every five Silicon Valley millionaires are foreign born. Foreign students continued to come as well. Unfortunately most of them had to return home upon graduation as per their country’s requirements. Those policies might not be as unreasonable as they appear at first blush. After all most foreign students were heavily subsidized by their governments to study here. Secondly, since many foreign countries had suffered severe brain-drain depletions, they wanted to have their citizens, once trained, return home. Some at the core questioned why we should train foreigners, at American taxpayer expense, and then allow then to return home where the knowledge they learned in America would benefit their homeland and not us. Others proposed that if we needed more graduate school graduates we should train more Americans. Many foreign graduates did not want to return home in part because few jobs were available while American employers wanted them to remain. So pressure was applied on Congress to provide special visas to allow more highly skilled professionals to immigrate and work in America. STEM Aware that America could not meet its science needs with foreign-born students and appreciating the homegrown argument, George W. Bush proposed enriched funding for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines a few years ago. Enough Democrats in Congress agreed with him and significant new funding was approved. I have encouraged Hispanics to study and pursue STEM careers because a variety of good professional opportunities are available as well as scholarships to fund their studies. That is particularly pertinent today since so many recent college graduates can’t secure good professional positions. The Department of Commerce has estimated STEM professions will expand 1.7 times faster than non-STEM occupations between 2008 and 2018. That’s welcome news, since the nation needs around a million new highly skilled jobs to ensure the U.S. remains competitive among the world’s top innovators. Further, in 2012, the federal government announced it plans to increase STEM jobs
by over 1 million in the next 10 years. Given the present high demand, STEM positions are among the most lucrative in the country. They earn higher salaries and face lower unemployment threats. Specifically, in 2013 the annual average wage for all STEM jobs was $79,640, as per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s 71 percent more than the national annual average wage of $46,440 for all jobs.
Shrinking Enrollments and Graduate Education As noted, many college graduates cannot get jobs in the fields they studied. That dismal reality of not securing a good job after college graduation has not been lost on high school students. For the past three years college enrollment has declined. That reversal has, I am sure, sent shock waves through many admissions offices. I suspect graduate school deans who see their traditional market shrinking can’t be pleased either. As a dean at several universities, I helped establish over 20 master’s programs and three doctoral ones. Those were heady days: a high percent of our students graduated and secured good positions or promotions. But those happy days are gone. Today, students often enroll in graduate programs without a good prospect of meaningful employment upon graduation. Many of them don’t even realize that and too few graduate schools inform them about this very real possibility. It’s a scandal. Graduate schools should be painfully honest about professional opportunities when they recruit students. Very few are. Students have a responsibility as well. They must try and understand what the future holds. Many government and foundation reports project the future quite accurately. Caveat Emptor! I know graduate schools have built-in expenses, such as tenured faculty and facilities. I also know some university administrations look upon graduate education as a cash cow. Graduate students do not draw upon university resources as much as undergraduates do and they invariably pay higher tuition. Some graduate departments are a place to park superannuated professors and pray they will retire soon. Is there a solution? Of course there is. Every academic program should be evaluated rigorously every five years to see if it is still viable, meeting its goals, serving the students, etc. Among those goals should be a thorough review of what happened to recent graduates. What are they doing? How do they rate their graduate school experience? I know some universities do that but many do not.
The murky future For years graduate schools have been forced to recruit overseas to meet their enrollment quotas. The days of enriching the student body experience by recruiting foreign born are long gone. Nowadays, it’s all too often a matter of securing needed income. HISPANIC OUTLOOK
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For years graduate schools could count on ever-growing enrollments from China; that has changed, too. India also provided a steady stream of graduate students. After the World War II, India embarked on a higher education plan to educate its brightest students. And they did. Thousands graduated as scientists, engineers, chemists and so on. Unfortunately, many of them were unable to secure employment because India’s government was quite anti-business. It was hard to expand existing businesses and virtually impossible to start new ones. Graduates were forced to take menial positions and many immigrated to Europe or to the Americas. Recent changes in government procedures led to a far friendlier attitude toward business. It nurtured a financial boom and fresh opportunities for hundreds of thousands. The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) reports that for the second year in a row, applications to American graduate schools from India increased significantly. Some say it is a result of heavy recruitment by American universities. Others point out that British institutions have limited the number of Indian students they accept. Whatever the reasons, more and more U.S. graduate schools look to India to fill their classrooms which until recently were filled by thousands of Chinese students. As noted, in the past two years, Chinese student applications fell precipitously. For the better part of a decade, Chinese graduate applications and enrollments had climbed upward, regularly and robustly. With double-digit annual growth, Chinese students came to account for fully one-third of all foreign graduate students on American campuses. Their presence helped offset lagging interest in graduate education among American students. Dismissed by some observers a year ago as an aberration, the shrinking of the Chinese market can no longer be ignored as a one-year blip. Applications from Chinese students dipped this year 1 percent, following a 3 percent drop last year. The CGS report continues, “The number of overall international applications, up 7 percent, probably would have declined, too, except for amazing growth, of 32 percent, from India.” Some assume India will be the next China, the new spark plug of the international graduate-student market. After all, in 2013, Indian applications increased 22 percent and enrollments were up an amazing 40 percent.
