¿Qué pasa, HSIs?

Confessions of a Critical Friend to HSIs

In this episode we elevate the voice of one alumni of an HSI who calls themselves a critical friend to the institution. Throughout this episode we grapple with the tensions of calling on HSIs to change the structural ways they serve students while acknowledging some of the progress being made. I talk to Carlos Benitez Cruz (they/them) who is a PhD student in Community Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Carlos reflects on their time as a student at Dominican University, highlighting how they advocated for a cultural center on campus by learning from the legacy of struggle highlighted in the PBS documentary, The First Rainbow Coalition. Carlos also reflects on lost opportunities, like the failed retention of a Latina staff member who was highly favored by students of color, and calls to question the role of class struggle in HSIs, which continue to be neoliberal institutions that rely on the production of students who get jobs and the money they bring into the institution. The confessions of a critical friend are also the confessions of a highly engaged, politically active, student artist-activist at an HSI that didn’t adequately serve them.
 
Guest: Carlos Benitez Cruz (they/them), PhD Student in Community Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago
Social Media: X: @xismoso_
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2024, February 11). Confessions of a Critical Friend to HSIs (No.402) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/ 
Attachments / Show notes: 
https://www.genderjustice-uic.org/ 
https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/the-first-rainbow-coalition/

Honoring the Past & Strategizing for the Future

We kick off another season of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? with our friends from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Dr. Michael Benitez, Jr. serves as the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion and Dr. Del Real serves as the Executive Director of HSI Initiatives and Inclusion. In this episode we talk about the strategies they have used to advance servingness both on campus and across the state of Colorado. They talk about using HSI grants to advance servingness and discuss the importance of having both a V.P. of Diversity and Inclusion and a campus-funded Director of HSIs on campus to drive HSI efforts. We also dream about educational liberation and Latinx-informed innovation and accountability for serving. Throughout this episode we honor the past, the work of elders, and the work of leaders who sometimes put their jobs on the lines for what would become HSIs.
Guests: 
Dr. Michael Benitez, Jr. (He/His/Him/Yo), Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion,
Metropolitan State University of Denver
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-benitez-jr-ph-d-4656333/
 
Dr. Manuel Del Real (He/Him/Él), Executive Director of HSI Initiatives and Inclusion,
Metropolitan State University of Denver
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuel-d-66532925
Instagram: elpositivo03 | msudenverdiversity
 
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2024, January 28). Honoring the Past & Strategizing for the Future. (No.401) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/ 
 
Show Notes: 
https://www.msudenver.edu/diversity/hispanic-serving-institution/
http://www.tobyjenkins.net/the-hip-hop-mindset.html

Linguistic Servingness at HSIs

For the final episode of season 3 I talk to Vanessa Varela, Assistant Professor in Education, and Jason Meyler, Associate Professor of Spanish at Mount Mary University, a small women’s college HSI in Wisconsin. In this episode we dive into HSI NOW efforts in Milwaukee, the evolution of servingness at Mount Mary University, and the importance of acknowledging language and multilingualism in servingness efforts. Our guests highlight Mount Mary’s multilingual strategic plan, which is embedded in their HSI philosophy, and the Culture, Classroom, and Multilingual Learners Workshop, which builds capacity among faculty, adjuncts, and tutors to deliver academic content in diverse linguistic classrooms. This is the first ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? episode to unpack linguistic servingness in HSI, but it won’t be the last as this topic is truly multidimensional as Vanessa and Jason highlight. Listen in and learn about linguistic mobility at HSIs.
Guests:
Vanessa Varela (she/her/ella), Assistant Professor in Education, Mount Mary University 
www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-varelam1
https://twolanguageedition.wordpress.com/ 
Jason Meyler (He, him, él), Associate Professor of Spanish | Chairperson of the World Languages Department | Coordinator of the Leadership for Social Justice Seminar, Mount Mary University
linkedin.com/in/jason-meyler-48a86573
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, November 12). Linguistic Servingness at HSIs. (No.310) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcasthttps://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/c29d5e2b/linguistic-servingness-at-hsis

