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hese days more and more people seem to be saying “College isn’t for everyone.” Do you ever wonder whothey’re talking about?

Probably not the 20 young folks who’ve accepted a $100,000 fellowship from Stanford Law School graduate Peter Thiel to not goto college. Instead they’re using the money to pursue their entrepreneurial ideas. Some were already in colleges, Yale, Harvard and MIT,among them, and presumably dropping out for the two years as Thiel Fellows. No Latinas/os or Blacks seem to be among this first cohortof fellows. But neither is the group a youthful version of a White Old Boys club. It is certainly elite, though, in terms of what its membersaccomplished before they were tapped by Thiel.

Jessica Shepherd, education correspondent of The Guardian, a London daily, reports that in 2009-10, of Britain’s 14,000 professors,only 50 were Black – 75 if you count foreigners. A related study, due in October, is expected to generate calls for change. Recent law givesuniversities the option of targeting specific minorities for recruitment, but some hope they will be required to do it. Good luck with that.

Last week, PBS launched a new season of its series History Detectives, said to offer “new and sometimes shocking insights into ournational history.” One of its renowned experts is Eduardo Pagán, Bob Stump Endowed Professor of History at Arizona State University.Check it out!

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is granting $4.4 million to 20 public TV stations in more than a dozen states – including Florida,California, New Mexico and New York – to combat high school dropouts in its initiative, “American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen.”

EsquinaEditorial

¡Adelante!Suzanne López-IsaManaging Editor

T

Samuel Merritt University, founded in 1909 andlocated in Oakland, California, educates healthscience practitioners to be highly skilled andcompassionate professionals making a positivedifference in diverse communities. Over 1,400students are enrolled at SMU, with campuses inOakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Mateo.The University offers an undergraduate degree innursing; master’s degrees in a variety of nursingfields, occupational therapy, and physician assistant;and doctoral degrees in physical therapy andpodiatric medicine. For more information visit theSMU website:

www.samuelmerritt.edu

Persons of color are encouraged to apply.Samuel Merritt University is an Equal Opportunity Employer


President Obama was recently in El Paso using the bully pulpit to talkup his immigration enforcement achievements and outline again hisadministration’s plans to straighten out the whole mess.

He says he’s already made good strides, citing the expanding U.S. immi-gration forces and sophisticated enforcement tools along the U.S.-Mexicanborder that are stifling the flood.

He didn’t say it, but reform is going to take a long while, if ever.Get used to it. One day, señores and señoras, we might all be speaking

Spanish and singing “Las Mananitas.”The president knows the system is broken, but he also knows it

requires a huge outlay of political capital to fix it, which he’s not preparedto make now, particularly with his re-election looming.

It would help if the Mexican government were more pro-active in the border enforcement efforts, but why should it bewhen remittances from the U.S. by Mexican illegals areMexico’s second highest source of foreign income after oil.

Mexico would probably be happy if more of themwere in the U.S. because of this income source.

With his political campaign already gearing up andhis potential challengers waiting to pound him on thisissue, it makes the consequences too costly, so PresidentObama has indicated he will take up immigration legisla-tion after the 2012 election.

For now, he’ll talk it up.Actually a president in his first term is always in cam-

paign mode, with a political value attached to almost of allhis actions and his decisions – like the Afghan war, Osamabin Laden’s demise, the new health policies and any othermajor issues that might impact his re-election and his legacy.

The Latino constituency – particularly Mexican-Americans – with its huge electoral blocs situated in keynational jurisdictions – has become a coveted group.

Latinos traditionally are Democrats and are poised to bea turbo force in most political issues – but with immigrationreform, they are responding like a two-cylinder engine.

Nevertheless, you’ll hear some of the Latino special-interest groups bellowing the consequences of defyingthe “sleeping giant,” who is now sufficiently awake tomake you pay dearly for it.

Really, do Latinos, particularly Mexican-Americans,who are closer to the problem than other Latino groups,put immigration reform above some of the other issueslike health care, education and the economy that impact them more thanthe fate of illegal aliens?

