2020 marked twenty-five years since Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs) were first funded through federal legislation, and since 2004 the co-founders of Excelencia in Education, Sarita Brown and Deborah Santiago, have chronicled the impact of this. With Latinos on track to become America’s largest ethnic workforce, Excelencia and a network of higher education leaders co-hosted the “Texas Briefing on 25 Years of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Accelerating Latino Student Success” virtual event.
According to Texas State, President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s alma mater, several colleges, and universities in Texas have invested in the project. They include Alamo Colleges District-San Antonio College, Austin Community College, El Paso Community College, The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), The University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Texas State University, and the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-serving Institutions (CAHSI).
The report has produced analyses to inform educational policymakers, academic researchers, elected officials, and foundations how best to serve Latino students in higher education.
“Good ideas and work need support,” said Sarita Brown, Excelencia’s president. “We thank President Denise M. Trauth and Texas State for making common cause with Excelencia and for their leadership and investment in this important research that informs the nation as we navigate current challenges and sets the course for the future. These are leaders who stepped up in these challenging times to actively address equity, with a Latino lens, for their institutions, students, and our country.”
Along with documenting the seminal role HSIs have played in increasing Latino college completion and the value of the federal investment in these institutions, the new research informs the powerful engagement by leaders in higher education and policy sectors at a critical time in our country when record numbers of Latino students should be enrolling in colleges and universities.
“Closing equity gaps in degree attainment requires investing in the institutions enrolling and graduating Latino students in Texas and across the country,” said Deborah Santiago, Excelencia’s CEO in a statement. “Learning what these institutions are doing to intentionally serve Latino students and accelerating their impact is critical at the state and federal levels.”
Excelencia’s work accelerates Latino student success at colleges and universities across the country by producing data-driven analysis of Hispanics, promoting educational policies and institutional practices that support their academic achievement, and providing a forum for and network of professionals committed to the common cause of improving Latino student success.
“We are pleased and honored that because of the difference we are making, institutions are seeking us out as partners to expand our country’s human capital and leadership,” Brown said. “What began as a nascent idea by two determined, independent women in 2004, has grown into a major resource for influencing education policy at the institutional, state, and national levels, and a catalyst for positive and purposeful change that helps America. These wonderful developments are cause for everyone to celebrate.”
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