The Making of an Intentional HSI: Cabrillo College

This multi-guest episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? is full of knowledge sharing. I had the opportunity to talk to 5 members of Cabrillo College’s HSI Task Force, who shared their journey to making an intentional HSI. They talk about the accomplishments of their HSI Task Force, share tips for gaining support on campus for HSI efforts, and talk about the secret sauce to servingness work, which includes grassroots leadership and support from positional leaders including the president and trustees. We also learn about the historic moments along Cabrillo College’s path to becoming an HSI. Ann Endris, Title V HSI Director at Cabrillo College and former associate faculty member is joined by Cabrillo College alum Dr. Blanca Baltazar-Sabbah who shares much of the historical aspects of Cabrillo’s HSI identity. Dr. Alicia Bencomo Garcia, a tenure-track instructor of Ethnic Studies at Cabrillo, and Serina Eichelberger, a social justice focused educational leader and Title III HSI STEM Project Director at Cabrillo share information about Cabrillo’s current efforts to embrace an HSI identity. President Matt Wetstein rounds out the group in this episode, sharing a president’s perspective on the process of becoming an intentional HSI.
Guests: 
Ann Endris (she/her), Title V Director
Instagram: @akendris
Blanca Baltazar-Sabbah (she/her/ella), Dean, Academic Counseling, Career, and Educational Support Services (ACCESS)
X: @DraBaltazar | https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-blanca-baltazar-sabbah-5a2374b2
Alicia Bencomo Garcia (she/her), Faculty
X: @AliG_phdjourney
Serina Eichelberger (she/ella/they), HSI Title III STEM Project Director
linkedin.com/in/serina-eichelberger-335b3220
Matthew Wetstein (he, him), President
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, November 5). The making of an intentional HSI: Cabrillo College. (No.309) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/9e499aaf/the-making-of-an-intentional-hsi-cabrillo-college 
Show Notes: 
Cabrillo College HSI Task Force Report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19fQ43ZqjOyLrYIYk1kub3GGIwYeoNDc-/view 
Cabrillo College HSI website: https://www.cabrillo.edu/office-of-instruction/hispanic-serving-institution/ 
Cuellar, M. G., Garcia, G. A., Nuñez Martinez, M., & Bencomo Garcia, A. (2023). Building capacity for equity and servingness across California’s Hispanic-serving community colleges. USC Race and Equity Center. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62c4ba2609f6370427726636/t/64e3fc4108a23457e70a9415/1692662859454/Report%2B4%2BHSCC-spreads-small+%281%29.pdf
Delayed name change at Cabrillo College  https://www.insidehighered.com/news/institutions/community-colleges/2023/08/17/cabrillo-college-delays-choosing-new-name# 
Title V Transfer Pathways: https://www.cabrillo.edu/title-v/ 
Title V Abriendo El Camino: https://www.cabrillo.edu/abriendo-el-camino/
Title III ACCESSO: https://www.cabrillo.edu/title-iii-hsi-stem/