Other than a few isolated gatherings, have you seen them mobilizing inparks and public areas to march locked arm in arm in Martin Luther KingJr.-style demonstrations that tell political leaders to listen or suffer the con-sequences?

Some Latino organizations, mostly in California, have organized soli-darity marches, and the National Council of La Raza in Washington hasbeen leading the national crusade, but on this one, the sleeping giant lookslike he’s snoring again.

OK, so I exaggerate a bit to make my point – but I base this on the con-clusion that immigration reform is not that paramount with Latinos, partic-

ularly Mexican-Americans, no matter how much priority some Latinonational organizations and leaders give it.

I was raised in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, so close to Mexico that italmost feels like Mexico. Many people visiting for the first time get that impres-sion after catching a whiff of the looks, the sounds and the feel of the area.

Almost 90 percent of the population is of Mexican origin. You can walkinto a pure Americana-themed store but see only pure Mexican-lookingfaces who speak better, unaccented English than Spanish.

On a recent visit, I was startled when I saw a young Anglo sacking gro-ceries at a local supermarket. You hardly see that anymore. The localeconomy, the governing bodies and the social scene are now almost totally

dominated by Mexican-Americans.Here, as in other areas, you can’t tell who is who,

and as you know about Arizona, Latinos are pretty sensi-tive about how you go about challenging them.

The legal and illegal Latino communities coexist justfine, thank you, and you’ll be hard-put to tell the differ-ence. The legitimate gripe about the illegitimate, but inthe end all are compadres.

The local Latinos complain about supporting a hordeof illegals through the local welfare programs while avail-ing themselves of this cheap labor. My mother did, but shepaid her household help U.S. wages plus benefits.

What bothers a lot of legal locals is the seeminginability of President Obama and his predecessors tocome up with an innovative plan to stymie the flow ofillegal immigrants, although the president is saying heput the finger in the dyke with his actions, which is novelonly for its lack of it.

Echoing past leaders, President Obama says that thepath to legitimacy is for illegals to first come forward,pay back taxes and a fine, and learn English. The previ-ous proposals included repatriation and getting in lineback home to apply for legal entry.

The requirements haven’t changed much, nor havethe attitudes of those affected, who don’t pay muchattention or say “no comprende” to all the Washingtonlegislative scheming to legalize or get rid of them.

What stultifies is that Washington actually thinks thatthe illegals will come forward and run the gauntlet oflegality when most of them, living and working under-ground, could care less about formalizing their status,

even if they were conversant with the requirements.Those who are established here will probably not want to uproot them-

selves for a risky, expensive and unsettling adventure.The DREAM Act, geared for illegal Latino youth who can gain citizen-

ship by fulfilling some scholastic and military requirements, and which wasrejected by Congress last year, has the most merit – but would probably benixed again as being amnesty.

So the dance goes on.

Immigration Reform: Do Latinos Really Care that Much?

KALEIDOSCOPE

LATINO

KALEIDOSCOPE

LATINO

Carlos D. Conde, award-winning journalist and commentator, for-mer Washington and foreign news correspondent, was an aide in theNixon White House and worked on the political campaigns of GeorgeBush Sr. To reply to this column, contact [email protected].

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE by Carlos D. Conde


Page 8

Page 10

MAGAZINE®

CONTENTS

JUNE 27, 2011

How Goucher College Creates a More Diverse –and Persistent – Student Body by Gary M. Stern

8

Francisco Dorame:A Leader in the Makingby Michelle Adam

Just the Facts – from NCLRby Mary Ann Cooper

CGS Reports Graduate Education & NationalProsperityVitally Linked by Peggy Sands Orchowski

How Affirmative Action Bans Have AffectedHispanic and Other Groups by Marilyn Gilroy

Celia Barberena,Trailblazing President,Chabot College byThomas G. Dolan

10

13

14

15

18

Challenging Barriers to Higher Education in Californiaby Manuel Barajas

Legacy Status and the Minority Studentby Frank DiMaria

Magnetic, Charismatic, Passionate Leader:Gilberto Cárdenas by Clay Latimer

To view these and other select articles online,go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

Online Articles


Page 15

Page 18

DEPARTMENTS

Cover photo courtesy of Goucher College

SScchhoollaarrss’’ CCoorrnneerr by Marlen Kanagui-Muñoz 20

Immigration Reform: Do Latinos Really Care that Much?

