Curando La Comunidad [Healing the Community]: Community-Centered STEM Identity

This article highlights the role of community among Latina/o/x students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at 2- and 4-year Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). Community-based perspectives are often missing from traditional STEM disciplinary contexts; however, our Community-Centered STEM Identity model recognizes how Latinx students develop STEM identities by grounding, engaging, and bridging community. Implications for HSIs include cultivating community-based partnerships and perspectives as these are critical for the retention of Latinx students in STEM.

Further Contextualizing Racial Identity: Multiracial Students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Despite the recent growth of literature on multiracial college students, there is still limited understanding about multiracial students at Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). This qualitative study explores the interplay of racialized identity and the unique contexts of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) using data from eight multiracial students attending two HSIs in the Midwest. Findings explore how students made sense of their multiracial identities within specific ecological contexts of HSIs, including a mesosystem of diversity and inclusion and an exosystem of Latinidad. Overall, multiracial students generally felt included and provide a promising platform to better understand the unique positioning of HSIs in serving an increasingly diverse student body.

“I Didn't Know What Anti-Blackness Was Until I Got Here”: The Unmet Needs of Black Students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Amidst institutional reckonings with anti-blackness, minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are thought to be an intervention. But, how do Black students perceive being served at Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs)? Analyzing focus groups ( n= 33), we find Black students perceived anti-blackness at an HSI from: overrepresentation of white personnel in power; lack of culturally attuned and financial support; racially hostile climate; and little solidarity from non-Black Latinx and other peers. We show that HSIs contend with anti-Black institutional embeddedness, too, and argue that the goals of HSIs to serve racially minoritized students will not be achieved unless they address institutional, organizational, and interpersonal anti-Blackness.

Service-Learning at an HSI: A Preliminary Analysis

An emerging body of literature seeks to design, implement, and analyze best practices in service learning at undergraduate universities. What scholars have not examined as well is service learning at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI's). Given that students at such universities are in unique learning environments, there is a question of how well standard practices in service learning apply to HSI's. In my paper, I will present my analysis of 2 semesters' worth of service-learning requirements in an Introduction to American Politics course at an HSI in Texas. Using the feedback provided by the students on the final course evaluations, I conclude that the current pedagogy applies reasonably well to HSI’s, but there are certain areas in which pedagogy should be adjusted to reflect the unique aspects of HSI’s, such as accounting for the socioeconomic needs of HSI students.

Service Learning at an HSI: A Preliminary Analysis

An emerging body of literature seeks to design, implement, and analyze best practices in service learning at undergraduate universities. What scholars have not examined as well is service learning at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI's). Given that students at such universities are in unique learning environments, there is a question of how well standard practices in service learning apply to HSI's. In my paper, I will present my analysis of 2 semesters' worth of service-learning requirements in an Introduction to American Politics course at an HSI in Texas. Using the feedback provided by the students on the final course evaluations, I conclude that the current pedagogy applies reasonably well to HSI’s, but there are certain areas in which pedagogy should be adjusted to reflect the unique aspects of HSI’s, such as accounting for the socioeconomic needs of HSI students.