Streetwise Epistemology and Servingness

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we think outside of the normative constructs of higher education learning with and from Dr. Joe Louis Hernandez who is the Director for the Rising Scholars program at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC). Dr. Hernandez is a Streetwise Scholar who attended Mt SAC, Cal State LA, and Cal State Long Beach, all of which are HSIs, having profound effects on his educational journey. But more so than the institutions, he talks about mentors and co-defendants who have guided him along the way, many of whom believed he would get a PhD before he did. He talks to us about his own journey from the carceral system to the graduation stage at Claremont Graduate University. His research focuses on the experiences of formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students in higher education with an anti-deficit perspective on this student population. Joe Louis' passion for serving this population arises from his own experience with incarceration and having gone through the criminal justice system. We discuss the Rising Scholars Program, which fosters a college-completing atmosphere and a holistic approach to student development, and his research, which teaches us how servingness can co-exist with streetwise epistemology.
Joe Louis Hernandez (he/him/él), Rising Scholars Director, Mt. San Antonio College | Adjunct Professor, Cal Poly Pomona Department of Educational Leadership
Twitter: @STRWISEScholar | Instagram: @STREETWISE_SCHOLAR
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-louis-hernandez-ph-d-2b223318a
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, October 29). Streetwise epistemology and servingness. (No.308) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/a170d1f8/streetwise-epistemology-and-servingness 
Attachments / Show notes: 
Hernandez, J. L. (2023). A struggle so beautiful: The roses that rise from the concrete: Exploring transformative ruptures in the higher education journeys of formerly incarcerated Latinx/a/o students through relationships with institutional agents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Claremont Graduate University. 
Hernandez, J. L., Murillo, D., Britton, T. (2023). Hustle in higher education: How Latinx students with conviction histories move from surviving to thriving in higher education. American Behavioral Scientist, 66(10), 1394–1417. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211054827
Abeyta, M., Torres, A., Hernandez, J. L., Duran, O. (2021). Rising Scholars: A case study of two community colleges serving formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students. Journal of Applied Research in the Community College, 28(1), 99-109.
Binnall, J. M., Sotelo, I., Vasquez, A., Hernandez, J. L. (2019). Making good one semester at a time: Formerly incarcerated students (and their professor) considering the redemptive power of inclusive education. In K. M. Middlemass & C. J. Smiley (Eds.) Prisoner reentry in the 21st century: Critical perspectives of returning home (pp. 382-395). Routledge.

Spaces of Empowerment: HSI Student Equipos

This episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? features Dra. Dez Zuniga, HSI faculty lead for the Abriendo Caminos project at Pasadena City College (PCC), along with four members of PCC’s Student Advisory Equipo. The Equipo is an HSI initiative with significant impact and influence at PCC, led by Latine student leaders who participate in committees and working groups to help build a campus culture for serving Latine students. Our guests share their many successes and challenges along the way, guided by the love of their femtor Dra Dez, who embodies servingness as an HSI advocate on campus and creator of the student advisory group. Each guest shares their path to HSI consciousness and their journeys into and through college, which are not linear. They also talk about working in solidarity to elevate the needs and voices of Latinx/a/o/e, Black/African American, and Asian Pacific Islander Desai American (APIDA) student populations at PCC. Listen to these students, who are fierce advocates for justice!
Guests: 
Dr. Desiree (Dez) Zuniga (she/her/ella), Associate Professor/Faculty Counselor/HSI Faculty Lead, Pasadena City College / HSI Title V Grant: Abriendo Caminos 
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zunigadesiree
Enith Reyes (she/her/they/ella/elle), Lead Resource Advocate, Former Student Advisory Equipo Leader/Scholar (Cohort 1), Pasadena City College Pride Center/Undoc Dream Center
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enithreyes/
Diego Iniguez (he/him/él), Student Advisory Equipo Leader/Scholar (Cohort 2-5), Pasadena City College / HSI Title V Grant: Abriendo Caminos 
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-iniguez
Emmanuel Gómez (he/him/él), Student Advisory Equipo Leader/Scholar (Cohort 1-5), Pasadena City College / HSI Title V Grant: Abriendo Caminos 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmanuel-gomez-48b435233/
Gustavo Sanchez (he/him/él), Student Advisory Equipo Leader/Scholar (Cohort 4-5), Pasadena City College / HSI Title V Grant: Abriendo Caminos 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavo-sanchez-lozada-552706252/
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, October 22). Spaces of Empowerment: HSI Student Equipos. (No.307) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/a03adfcb/spaces-of-empowerment-hsi-student-equipos 
Attachments / Show Notes: 
Instagram: @pcc_equipo https://www.instagram.com/pcc_equipo/
Pasadena City College Equipo https://pasadena.edu/about/hsi/equipo.php