The Good News: Hispanics and Graduate Education What about Hispanics? The news is good. More are going to graduate schools every year. There was a time when I encouraged students to quit their jobs, borrow money and pursue master’s degrees and doctorates. It made sense then. Jobs were plentiful and paid well. A graduate degree was almost a guaranteed passport into the much touted middle class. But times have changed. I no longer recommend that course of action. Now, I suggest keep your present job, attend part time and try not to accumulate enormous debt. As noted, Hispanics, in the past few decades have advanced significantly in earning graduate degrees. The federal government collects data on degrees conferred by sex and race. The latest statistics, published in 2014, are a bit dated but they do provide a basis to compare.
Females In an historical reversal, female graduate graduation rates are higher than males. From 1999-2000 to 2009-10, the percentage of undergraduate degrees earned by females remained about
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the same. It was between 60 and 62 percent for associate's degrees and between 57 and 58 percent for bachelor's degrees. In contrast, during the same period, the percentages of both master's and doctor's degrees earned by females increased. Further, within each racial/ethnic group, women earned the majority of degrees at all levels in 2009-10. Black females earned 68 percent of associate's degrees, 66 percent of bachelor's degrees, 71 percent of master's degrees, and 65 percent of all doctor's degrees awarded to black students. Obviously they progressed far more than black males. Hispanic females set similar records versus Hispanic males. They earned 62 percent of associate's degrees, 61 percent of bachelor's degrees, 64 percent of master's degrees, and 55 percent of all doctor's degrees awarded to Hispanic students. From 1999-2000 to 2009-10, the number of degrees earned among U.S. residents increased for students of all racial/ethnic groups for each level of degree, but at varying rates. For associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees, the change in percentage distribution of degree recipients was characterized by an increase in the numbers of degrees conferred to black and Hispanic students. For doctor's degrees, the change in percentage distribution of degree recipients saw an increase in the numbers of degrees conferred to Hispanic students. A further examination shows that the number of associate's degrees earned by Hispanic students more than doubled from 1999-2000 to 2009-10, a significant increase of 118 percent. The number earned by black students increased by 89 percent. As a result, blacks earned 14 percent and Hispanics earned 13 percent of all associate's degrees awarded in the 2009-10 academic year, up from 11 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in 1999-2000. During the same time period, the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to black students increased by 53 percent, while the number awarded to Hispanic students increased by 87 percent. In 2009 -10, black students earned 10 percent and Hispanics earned 9 percent of all bachelor's degrees conferred, versus the 9 and 6 percent, respectively, earned in 1999 - 2000. Similarly, the numbers of master's degrees earned by black and Hispanic students more than doubled from 19992000 to 2009-10, an increase of 109 percent and 125 percent, respectively. As a result, among in 2009-10, black students earned 12 percent and Hispanics earned 7 percent of all master's degrees conferred, up from 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively, in 1999-2000. Significantly, the number of doctor's degrees awarded increased by 60 percent for Hispanic students and by 47 percent for black students. For greater detail see: U.S. Dept. Ed., NCES The Condition of Education 2012. Bottom line I know all these statistics are a bit turgid and numbing. But it’s good to have that data for the clear happy news is that more Hispanics are completing college degrees at all levels including doctorates. The increases are impressive and portray a lot of ambition and determination. And not just among students but among those who nurtured them. All are to be congratulated. May the trend continue as new graduates encourage others. . Dr. Mellander was a college president for 20 years.
