Season 2

Enacting Servingness in the Northeast

For the final episode of the second season of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to Katia Paz who serves at the inaugural Associate Provost for Hispanic Initiatives & International Programs at Montclair State University. Dr. Paz is a part of the Provost’s senior leadership team and is a professor and founding chair of the Family Science and Human Development Department. In this episode we discuss some of her challenges and successes in enacting servingness in her position. She draws on her own research with families and communities to think about servingness. We also talk about the unique aspects of enacting servingness in New Jersey.
Guest: Katia Paz (she/her/ella), Associate Provost for Hispanic Initiatives & International Programs, Montclair State University
Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katia-paz-goldfarb-692176161/

Poderosa Leading a Hispanic Serving Community College (HSCC)

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we learn with Dra. Angélica Garcia who serves as president of Berkeley City College (BCC), a Hispanic-serving community college in California. Dr. Garcia is passionate about issues of access, equity, and student success in higher education. For nearly two decades, her professional experiences have included teaching and administrative roles in non-profit organizations, secondary education, and higher education. She believes that community colleges serve as pathways to liberation for historically minoritized communities and promotes this in institutional reform efforts. Come learn with this poderosa on how to lead HSIs through an anti-racist lens, how to approach governance when doing equity work, and how to engage with policy in a way that elevates servingness.
Dra. Angélica Garcia (she | her | ella), President, Berkeley City College
@BCCPrezGarcia (Twitter) | Dr. Angélica Garcia (LinkedIn) | BCCPrezGarcia (Instagram) | @gmangelica (Instagram)
Show Notes: 
https://www.berkeleycitycollege.edu/
https://cccolegas.org/
https://www.berkeleycitycollege.edu/blog/berkeley-city-college-president-angelica-garcia-joins-excelencia-in-educations-presidents-for-latino-student-success/
https://www.berkeleycitycollege.edu/blog/bcc-president-dr-angelica-garcia-selected-for-aspen-institutes-new-presidents-fellowship/

Student Perspectives on Servingness

Students are at the center of this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? as they should be in all servingness efforts. This episode features the Title V Ambassadors from Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) in California, including Crystal Chavira-Orduñez, Arlene Reyes, Estefania Sanchez, and Graciela Padilla, and their advisor Diana Felix who serves as Faculty Coordinator of Title V Student Development at Mt. SAC. The Title V Ambassadors have been an instrumental part of the Title V efforts on campus, including planning and launching a Latinx Professional Development Institute for students and conducting research on how HSIs can better serve students. They have attended professional conferences to learn about HSIs and higher education and shared that knowledge with the campus community. They also successfully transferred to four-year institutions while doing HSI work. Come learn with these amazing students and celebrate their successes. 
Guests: Mt SAC HSI Equipo | @hsi_equipo
Crystal Chavira-Orduñez (they/them/elle), Title V Ambassador, Instagram: @cmco2113
Arlene Reyes (she/her), Title V Ambassador, Instagram: @arleeenee_
Estefania Sanchez (she/they/he), Title V Ambassador, Instagram: @e.stef_nia
Graciela Padilla (she/her), Title V Ambassador, linkedin.com/in/graciela-alejandra-padilla-82161821a 
Diana Felix (she/her/ella), Faculty Coordinator, Title V Student Development, Instagram: yayafelix81
Show notes: 
https://www.mtsac.edu/titlev/

HSI Consciousness in the Borderlands

This episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? features Dra. Cynthia D. Villarreal, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Northern Arizona University. She is a fronteriza studying the borderlands of higher education, HSIs, organizational culture, equity in decision-making, and Chicana feminisms in higher education. Dra. Villarreal is a storyteller and uses countertestimonios to critique and transform higher education. In this episode we talk about faculty hiring experiences at HSIs, HSI consciousness, and the path to servingness conocimiento.  
Dra. Cynthia D. Villarreal (she/her/ella), Assistant Professor, Northern Arizona University
Twitter: @CynDVillarreal | LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthiavillarreal915 | Instagram: @BorderConsciousness
Show notes: 
https://www.cynthiavillarreal.com/ 
Villarreal, C. D. (2022). Servingness in the Borderlands: A study of faculty hiring at a Hispanic-Serving Institution on the border. AERA Open, 8(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221099597