Learning with RESISTE: STEM Servingness Research

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we continue down the path of understanding and conceptualizing STEM servingness with scholars from the Research and Equity Scholarship Institute, affectionately known as RESISTE, at San Diego State University. Dr. Felisha Herrera Villarreal is the director of the institute and widely published scholar who has procured external funding to support STEM servingness and STEM pathways research. Her scholarship employs advanced statistical techniques to examine contextual factors—institutional, geographic, demographic, political, and economic—that impact postsecondary outcomes. She is joined by Dr. Victoria Rodriguez-Operana, postdoctoral research fellow for RESISTE who co-leads efforts on externally funded projects housed at the institute. Her research experience in education, psychology, and human development helps her focus on the experiences and well-being of minoritized students in this work. This episode is full of STEM servingness knowledge creation that centers Hispanic-serving community colleges (HSCCs) and the intentional work that is happening across San Diego HSCCs to ensure successful pathways into STEM majors and STEM careers for students. We also talk about the mentoring (femtoring) and care that goes into doing HSI research at RESISTE.  
Guests:
Dr. Felisha Herrera Villarreal (she/her), Professor & Director of the Research & Equity Scholarship Institute, San Diego State University
X: @DrHerreraSDSU
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/felisha-herrera-villarreal (felishaherreravillarreal) 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felisha.herrera
Dr. Victoria Rodriguez-Operana (she/her), Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Research & Equity Scholarship Institute, San Diego State University | & Lecturer, University of California, San Diego, Human Developmental Sciences
X: @drvictoriarod
APA Citation:
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, October 15). Learning with RESISTE: STEM Servingness Research. (No.306) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/9d6b91b4/learning-with-resiste-stem-servingness-research 
Attachments / Show notes: 
X: @resiste_sdsu
RESISTE https://res-iste.sdsu.edu/
Dr. Felisha Herrera Villarreal https://felishaherrera.sdsu.edu/
Herrera, F. A., Rodriguez-Operana, V. C., Kovats Sánchez, G., Cerrillos, A., & Marquez, B. (2022). “It was hard, and it still is . . .”: Women of color navigating HSI STEM transfer pathways. AERA Open, 8(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221126480 
Herrera, F. A. and Kovats Sánchez, G. (2022). “Curando la comunidad [Healing the community]: Community-centered STEM identity,” Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, pp. 1–16. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/15381927211069543
Herrera, F. A., & Rodriguez-Operana, V. (2020). A national portrait of STEM trajectories through two- and four-year Hispanic Serving Institutions. Hispanic Educational Technology Services, 11(1), 7–33.

Advocacy for Undocumented Students at One Emerging HSI

We turn the focus to one emerging HSI in this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? to learn about how one campus has prepared to become an HSI. Our guest, Dra. Sandy López serves as the Director of the Undocumented Student Resource Center at Northern Illinois University (NIU), an emerging HSI in Illinois. Sandy has over 30 years of experience serving students, staff, faculty, and school business officials as an elementary school teacher, academic advisor, teaching consultant, administrator, and most importantly as a mentor and student advocate. Dra. López talks about her work as an unapologetic educator activist who is heavily involved on campus and in the community, working with and for undocumented students, and shares resources that educators can access. She provides a wealth of information about how NIU has intentionally emerged towards HSI. Dra. López’s energy is unmatched in this episode! 
Guest:
Dra. Sandy López (she/her/ella), Director of the Undocumented Student Resource Center, Northern Illinois University
Twitter: @NIU_UndocCenter | Instagram: @niu_undoccenter
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, October 8). Advocacy for Undocumented Students at One Emerging HSI. (No.305) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/a3a604f3/advocacy-for-undocumented-students-at-one-emerging-hsi 
Attachments / Show Notes: 
Undocumented Student Resource Center | Northern Illinois University
Scholarships for DACA & TPS Students | TheDream.US
Illinois DREAM Act
Temporary Visitor Driver's License (TVDL) for Undocumented (Non-Visa Status) Individuals 
Monetary Award Program | MAP Grants 
Working from Within | UAPress