By Margaret Sands Orchowski
A SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE? NOT WHAT MIGHT YOU THINK Mitch Daniels, the former governor of Indiana and now president of Purdue University told PBS anchor Judy Woodruff of an exciting secret of college success that his university had discovered after extensive study and surveys. “What is important is not where you went to school but how engaged the school was with you. What really matters is quality of engagement.” For instance, did one professor show interest in you? Did you have experiential learning experiences that went with your academics? Were teachers actively engaged with teaching (or did they just throw on a video or an online element with a famous professor and leave the room)? “The most surprising finding was that there was no statistically significant difference between private or so-called elite or larger schools,” Daniels said. “Higher costs don’t produce better outcomes.” A student can have a very successful college education wherever there is a focus on engagement rather than on bells and whistles (like fancy buildings, climbing walls and gourmet food). “Students and faculty heed the lessons here,” Daniels said. “Search for a school that is prepared to offer engagement experiences and where faculty members practice active teaching. Pay close attention to cost because very likely the higher sticker price will not buy greater quality or success.”
MAYBE SAVING FOR COLLEGE IS NOT SUCH A GREAT IDEA AFTER ALL It goes against everything we have been told, but it’s beginning to look like parents and grandparents sacrificing for two decades to save for college for their children and grandchildren might not be worth it. For one thing, it’s getting harder for middle-class workers to put aside enough savings to equal the $100,000-$300,000 or more it will cost for many students to graduate. Then there is the fact that usually college savings are taken off of needs documents, making a student ineligible for funds they might get if there hadn’t been savings. Now there is the 529 savings plan that the federal government has been touting for over 10 years. The funds are supposed to be put away in a special account and used tax free for college expenses when the time comes. But President Obama announced in his State of the Union speech that he would ask Congress to tax these programs that are increasingly popular with middle-class families, in order to finance a more targeted college subsidy program mainly for lower-income students. A furious outcry by Democrats as well as Republicans caused the Obama administration to announce in mid-January that they would no longer support the tax proposal; but it’s in the already printed president’s 2016 budget. And the president voted to make the plan permanent when he was a senator. In the months to come he will have to prove that he is refocusing on helping the middle class.
SPORTS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT LEARNING SPORTSMANSHIP American colleges are unique in the world in that from the start, there was the belief that smart college students could also be athletes and vice versa. Colleges supported sports with the philosophy that a fit body was as important as a stimulated mind. Sports were also supposed to teach another ideal not so often found in academia: sportsmanship -- meaning learning how to lose fair and square. The ideal was that competition led to the best man (or woman) winning; all the huffing and puffing on the field of play would be absolved with a comradely get-together with one’s opponents after the game. It is sad that big college sports now means universities make outrageous amounts of money off of the free labor of their top winning student athletes, many who never graduate or receive a good college education. Some are injured for life with no compensation. It is way past time to go back to collegiate sports and leave professional sports to the professionals. A SIMPLE WAY TO TEST AMERICAN STUDIES Many students are deficient in numerous fields of study when they enter college and need remedial courses. It’s easy to test for deficiencies in math or English grammar. But what about American civics and history? What are the standards for those subjects? Arizona has come up with a standard test that could be used nationally: the test for citizenship. So quick: What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called?
Margaret (Peggy Sands) Orchowski was a reporter for AP South America and for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. She earned a doctorate in international educational administration from the University of California-Santa Barbara. She lives in Washington, D.C., where she was an editor at Congressional Quarterly and now is a freelance journalist and columnist covering Congress and higher education.
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HUNTER COLLEGE
ASSISTANT, ASSOCIATE, FULL PROFESSOR
History (Africa and the World) Job Opening ID: 12532 The Department of History at Hunter College, CUNY invites applications for an open-rank professorship in Africa and the World, with any chronological focus, with an anticipated starting date on or about September 1, 2016. The department is especially interested in scholars who address the history of Africa and Africans in innovative regional, global or comparative contexts. Review of applications will be in September 2015 and will continue until the position is filled. To learn more about the department, visit us athttp://hunter.cuny.edu/history. Ph.D. in history is required at the time of appointment. We seek candidates with a strong record of scholarship, demonstrated teaching abilities, and a commitment to service. Compensation provided commensurate with qualifications and experience. Applications must be submitted on-line by accessing the CUNYfirst jobs portal: http://www.cuny.edu/employment/jobsearch.html. Search job number 12532. Separately, please have three referees send their letters to: African History Search Committee, History Department Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065 - OR - Email to: history.search@hunter.cuny.edu Hunter College/CUNY is committed to enhancing our diverse academic community by actively encouraging people with disabilities, minorities, veterans, and women to apply. We take pride in our pluralistic community and continue to seek excellence through diversity and inclusion. EO/AA Employer.
