Please join us for a virtual keynote address and conversation with Dr. Gina Ann Garcia and members of the PSU/HSI Exploratory Committee as we discuss what it means for institutions of higher learning to transition from an Emerging Hispanic-Serving status to becoming a thriving Hispanic Serving Institution.
Wednesday, May 11 | 3:30-5 p.m.
Zoom: https://pdx.zoom.us/j/86739772569
About the speaker:
Dr. Gina Ann Garcia is a leading scholar on Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), which are colleges and universities that enroll at least 25% Latinx undergraduate students. She is also an associate professor in the Department of Administrative and Policy Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in Higher Education and Student Affairs. She is a scholar activist committed to disrupting the status quo of postsecondary education by bringing attention to the ways higher education has historically been committed to whiteness and regularly reinforces white narratives and white standards. Connecting critical and organizational theory, Dr. Garcia’s research centers Latinxs and HSIs, and is guided by the principles of equity and justice.
In this keynote address, Dr. Garcia discusses her book Becoming Hispanic Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges and Universities, published by Johns Hopkins University Press (2019). The book is about three, four-year HSIs in Chicago that have different characteristics, ranging in size, type, institutional control, mission, and history as HSIs. Dr. Garcia lays out her general argument about the racialization of HSIs, and how they are evaluated in comparison to racially white institutions within a system that values racially white norms and measures. She then provides evidence of how HSIs are unique, based on empirical data collected with the three HSIs in her study. Dr. Garcia challenges audience members to think about how becoming an HSI is an individual process for each college and university and reminds them that becoming an HSI is a racial project.
Following Dr. Garcia’s keynote address, there will be a Q&A with the speaker and PSU faculty/staff.