Season 1

Using Strategic Planning to Drive Servingness

For the final episode of the inaugural season of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to Dra. Maribel Jiménez about one of the most significant processes that all higher education institutions engaging in, the strategic planning process. Yet Maribel centers HSIs in her conversations about strategic planning while acknowledging that the process is mostly race-neutral and dominated by white ways of practicing higher education. She shares insight into making this process about Latinx students and HSIs, guided by the findings from her dissertation. As a practitioner and alumna of an HSI, Yakima Valley College, she also discusses her insights into effectively implementing servingness in practice while also being critical of dominant practices in higher education. 
Guest: Maribel Jiménez (she/her/ella), Dean of Academic Transfer Pathways and Partnerships, Highline College
Social media: Twitter: @LaDoctoraMJ | Instagram: @maribeltorresjimenez | LinkedIn: Maribel Jimenez, Ed.D
Show Notes:
Flores, A. & Leal, D. R. (2020). Beyond enrollment and graduation: Examining strategic plans from Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Texas. Journal of Latinos and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2020.1791121

Leading and Enacting Servingness con Cariño

As we continue down our journey to learn about servingness, this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? features Dra. Marla Franco who is the inaugural Assistant Vice Provost for HSI Initiatives at the University of Arizona. She shares insight into the intentional ways she implements servingness con cariño and offers best practices. She shares details about the HSI Fellows Program, which has not only become a vehicle for advancing servingnesss on campus, but also serves as a retention tool for faculty and staff on campus. She also talks about the AZ HSI Consortium and the importance of having a collective group of HSI leaders at the state level, while acknowledging some of the challenges and opportunities of being an HSI in Arizona.
Guest:
Marla Franco (she/her/hers/ella), Assistant Vice Provost, HSI Initiatives, University of Arizona
Social media: @marla_franco, marla-franco, dr.marla.franco, Marla Franco
Show Notes:
https://hsi.arizona.edu/
Franco, M. A., & Hernández, S. (2018). Assessing the capacity of Hispanic Serving Institutions to serve Latinx students: Moving beyond compositional diversity. In D. Zerquera, I. Hernández, & J. G. Berumen (Eds.), New directions for institutional research: Assessment and social justice: Pushing through paradox (pp. 57–71). Wiley.
Franco, M. A., Lozano, G. I., & Subbian, V. (2020). HSIs and community partners: A framework for strengthening servingness through engagement. In G. A. Garcia (Ed.), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Practice: Defining “Servingness” at HSIs (pp. 151-172). Information Age Publishing.

Queering HSIs and Serving LGBTQIA+ Latinx Students

This episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? features a dynamic duo, Dra. Yolanda Cataño, Executive Director of the Alliance of HSI Educators (AHSIE) and Dr. Ángel de Jesus González, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Southern California, who extend notions of servingness to queer and trans Latinx peoples at HSIs. They talk about the importance of centering the intersectional identities of Latinxs at HSIs and share findings from three articles they have published about queering HSIs. While centering LGBTQIA+ people in their storytelling, they talk about their own experiences attending HSIs, describe the complexities of data-driven decision-making at community colleges, and talk about institutional and state level policies that affect sevingness. This duo drops intersectional, practical, and empirical knowledge about HSIs and servingness.
Guests
Yolanda Cataño (she/her/ella), Executive Director, Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE)
Twitter: @YolandaCatano, Instagram: @becomingdracatano, LinkedIn: Yolanda Cataño
Ángel de Jesus González (he/they/elle), Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Southern California
Twitter: @dr_Adj_gonzalez
Show Notes 
Cataño, Y. & Gonzalez, A. (2021). Examining servingness at California community college Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) for LGBTQ+ Latinx students. Journal of the Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institution Educators, 1(1), 55-72.
González, A. D. J., & Cataño, Y. (2020). Queering community college HSIs: An environmental scan of current programs and services for Latinx students. Journal of Applied Research in the Community College, 27(1), 74-88.
González, A. & Cataño, Y. (2022). Queering the Query: A Call to HSI Community Colleges to Include LGBTQIA + Latinx Students. In I. Hernández & L. Contreras (Eds.), About Campus: Special Issue: Hispanic Serving Institutions (pp. 4-9). https://doi.org/10.1177/10864822221084728