THE HISPANIC OUTLOOK IN HIGHER EDUCATION MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 23, 2015
www.HispanicOutlook.com
VOLUME 25 • NUMBER 10
Vice President for Administration and Finance
Latinas Lead take the
Women in Higher Education Issue
For 25 years The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine has been a top information news source and the sole Hispanic education magazine for the higher education community as well as those involved in running our institutions of higher learning. Contact Us at Phone: (201) 587-8800 E-mail: info@hispanicoutlook.com WWW.HISPANICOUTLOOK.COM
The College of the Holy Cross seeks nominations and applications for the position of Vice President for Administration and Finance. The institution, a Jesuit, Catholic liberal arts college, is searching for a dynamic leader with strong financial, planning, and management skills to join a committed team of senior administrators led by the President, Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J. Holy Cross has just completed a comprehensive strategic planning process and embarked on a $400 million fund-raising campaign to realize its goals. The next several years will be an extraordinary period in the College’s development as a combination of ambitious enhancements to academic, spiritual and student life, and major capital projects are brought to fruition. The Vice President for Administration and Finance position presents an outstanding opportunity for an accomplished professional to play a leading role in fulfilling the vision and mission of the College. One of the nation’s most distinguished liberal arts institutions, the College of the Holy Cross offers an academically rigorous, personalized undergraduate education in the Jesuit tradition. Founded in 1843 on a hill overlooking the city of Worcester, Holy Cross’ picturesque campus is home to 2,900 students, 300 faculty, and 700 staff. The College is animated by a warm community of people; one that values intelligence, passion, discernment, and service engagement. The role of Vice President for Administration and Finance requires strong technical skills, deep understanding of the unique qualities of a liberal arts college, full appreciation of the central role of academic and student life in the institution, commitment to the Jesuit and Catholic mission of the College, and a willingness to work collaboratively and creatively with the leadership team. As part of its mission, Holy Cross seeks to build and sustain a campus community that embraces diversity and inclusion. The ideal candidate, while not required to be Catholic, should have a strong understanding of Jesuit values and the Catholic intellectual tradition and how both are central to the mission of the College and life of the community. Please visit http://www.baasearch.com/current.opportunities/VP-AdminHC.pdf for a detailed position description. All inquiries and correspondence relating to the position should be directed to: Matthew S. Cullinan, Ph.D. or Martin M. Baker Baker and Associates LLC mcullinan@baasearch.com or mbaker@baasearch.com
HUNTER COLLEGE
LIBRARY MANAGER
Center for Puerto Rican Studies Full/Part Time: Full-Time • Regular/Temporary: Regular • Job ID: 12615 GENERAL DUTIES: Manages a Library unit or major service area. Manages one or more services such as Circulation, Access/User Services, or Library Technology. Working closely with the Chief Librarian and faculty, recommends and implements long- and short- term plans for library services Evaluates innovative technologies, databases, and methodologies, makes recommendations related to same and participates in their acquisition. Participates in acquiring materials in all formats and media Assists in developing and monitoring Library policies and user service standards Conducts outreach and training activities related to assigned area(s) Supervises and/or trains staff, students, and others assigned to the Library May perform highly specialized work in one or more library disciplines, such as archives, technology and systems, etc. May serve as Office Manager, managing financial operations and budgets, equipment, technology, security and building maintenance requirements. Performs related duties as assigned. CONTRACT TITLE: Higher Education Associate FLSA: Exempt CAMPUS SPECIFIC INFORMATION: The Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueiios, the only university-based institute dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States, seeks a Library Manager for the Centro Library and Archives. Specific Responsibilities: • Supervises library staff, operations and services. • Create and design digital media resources targeting the Puerto Rican Studies community at the national level. • Create, index, and catalog bibliographic multi-media and digital resources following professional standards. • Compose bibliographic/digital objects data sets and make them readily available for uploading to the Centro web site. • Provide research consultation and follow up requests in person, phone and email. • Collaborate with Centro staff and participate in the evaluation, acquisition and organization of digital collections. • Support and promote staff development. • Participate in Centro-wide committees. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's Degree and six years' related experience required; MLS degree and/or Master's in a related field may be substituted for a portion of the experience requirement. OTHER QUALIFICATIONS: • Extensive knowledge of Puerto Rican history and culture with special emphasis on knowledge of digital humanities regarding Puerto Ricans in the United States and an excellent grasp on information in Puerto Rican studies including digital based resources desired. • Strong and effective oral and written communication skills at a professional level in both Spanish and English are necessary. • Experience within aspects of virtual/digital libraries initiatives, including digital objects, content, metadata, evaluation, design, user studies, and development. • Experience and/or interest in working with Puerto Rican faculty, researchers and students as well as with Puerto Rican non-profit, community and governmental organizations. • Must be able to work collaboratively within a team environment consisting of archivists, librarians and college assistants, in addition to Centro-wide teams, research and administrative staff. • Must also be available on nights and weekends. COMPENSATION: Commensurate with experience ($55,602 - $82,299). HOW TO APPLY: Applications must be submitted on-line by accessing the CUNY Portal on City University of New York job website (http://www.cuny.edu/ employment.html) and following the CUNYfirst Job System Instructions. Current users of the site should access their established accounts; new users should follow the instructions to set up an account. To search for this vacancy, click on Search Job Listings, select More Options To Search For CUNY Jobs and enter the Job Opening ID number. The required material, as stated on the CUNYfirst vacancy notice, for the application package must be uploaded as ONE file in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, or text format. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
