Gina Garcia, faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, and author of Becoming Hispanic Serving … [+]
Gina Garcia, a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania has been interested in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) since she was an HSI coordinator at California State University, Fullerton in 2005. In this role she kept wondering what it meant to be an HSI in practice. However, when she entered a Ph.D. program at UCLA in 2009, her curiosity didn’t immediately lead to studying HSIs; instead she planned to do research related to Latinx students more broadly. While a graduate student, Garcia realized that a lot of research related to HSIs focused on their underperformance in comparison to Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). In an effort to change this narrative, she eventually decided to pursue research related to the identity of HSIs, and to encourage these institutions to provide opportunities and equity for their students.
The federal government defines HSIs as colleges and universities with at least 25% Latinx students. These institutions are growing in number as a result of growth in the Latinx population, which is increasing faster than any other population in terms of higher education enrollment. According to Excelencia in Education, there are 559 HSIs in the nation and they enroll 66% of Latinx students, yet represent only 18% of the colleges and universities.
Becoming Hispanic Serving Institutions, published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
In 2019, Garcia published Becoming Hispanic Serving Institutions, which has had a significant impact on HSI practice and higher education overall. The book has sold over 6500 copies (a large number for an academic book), and as Garcia shared, it’s a “popular choice for many HSI practitioners” and “people tell me how much they love the book all the time.”
Because of the book’s popularity, Garcia has a new book coming out in January 2023 — Transforming Hispanic Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice — and she recently launched a podcast called “¿Qué pasa, HSIs?”
According to Garcia, “I launched the podcast so that I can share information and knowledge about HSIs in a form other than traditional academic means.” She is hoping to create and share knowledge in collaboration with her podcast guests, and she intentionally invites researchers and practitioners to the podcast, alternating the episodes between the two groups. As Garcia shared, “We need the knowledge from practitioners, but they are often not writing in traditional academic outlets.”
Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice (Johns Hopkins University Press)
She added, “People LOVE podcasts. They are so popular that I knew that was a medium I wanted to be in. The feedback has been wonderful, and the first episode had over 300 downloads in less than 2 weeks. The podcast is accessible and free. That’s important!”
Garcia believes there is a need for a podcast focused on HSIs, and with ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? being the first (that she knows of) to focus 100% on HSIs, it’s filling an important niche. Her goal is to have 10 episodes per season, with 2 seasons per year. Garcia is excited about the growing list of people who she plans to invite to the podcast as they are mostly people doing work on the ground in HSI communities.
Que Pasa HSIs? Podcast series.
In the first multi-guest episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?, Garcia hosted members of the Portland State University (PSU) HSI Exploratory Committee to talk about the process and challenges of becoming an HSI, and the unique aspects of becoming an HSI in the Pacific Northwest, an area that does not receive the same kind of attention as HSIs in California, Texas, and Florida. These conversations are essential to those colleges and universities that are on the verge of becoming HSIs; these include more than 393 of the nation’s institutions of higher education.
If you are interested in HSIs, take a list to this engaging new podcast.