Using Research to Inform Servingness in Practice

This episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? features Dr. Jarett Lujan who serves as the inaugural Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Texas A&M University- Kingsville. Dr. Lujan provides us with an exclusive look at his dissertation findings which used a counter-story approach to critically evaluate the Hispanic-serving identity of an emerging HSI through the eyes of Latine students. In addition to his research, he talks about how his extensive experience serving as president of the Student Government Association, as an admissions counselor, as a coordinator for student activities, and as the first Hispanic Student Regent of the Texas Tech University System informs his DEI practice at an HSI in South Texas.
Guest: Jarett Lujan (he/him/his), Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Twitter @drjarettlujan
Show Notes: 
Lujan, J. T. (2022). Through the eyes of the Latine student: Visual representations of racialized experiences within spaces of an emerging Hispanic-serving institution campus. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University.

Elevating Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges

We turn the focus to Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges (HSCCs) for this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? with Dr. Erin Doran who is an associate professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University. She is a 3-time graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), which has an extensive history as an HSI that Erin documented, highlighting the intentional way that the university set out to serve Latinx students. Her experience at UTSA and her accumulated five years of experience as a community college adjunct is highly influential on her outlook as a teacher and informs much of her research about Latina/o/x students, community colleges; college learning and teaching; and ethnic studies.
Guest: Erin Doran (she/her), Associate Professor, Iowa State University
Twitter: @ErinDoran_EdD
Show Notes: 
erindoranedd.com
Doran, E.E. (2015). Negotiating access and tier one aspirations: The historical evolution of a striving Hispanic-serving institution. The Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 14(4), 343-354. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192715570638 SJR 1.01
Doran, E.E., & Medina, Ø. (2017). The intentional and the grassroots Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A critical history of two universities. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 11(3), 29-49. https://doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.3.360
Doran, E.E. (2017). An empowerment framework for Latinx students in developmental education. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 11(2), 133-154. https://doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.2.353 
Doran, E.E. (2020). How Hispanic should Hispanic-serving institutions be? The Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 23(4), 104-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555458920947751 
Doran, E.E. (2021). Situating Chicana/o/x Studies programs on community college campuses. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 1-13. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2021.1877215 

Serving Indigenous Latinx Students at HSIs

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to Dra. Gabriela Kovats Sánchez who is a Faculty Scholar for the Native Resource Center at San Diego State University and lecturer for the department of American Indian Studies. She offers a wealth of knowledge as she works at the nexus of research and praxis in her formal roles within the university and voluntary roles in the community. Her research focuses on the experiences of diasporic Indigenous Latinx students and nuances the way we think about Latinidad. Her research, pedagogies, and community engagement are deeply tied to her long-time involvement with and for Ñuu Savi/Mixtec communities in California, and she offers us guidance and advice for being intentional in our work with Indigenous students at HSIs.
*Note from the host: In the introduction to this episode, I incorrectly stated that the episode would be released on Indigenous Peoples' Day, October 10, 2012 (it should be 2022).
Guest: Gabriela Kovats Sánchez (she/her/ella/meeña)
Faculty Scholar, Native Resource Center & Lecturer, American Indian Studies, San Diego State University 
Twitter: @ KovatsSanchez
Instagram: @drakovats
Show Notes:
https://kovatssanchez.weebly.com/ 
Kovats Sánchez, G. (2018). Reaffirming Indigenous Identity: Understanding Experiences of Stigmatization and Marginalization among Mexican Indigenous College Students. Journal of Latinos and Education. 1–14.
Kovats Sánchez, G. (2021). “If we don’t do it, nobody is going to talk about it”: Indigenous Students Disrupting Monolithic Notions of Latinidad at Hispanic Serving Institutions. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Open Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211059194
Herrera, F. & Kovats Sánchez, G. (2022). Curando La Comunidad [Healing the Community]: Community-Centered STEM Identity. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/15381927211069543
Steinman, E. & Kovats Sánchez, G. (2021). Magnifying and Healing Colonial Trauma in Higher Education: Persistent Settler Colonial Dynamics at the Indigenizing University. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