56085 CUNYCOLLEGE HUNTER Hispanic Outlook CENTER ARCHIVIST 1/2 pg Centro3.625” de Estudios X 9.75 Puertorriquenos Full/Part Time: Full-Time • Regular/Temporary: Regular • Job ID: 11681 3.23.15 GENERAL DUTIES: • Manages one or more archival programs in a College or Unit. • Administers archival programs including the survey, accession, arrangement, cataloguing, preservation, exhibition, and use of archival materials • Promotes library resource development, identifying resources, researching and arranging funding, and overseeing acquisitions • Creates short- and long-term plans covering staff, services, facilities, collection conditions, use of digital technology, and programs for delivery of library and archive information services • Oversees construction or maintenance and administers the operations and security of the archival facility • Coordinates educational and public outreach programs, such as tours, workshops, lectures, and classes • Develops and implements policies, rules, procedures relating to the archival program • Supervises and provide in-service training to staff, interns, and other assigned personnel • May assist with the overall administration of campus Library programs • Performs related duties as assigned. CONTRACT TITLE: Higher Education Associate FLSA: Exempt CAMPUS SPECIFIC INFORMATION: The Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro) is a research center dedicated to the study and interpretation of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States. Centro is the primary repository of archival and library materials dedicated to stateside Puerto Ricans. Centro is committed to facilitating research projects useful to those in community organizations, public policy, and academia. The Center's Archivist will be primarily assigned to oversee digitization projects, for example, s/he will be assigned to oversee the recently created Oral History Project and the collection of primary data that complements existing and new archival collections. S/he will also be in charge of organizing the hundreds of existing oral histories and to make all this content available to researchers including the development of descriptive guides, the analysis of content and publication of findings in academic outlets, the development of digital products and the application of preservation standards to these collections. S/he will also oversee special projects combining primary and secondary data thematically where archival collections would be contextualized and made available to specialists and the general public using CMS such as Omeka, Collective Access and through web pages using Drupal, Plone or other similar programs. Specifically, duties include: • Writes summaries of oral histories and oversees process to transcribe and add metadata to files and make them available to the public. • Manages digitization projects and special collections that combine primary and secondary sources. • Oversees the acquisition and processing of organizational records and personal papers donated to the Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos. • Authors appraisals and description of materials. • Assists in weeding, inventorying and in the preservation of new collections. • Assists the Director in outreach efforts and donor relations. • Supervises and trains college assistants and work-study students for archival projects. • Works collaboratively with staff in a team environment on a variety of projects. • Participates in staff and CUNY-wide committees. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor's degree and six years' related experience; training in Library Science and/or Archives, such as an MLS and/or MA in a related program. OTHER QUALIFICATIONS: • Working knowledge of Sharepoint, Omeka or Collective Access or similar DCM, and Drupal, Plone or similar web development software. • Experienced in conducting and managing archival projects. • Professional experience processing archival collections, multimedia materials and special projects. • Demonstrated understanding of the principles of arrangement and description, and familiarity with archival standards, specifically DACS. • Ability to recognize archival preservation issues and to apply basic preservation techniques. • Knowledge of the history Puerto Rican populations and communities in the US. • Working knowledge of English and Spanish languages. • Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing. • Strong organization and time-management skills; attention to accuracy and detail is essential. • Working knowledge of Microsoft Office including Access and Encoded Archival Description (EAD) COMPENSATION: $55,602 - $60,067; commensurate with experience. HOW TO APPLY: Applications must be submitted on-line by accessing the CUNY Portal on City University of New York job website (http://www.cuny.edu/employment.html) and following the CUNYfirst Job System Instructions. Current users of the site should access their established accounts; new users should follow the instructions to set up an account. To search for this vacancy, click on Search Job Listings, select More Options To Search For CUNY Jobs and enter the Job Opening ID number. The required material, as stated on the CUNYfirst vacancy notice, for the application package must be uploaded as ONE file in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .rtf, or text format. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
CLOSING DATE: The search will remain open until the position is filled.
