Evaluating Barriers to and Opportunities for Higher Education in the Hispanic Community

Although the Hispanic population in the United States is growing faster than any other ethnic group, college graduation rates, especially above the associates degree level, remain low, too low for the United States to remain academically and economically competitive in the years to come. Hispanics, on the whole, remain poorer and less educated than other ethnic groups, which could have significant economic impact on the United States, if left un-remediated, as their numbers continue to rise. Some of the questions and issues to be addressed in considering this gap in educating this population include cultural or financial barriers to attending college, bias in K-12 education and college recruitment strategies, retention and graduation issues specific to Hispanics, and high school and community college preparation of immigrant and other Hispanic students for transferring to four-year institutions.

The Role of Higher Education and Peer Mentoring in Student Success

Students are faced with many challenges before entering college. Those challenges make it difficult for students to reach degree attainment. Vulnerable populations are predisposed to barriers and challenges that impede their progress to achieving academic success. By integrating peer mentoring as a framework, we will better understand how to serve our vulnerable populations and the role higher education institutions play to meet students where they are. College administrators are typically responsible for strengthening the values, mission, and goals of the college. However, do they have a social responsibility to also make sure all students succeed? This chapter provides a student success tool that addresses some of those barriers while promoting student success. This chapter will provide the need for a mentoring program for college students and will discuss various peer mentoring models that can assist with retention and degree attainment.

Title IX and What Could Be

Within the society we live and interact with today, many people in the United States have heard about Title IX even if they may not know what falls under Title IX. We can hardly go from one day to the next without accounts of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct flooding our radios, televisions, and social media. Title IX covers so much more than just sexual harassment. This chapter will dive into the historical perspective of the evolution of Title IX. The authors focus the conversation through a social justice lens to get a clearer understanding that Title IX is not a policy about or for females but about individuals “regardless of sex” and therefore covers all individuals, and their rights should be acknowledged.

Valuing Social Responsibility in the Era of Data Analytics

Higher education is increasingly interested in utilizing data analytics to support all aspects of university operations, including enrollment management and learning outcomes. Despite potential benefits to improve results and resource efficiency, the use of student information and the creation of predictive models is a potential minefield which could undermine larger higher educational missions tied to civic responsibility and social mobility. Questions remain as to the impacts of predictive modeling on underrepresented communities like students of color and differently abled students. Emerging research on similar fields of analytics, including predictive policing, provides a window into the ethical considerations that must be made to use data analytics responsibly. This chapter uses the construct of social responsibility to propose a process model for the responsible use of data analytics in colleges and universities derived from Carroll's Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Fostering Intercultural Competence in Higher Education

Within the ongoing process of globalization, intercultural competence has been identified as one of the key competences of the 21st century. Universities need to prepare their graduates for working across countries and cultures and have been focusing on the international and intercultural aspect of their programs. Research has shown, however, that the development of intercultural competence in students does not happen automatically but needs to be fostered and supported. Within an action research project, an intercultural group work was designed to foster the development of intercultural competence of business students in an international double-degree program. The analyses of individual self-reflections after the group work suggested that the group work provided students with international working experiences, and that the reflection process has to be structured and supported to foster the development of intercultural competence in students.

Equity and Social Justice

Through the lenses of equity and social justice-related practices, this chapter outlines one university's efforts to offer credentials and degrees that meet industry demands based on labor market needs, along with the needs of today's contemporary learners, in a dynamic higher education landscape. An overview of contemporary learners is provided in relation to equity and social justice, while providing a connection to the featured university and its rich history of serving the respective region. The authors outline the university's guiding principles, in the form of pillars, and discuss how these pillars impact contemporary learners, who are served through innovative, affordable programming. Examples of specific programs are provided that are designed to meet the need of the contemporary learners. The chapter closes with suggestions for implementing programs based on partnerships, researching industry need, and guidance through a specific mission that reflects the changing landscape in higher education.

The Impact of Students' Perceptions of Academic Advisors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a history of academic advising and Historically Black Colleges and Universities related to race and gender as it relates to students' perceptions and the impact of different types of advising. The chapter will accomplish these goals by comparing gender-based issues and compare the perceptions of undergraduate students assigned to female academic advisors with undergraduate students assigned to male academic advisors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) located in a Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The study will also compare advising styles and issues in regard to both the social and academic connections using Tinto's interactionist framework.

Towards Socially Responsible Higher Education

This chapter proposes that higher education has a responsibility to reduce disparities in college completion rates and argues that emergency aid programs should serve as an important component of this work. It offers an overview of recent research on the impact of basic needs gaps, with special attention to issues relating to food and housing insecurity. Organizations, colleges, and universities working to close resource gaps are then described. These examples demonstrate the wide range of programs and services being put in place to address these needs among college students, which, without intervention, can significantly hinder college completion. Finally, the authors offer a series of recommendations and resources for higher education professionals and partners interested in implementing or expanding emergency aid and other basic needs programs for college students.

Digital Transformation of Learning Management Systems at Universities

Digital learning management systems (DLMSs) or IT based tools are not only used for business and daily activities, but also for university education, where it is used to manage different academic activities. The universities are using the Digital LMS (DLMS) tools that are unique to their environment. Different universities have different DLMS tools that are software-driven and allow the users (management, instructors, and students) to use them for regular tasks. This research discusses the qualitative data collected using the case study methodology. In this research, case study design was selected for the qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews were employed as the data collection method. The case study is based in a deanship of a university implementing a digital learning management system in Jordan. The research provides an analysis of the interviews to gain insights into instructors (staff) perspectives regarding the factors influencing the implementation of the digital learning management system at higher education sector.

Multicultural Advising

Since the cultural landscape of most higher education institutions is changing, it is paramount that colleges and universities make a concerted effort to connect with students from various backgrounds. The academic advising department could be the catalyst for change for many institutions of higher learning when seeking to support a diverse student body. Despite an increase in enrollment of students from various backgrounds on many college campuses, various challenges remain when attempting to advise and mentor diverse student populations. This chapter will examine some of the demographical changes taking place on college campuses across the U.S., the importance of multicultural advising and core components of this approach. Finally, the ways in which multicultural advising can be implemented within higher education will be examined.