Latino Kaleidoscope by Carlos D. Conde

Book Review by Mary Ann Cooper

Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place

FYI . . .FYI . . .FYI . . .

5

24

21

HHiissppaanniiccss oonn tthhee MMoovvee 26

IInntteerreessttiinngg RReeaaddss aanndd MMeeddiiaa......

21

PPrriimmiinngg tthhee PPuummpp...... by Miquela Rivera

Focus on Learning – Not Just School

Back Cover

HO is also available in digital format; go to our website: www.HispanicOutlook.com.

HHiigghh SScchhooooll FFoorruummHHiigghh SScchhooooll FFoorruummHigh School and College Remediation: One Size DoesNot Fit All by Mary Ann Cooper

22

How Goucher College Creates a More Diverse –and Persistent – Student BodyM

any public colleges, which are supported byfederal and state funds, offer scholarshipsto minority students. But many private col-

leges, which face their own financial pressures,don’t have the resources to create scholarships toattract diverse students. Goucher College, a well-respected private liberal arts college located inTowson, Md., about eight miles north ofBaltimore, developed a scholarship and assis-tance program to attract multicultural students.

Dedicated to creating a diversestudent body, Goucher establishedthe Goucher College EducationalOpportunity Program (EOP) in2006. The program offers up to 10scholarships a year to first-genera-tion, disadvantaged students whoreside in Maryland and show intel-lectual promise. These studentsreceive the bulk of tuition, room andboard and a stipend over the courseof the four-year scholarship, though,depending on their finances, can paya maximum of $4,000 a year.Currently, 31 students participate inGoucher’s EOP, and its first class offive students graduated in June 2010.

EOP launched “as a result of adesire to continue Goucher’s legacyof being inclusive.”

“We have a long history of reach-ing out to underrepresented communities. Wewere one of the only colleges to accept Jewishwomen in the 1940s,” noted Mary Tandia, assis-tant dean for multicultural student services anddirector of EOP. The EOP scholarships are fund-ed by three sources, including the Jesse BallDuPont Fund, key Goucher alumni and donors,and financial aid.

To be accepted into EOP, minority studentsapply to Goucher and then the admissionsdepartment identifies candidates it considersdeserving of the scholarship, noted KimberlyGordy, assistant director of admission and coor-dinator of multicultural recruitment.

Goucher has provided an average of eightEOP scholarships annually. EOP participantsmust be first-generation attending college in theirfamily, directly out of high school, and meet fed-eral poverty guidelines. Criteria for acceptanceinclude overall academic record, with a strongGPA but not necessarily in the top 5 percent oftheir class, Tandia explains. Since Goucher is an

SAT-optional college, SATs don’t play a majorrole. But students “must show resiliency anddemonstrate the emotional fortitude to navigate ademanding college like Goucher,” she added.

Of the 31 EOP students, 18 are African-American, five are White, three are Latino, threeare biracial, and two are South Asian. Tandiasays the program is increasing its recruitingefforts to target more Latino students.

Founded in 1885, Goucher College was an

all-woman’s institution until 1986-87. Currently,it has almost 1,500 undergraduate students. Theschool costs $34,600 a year for tuition, $10,200for room and board, and 59 percent ofGoucher’s students receive financial aid.

As a liberal arts college, Goucher’s most pop-ular majors are psychology, English, communi-cation and biology. Goucher aims to produceglobal citizens and has introduced an interna-tional component, making study abroad for onesemester mandatory. To offset the cost, it pro-vides a $1,200 travel voucher.