CLOSING DATE: The search will remain open until the position is filled.
CUNY is an AA/EO/IRCA/ADA Employer
CUNY is an AA/EO/IRCA/ADA Employer
Priming the Pump…
Helping Latino Students Cope with Life’s Transitions By Miquela Rivera, PhD
hange is an integral, inevitable part of life. Children need preparation from an early age to face and approach grief and loss with respect and some understanding, knowing that it will not consume but instead change them. Children need a sense of permanency and stability so that they can weather the losses that life presents – natural losses that simply occur as a part of living. Most people can remember – if even faintly – how it hurt to lose a beloved pet. Children form attachments when there is consistency, so when things change, such as moving to a new home, they miss the old place. Friends in school become their world, but friends move. Families move. Teachers leave. Schools close. Or they become “learning centers” where no one goes to class anymore. Latino students preparing for higher education deserve to know that, while the prospects are exciting and the challenges loom large in college, there will also be a sense of loss-- the beginning of a series of natural losses across the years that go with leaving the familiar to explore the unknown. Anyone going through loss – whatever the magnitude – could use some support. Expressing pain, sorrow and anger, reminiscing about the good times, and wondering aloud what things will be like given the change are all part of the process. The Hispanic family who doesn’t recognize or dismisses a young child’s sorrow as silly misses a golden opportunity to help a child learn a crucial lesson: life brings change and change can be good and sometimes painful – but either way, they will keep living – and life will be a little different. The person undergoing the loss must redefine how they will live given the change because life is now different. With major losses a person won’t “get over it.” He won’t forget it. She won’t simply move on. Instead, whoever faces loss will figure out how life will be now that things are different, starting from the point of the loss. She will define how the person or situation lost has become a part of herself – a personal redefinition given the change. Some of life’s changes and transitions are predictable. Children’s transitions through school – from home to pre-school, elementary to middle
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school, on to high school and higher education – all exact change and require an acquisition of new skills and abilities. The change might be great or subtle, but each demands an accommodation to new ways of doing things. (Yes, the first backpack is still a thrill for any four-year-old and a locker is the biggest deal to someone entering middle school). Other family transitions like separation, divorce and remarriage present ongoing adjustments, too. And since those changes are typically not of the child’s choosing, the loss can be hard. Yes, they adjust – but the wish for an intact family seldom dies young. The birth of a new baby brings excitement and joy (along with a pretty good case of fatigue), but even a happy family will sometimes quietly admit that, though they love their newest family member, they kind of miss the way things used to be. Whether there is warning or not, death is a sobering fact that hits loved ones hard. Redefining life without the beloved takes time, regardless of how old you are. And children will eventually face the natural losses that accompany age as their parents grow older. The vibrant parents that were always able to jump to it move more slowly or can’t keep track of things as well as they used to. Change and loss are typically not totally bad; they are hard, and painful and sometimes they linger. But the losses that go with everyday life – the ones we need to talk with students about – are the ones that prepare us for the unexpected changes that go with higher education. Like looking at old things in new ways, saying good-bye to old friends, saying good-bye to new ones and saying hello to your new self as you grow and change through college. If students are allowed to talk and process natural losses early, they will be prepared to handle in what life brings. And they will realize that, the older they get, the less they actually know – but they will weather the change and loss anyway. Miquela Rivera, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with years of clinical, early childhood and consultative experience. She lives in Albuquerque, N.M.