Learning from a Veterano: Title V Grant Directorship & Success

The most downloaded episode of season 1 was “HSI Grant Directorship & Implementation.” In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we return to this important conversation with Victor Davila, Executive Director of Retention and Student Success at Lamar University and old school veterano to HSI grant directorship. Victor has worked in higher education for over 18 years at public institutions in Texas serving as a Primary Investigator, Project Director, and Project Coordinator at three HSIs. He has secured over 9 million dollars in grant funded programs and has a wealth of knowledge around Title V, Part A and Part B as well as Title III Part F directorship and implementation. This episode is a must for anyone writing, directing, or implementing HSI specific grants.
Guest: Victor M. Davila (he/him), Executive Director of Retention and Student Success, Lamar University
LinkedIn: Victor M. Davila | Instagram: vicdavila2012
 
Show notes: 
Davila, V. M. & Montelongo, R. (2020). Considering digital technology and innovative learning spaces as “structures for serving” at Hispanic Serving Institutions. In G. A. Garcia (Ed.), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Practice: Defining “Servingness” at HSIs (pp. 117-134). Information Age Publishing.

Enacting STEM Servingness

We turn the focus to STEM in this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? Our guest, Dr. Paloma Vargas, the Dean of Math, Science, Health, Kinesiology, & Athletics, Oxnard College, talks about her journey into STEM servingness, starting with her undergraduate experiences in biology and two historic HSIs, University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College (HSIs). Dr. Vargas has served as a biology faculty member, researcher, HSI Director, Science Coordinator, and STEM Advisor at multiple private and public HSIs, all informing her STEM servingness consciousness. In this episode we discuss the intricacies of being a good teacher, mentor, and server and about enacting servingness within STEM at HSIs. This episode is for all the STEM faculty and STEM leaders at HSIs and Title III and NSF HSI directors trying to figure out the intersections of STEM and servingness.
Guest: Dr. Paloma Vargas (she/they/ella), Dean of Math, Science, Health, Kinesiology, & Athletics, Oxnard College
Instagram: @iheartamoeba
Show Notes: 
Vargas, P. & Ward, M. (2020). Building an HSI brand: A case study of California Lutheran University. In G. A. Garcia (Ed.), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Practice: Defining “Servingness” at HSIs (pp. 21-39). Information Age Publishing.

Learning with ESCALA Educational Services

In this multi-guest episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to the dynamic duo from ESCALA Educational Services Inc., Dra. Melissa Salazar and Dra. Maribel Jiménez about the history and evolution of ESCALA and the ways that they support HSIs. ESCALA is a consortium of higher education consultants who are committed to closing equity gaps for Latinx students in HSIs by way of faculty training and development. They work exclusively with HSI educators and do their work through a Latinx-centered approach. In this episode they talk about the challenges of implementing servingess in practice and the unique challenges that faculty face in doing this work. 
Guests: 
Dr. Melissa Salazar (she/her), Chief Executive Officer, ESCALA Educational Services Inc.
Dr. Maribel Jiménez (she/her/ella), Lead Facilitator and Curriculum Designer, ESCALA Educational Services Inc.
Social Media:
Twitter: @ESCALAHSI | Facebook: EScalaEducation | Instagram: escala_ed |
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/escalaeducation 
Show notes: 
http://www.escalaeducation.com/
Salazar, M. L. (n.d.). Faculty as change agents: Why faculty development is crucial for Hispanic-Serving Institutions. http://www.escalaeducation.com/uploads/3/7/1/0/37102959/why_faculty_development_in_hsis_escala1_pager.pdf

