Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza, a higher education Ph.D. student and member of the Minority-Serving Institution Student Council at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), is the lead author of a paper in a special issue of AAPI Nexus.
AAPI Nexus is published by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center Press and focuses on policies, practices, and community research to benefit the nation’s Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
Espinoza’s paper is titled “In the Hands of Students: The Charge of a Minority-Serving Institution Student Council at a Dual-Designated Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution and Hispanic-Serving Institution,” and she wrote it in conjunction with her advisor, Renee Watson, associate vice president of student life at UNLV.
Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions are defined under the Higher Education Act (HEA) as colleges or universities with an undergraduate enrollment that is at least 10 percent Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander.
A Hispanic-Serving Institution is defined as an accredited, degree-granting, public or private nonprofit institution of higher education with 25%, or more, total undergraduate Hispanic full-time equivalent student enrollment.
According to Espinoza’s abstract, UNLV has received dual designations as an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution and Hispanic-Serving Institution. In her research paper, she describes the creation of the Minority-Serving Institution Student Council at UNLV, highlights activities and initiatives from its first year, and offers a model for other institutions to create similar student-centered committees and task forces.
This spring, Espinoza is serving as a graduate teaching assistant. “I am on a number of other research projects, all related to MSIs, racial formation, and racially minoritized student advocacy efforts,” she told UNLV. “Finally, fun fact: I am one of two students serving on the National AANAPISI Steering Committee along with university leaders across the U.S. and U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands.
Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) programs serve Asian Americans and Native American Pacific Islanders and low-income individuals.
Espinoza’s biography page states that her research interests include race-conscious higher education law and policies, currently focusing on Minority-Serving Institutions such as Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)) and race and ethnicity data disaggregation. She attended Long Beach City College and transferred to the University of Hawai’i at Manoa where she earned her B.A. in Biology and Anthropology and M.Ed. in Educational Administration.
📣 Learn more about one of our grad student @UMsisc members, Kristine Jan Espinoza @kageceratops in @UNLV Today!
Her "Count Us In" initiative advocates for the collection & analysis of #disaggregated ethnicity options beyond larger racialized categorieshttps://t.co/HoLXvpOoBm pic.twitter.com/vNfOzs76Dj
— UNLV_MSISC (@UMsisc) May 5, 2022
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