Working with Pre-college Students and their Communities as Servingness

In this episode, Aaron Cortes talks about how efforts to create pathways to college for Latine/x students is a part of servingness. Creating pathways is essential to access to higher education, yet institutions must do this work with the student and their families at the center. Aaron serves as the Director of the STEM initiatives (STEAM Pathways) at the Center for College Access and Success of Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU). In this capacity, he directs the TRIO Upward Bound, TRIO Upward Bound Math and Science, and 21st Century Community of Learning Centers. In addition to directing outreach programs, Mr. Cortes is an adjunct professor for the Computer Science department at NEIU. In this episode you will learn about Aaron, his work, and his ideas for working in collaboration across institutions and communities as a part of servingness.
Guest: Aaron Cortes Minor (he/him/el), Director, STEAM Pathways, Center for College Access and Success, Northeastern Illinois University
Social Media: Twitter: @Aaron_Cortes | Instagram: @aaroncortesminor | LinkedIn: aaroncortesminor 
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, October 1). Working with pre-college students and their communities as servingness. (No.304) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/acfc1fc9/working-with-pre-college-students-and-their-communities-as-servingness 

Embodying Servingness: UCR Chicano Student Programs

Season 3, Episode 3 takes us to the next level of understanding servingness. In this plática, I talk to 5 educators, activists, artists, poetas, and storytellers who take us on a journey to understanding the embodiment of servingness, meaning it is lived out daily in all practices and ideologies at Chicano Student Programs (CSP) at UC Riverside. CSP has been embodying servingness for 50 years by design. The campus and the entire UC system can and should follow CSP, and so should our listeners. Dra. Arlene Cano Matute, a community based scholar, practitioner and mother serves as the Assistant Director of CSP where she nurtures a comunidad that leads the way for Chicanx/Latinx student success in the UC system. In this episode we learn about the Encuentros, Student Participatory Action Research, and Testimonios(ESPARiTU) research project documenting the historical and present-day experiences and trajectories of Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x students at a UC HSRI. She is joined by 4 UCR graduates/alums, alexis meza, Ashley Nicole Diaz, Bibiana Canales, and Brenda De Angel Vega who share their stories of learning, growth, and healing under the care of their femtor Arlene, who embodies servingness con corazon. If you aren’t engaging students in HSI sensemaking, you should be, and this episode provides an example of what this looks like.
Guests:
Arlene Cano Matute (she/her/hers/ella), Assistant Director, Chicano Student Programs & PI, Encuentros, Student Participatory Action Research, and Testimonios (ESPARiTU)
Instagram: @arlene.cano1 | X: @csp_ucr 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arlene-cano-matute-ph-d-6a840679/
alexis meza (He/Him/His), Graduate Coordinator NYU Office of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging, M.A. Candidate in Higher Education at New York University
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alexismeza09
Ashley Nicole Diaz (She/Ella/They/Elle), Youth Development Specialist for DLI 1st/2nd Grade Students, H.E.A.R.T.S
Instagram: @pedazos_demi_alma
Bibiana Canales (she/they) 
Brenda De Angel Vega (She/Her/Ella)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-de-angel-vega-1118a4211 
IG: @b_firebaugh
APA Citation: 
Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, September 24). Embodying Servingness: UCR Chicano Student Programs. (No.303) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/966a6021/embodying-servingness-ucr-chicano-student-programs
Attachments / Show Notes: 
https://csp.ucr.edu/ 
Matute, A.C. (2022). Chicanx/Latinx Student Success at UC Riverside: Capturing the History of a Thriving Hispanic-Serving Institution (pdf). UC Hispanic-Serving Institutions Initiative. Oakland, CA.
https://www.ucop.edu/hsi-initiative/campuses/index.html#riverside
https://www.ucop.edu/hsi-initiative/events/index.html
Cano Matute, A., “Lo Que Nace del Corazón, Siempre Crece: The Origins of Serving at a Hispanic Serving Research Institution the University of California, Riverside,” [Dissertation publication in progress] University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 2023.
UCR Chicana/o/x Student Newspapers (ESPARiTU Action Project) 
Digital Collection: https://calisphere.org/collections/27876/
https://insideucr.ucr.edu/stories/2022/12/13/historic-chicano-student-newspaper-made-available-online
meza, a. (2023). ‘Pintando’ a Hispanic Serving Institution: The influence of muralism on Chicanx/Latinx student experience at the University of California HSI campuses. NYU Journal of Student Affairs. https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/2023-05/JoSA-Volume19-FINAL.pdf