Campus Climate & Liberatory Outcomes at HSIs

In the third episode of season 2 of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I engage with Dra. Marcela Cuellar who is an Associate Professor at UC Davis. Dra. Cuellar talks to us about the importance of doing research with emerging HSIs and elevates her research about campus climate in HSIs. She also shares her work conceptualizing a Hispanic-Serving Research Institution (HSRI) identity and helps us further understand liberatory outcomes, or what she calls empowerment outcomes, and why they are important indicators of serving. This episode offers a wealth of knowledge about Dra. Cuellar’s research which examines higher education access, experiences, and outcomes at HSIs and emerging HSIs, campus climate, and community college baccalaureates.
Guest: Dra. Marcela Cuellar (she/her/ella), Associate Professor, UC Davis
Twitter: @LaProfeCuellar | Instagram: @dra.mgc
Show notes: 
Cuellar, M. (2014). The impact of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), emerging HSIs, and non-HSIs on Latina/o academic self-concept. Review of Higher Education, 37, 499–530. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2014.0032
Cuellar, M., & Johnson-Ahorlu, R. N. (2016). Examining the complexity of the campus racial climate at a Hispanic serving community college. Community College Review, 44(2), 135-152. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091552116632584
Cuellar, M. G., & Johnson-Ahorlu, R. N. (2020). Racialized experiences off and on campus: Contextualizing Latina/o students’ perceptions of climate at an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Urban Education. https://doi.org/10.1177.0042085920927772
Cuellar, M., Segundo, V., & Muñoz, Y. (2017). Assessing empowerment at HSIs: An adapted inputs-environments-outcomes model. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 11(3), 84-108. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.3.362
Deeb-Sossa, N., Cuellar, M. G., Nuñez Martinez, M., Sanchez Nava, Y., & Guerrero, B. G. (2021). Examining recruitment practices for servingness during COVID-19: Perspectives from institutional agents at an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Education Sciences, 11(9), 454. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090454

Engaging with the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE)

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we focus on the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE), learn about the history, role, and purpose of the organization, and encourage everyone to get involved. I talk to the inaugural Executive Director Dr. Yolanda Cataño and the current president Dr. Paloma Vargas. Yolanda and Paloma have been heavily involved in AHSIE and give us an inside look at the organization. They also talk about this year’s 15th annual best practices conference entitled, La Quinceañera: Celebrando Crecimiento, Past, Present and Future and why HSI educators should attend.
Guests: 
Dr. Yolanda Cataño (she, her, ella), AHSIE Executive Director, Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators 
Twitter: @YolandaCatano | Instagram: @ahsieed | Facebook: Yolanda Cataño | LinkedIn: Yolanda Cataño
Dr. Paloma Vargas (she/they/ella), President, Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators  
Instagram: @iheartamoeba
Show notes: 
https://www.ahsieconference.org/

Racial Conflict & Complications of Latinidad in HSIs

In the first episode of season 2 of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? I talk to Dra. Blanca E. Vega, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Montclair State University, about a variety of important topics including racial conflict as an organizational dilemma in HSIs, supporting Black students in HSIs, and complicating Latinidad in HSIs. Her research situates racism as one of multiple barriers that can impact higher education experiences and success, not just for students but also for administrators and faculty. In this episode we talk about her research on racial conflict, policymaking concerning undocumented students, Latinidad in higher education, and HSIs as racialized organizations.
Guest: Dra. Blanca E. Vega (she/her/ella), Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Montclair State University
Social Media: Twitter: @blancavnyc | Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blanca-e-vega-8a551210/
Show notes: 
Vega, B. E., Liera, R., & Boveda, M. (2022). Hispanic-Serving Institutions as racialized organizations: Elevating intersectional consciousness to reframe the “H” in HSI. AERA Open, 8(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221095074
Vega, B. E. (2021). “What is the real belief on campus?” Perceptions of racial conflict at a minority-serving institution and a historically White institution. Teachers College Record, 123(9), 144–170.
Vega, B. E. (2019). Lessons from an administrative closure: The curious case of Black space at an MSI. Frontiers in Education, 3(88), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00088