Becoming an HSI as Process

In our first multi-guest episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I had the honor of sharing space with members of the Portland State University’s HSI Exploratory Committee: Óscar Fernández, Carrie Vasquez, Joe Rivera Soto, & Martín Alberto Gonzalez. We talk about the process of becoming an HSI and the intentional ways that PSU is engaging this process. Our guests talk about the challenges of becoming an HSI and the ways that they have worked with students, and especially undocumented students, as part of this process. We also talk about the unique aspects of becoming an HSI in the Pacific Northwest, an area that has not been covered in HSI research.
Guests:
Portland State University’s HSI Exploratory Committee
Óscar Fernández (he, él), Twitter @OscarPdx82
Carrie Vasquez (they, she), Linkedin: carrievasquez
Joe Rivera Soto (he, him) 
Martín Alberto Gonzalez (he, him, his), T: @Scholar4rmOx | IG: @martymoose
 
Show Notes:
https://www.pdx.edu/news/psu-emerging-hispanic-serving-institution

State Policies & Servingness

In the third episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we continue talking about policy with a more focused look at state-level policies and how they affect servingness. Our guest Dra. Ishara Casellas Connors is an assistant professor of government & public administration at Texas A&M University. Her research examines the implications of DEI policies for advancing racial equity for minoritized students. In this episode we talk about how these DEI policies can help or hinder servingness with HSIs. She also talks to us about how these policies allow for or hinder institutions to focus on intersectional servingness, and gives us a sneak preview of her evolving research that centers Afro-Latinx students.
Guest: Dr. Ishara Casellas Connors (she/her), Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University
Twitter: @isharacc
Show Notes
Casellas Connors, I. (2021). Constructing a monolith: State policy, institutional DEI plans, and the flattening of Latinx identity at Hispanic-serving institutions. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211063872
Casellas Connors, I. (under review). Policy implications of racial discourse: Florida’s public Hispanic Serving Institutions. 
 

HSI Grant Directorship & Implementation

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we focus on an essential structure for serving, HSI grant implementation. Many HSIs start their HSI journey by applying for and launching a Title III or Title V HSI grant. This episode’s guest, Dr. Lisa Petrov, serves as the Project Director of a Title V grant called “Strengthening Advising, Teacher Education, and Our HSI Identity” which is in its final year of implementation at Dominican University. Lisa offers a wealth of knowledge about project directorship and offers insight into the challenges and successes of implementing servingness in practice. Dr. Petrov is also an associate professor of Spanish and Transcultural Studies, which informs her work.
Guest: Dr. Lisa Petrov (she/ella), Title V Project Director & Associate Professor, Dominican University
Instagram: @lapetrov_  |  Twitter: @laprofe63
Show Notes
Petrov, L. A. & Garcia, G. A. (2021). Becoming a racially just Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI): Leveraging HSI grants for organizational identity change. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000356
https://www.dom.edu/diversity/title-v-office

Federal HSI Policies & Servingness

In the inaugural episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to Dra. Stephanie Aguilar-Smith, an Assistant Professor of Counseling and Higher Education at the University of North Texas, about federal HSI policies and servingness. Her research examines educational policies, higher education as a hierarchical stratified system, and the ways that these trends shape HSIs. In this episode we explore the complexities of federal policies that shape servingness and learn about the motivation of HSI grant seekers when they pursue this stream of funding. This episode is also part of HSI Week 2022, a week dedicated to the celebration and acknowledgement of HSIs. 
Guest: Dra. Stephanie Aguilar-Smith (she/ella), Assistant Professor, University of North Texas
Twitter & Instagram: @drsaguilarsmith
Show Notes
https://www.hacu.net/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=3739
Aguilar-Smith, S. (2021). Seeking to serve or $erve? Hispanic-serving institutions’ race-evasive pursuit of racialized funding. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211057097
https://www.hsru.org/