As part of the program, EOP students must ful-fill a work-study commitment, which might entailworking in an office, library or classroom, but usu-ally only for a limited number of hours per week. Ifa student’s family is strapped financially, loans havebeen issued to cover books and other expenses.

Ethnically, Goucher’s students are 66 percentWhite, 5 percent Latino, 8 percent African-American, 3 percent Asian-American and 17percent unknown. Hence, EOP scholarships

boost the presence of underrepresented African-Americans and Latino students on campus.

Asked why only three Latinos are part of EOPwhen Hispanics constitute 5 percent ofGoucher’s student body, Gordy, the multiculturalrecruiter, replies that this percentage reflectsGoucher’s applicant pool. The 2000 U.S. Censusfigures show that Latinos constitute 4 percent ofMaryland’s population.

As the Latino population has been increasing inPrince and Montgomery counties,Gordy, a Goucher alumnus, hasstepped up recruiting in these areas.She has been developing relationshipswith schools that have larger Latinoand African-American populations toensure that Goucher’s population bet-ter reflects the minority student popu-lar in the neighboring areas. Recently,a Spanish-speaking translator accom-panied Gordy to a college fair toanswer questions from Spanish-speaking parents and students.“We’re doing more information ses-sions and greater outreach to pro-mote open house events so studentsfrom a wider range of backgroundsare aware of us,” Gordy said.

Providing the Skills to Succeedat Goucher

To ensure that its first-generation college stu-dents succeed at Goucher, EOP students partici-pate in a Summer Bridge program. SummerBridge is a four-week, early immersion program,held before their freshman year, that focuses onpromoting academic success, college readinessand social adaptation. Workshops provide theopportunity to “improve their skills, fine tune theiracademic pursuits, become acclimated to living ona college campus, and engage in the social offer-ings of the Baltimore community,” Tandia said.

After the summer program, the EOP studentsparticipate in monthly development workshops,retreats and one-on-one sessions with programstaff to assess their academic progress. If any acad-emic problems arise, advisors and professors arecontacted. First-year students are paired withupper-class mentors who serve as sounding boardsand can help navigate that difficult freshman year.

Gordy says that EOP students often face “cul-ture shock” on campus since they’ve left theirneighborhoods and families and are in a colle-

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/DIVERSITY


Mary Tandia, Assistant Dean for Multicultural Student Services and Director of EOP

giate environment. Minority students must masteravoiding distractions and exhibit “a level of self-advocacy and initiative” in their dealings withprofessors and students, she suggests. Moreover,they have to adapt to a demanding academic cur-riculum and smaller class sizes than most urbanhigh schools. They’re expected to speak up andparticipate in classes, and meet more stringentwriting demands and reading lists.

Becoming an EOP student at Goucher canchange the course of a student’s life. Forexample, Francisco Barrera, a 21-year-old biology major and senior at Goucher,earned an EOP scholarship in 2007. Anative of El Salvador, Barrera, whosemom is a housekeeper and whose dadworks in construction, attended a publichigh school in Silver Spring, Md. He par-ticipated in Collegiate Direction Inc.(CDI), a nonprofit program that helpsminority students apply for college.

CDI suggested that Barrera apply toGoucher. He was accepted, nominatedfor EOP, was interviewed and gained thefour-year scholarship. His 3.3 GPA playedan influential role in earning the scholar-ship. Barrera wanted to attend GoucherCollege because it was a liberal arts col-lege and had a faculty-student ratio of 9-to-1 and an average class size of 19 stu-dents, which meant close contact withprofessors.

EOP Makes Sure Students Succeed“Without EOP, I likely couldn’t have afforded

Goucher,” Barrera said. But EOP didn’t onlysupply funding; its most important role “was tomake sure you succeed. Classes at Goucher aretough; professors are going to challenge you indifferent extremes. EOP let us know about theresources the college offers,” he said.

In the summer before his freshman year,Barrera and eight other EOP students attendedSummer Bridge on campus. He participated inthree workshops, led by Goucher upperclass-men. One workshop focused on research andthe resources Goucher offered, particularly itslibrary. Another discussed Goucher’s AcademicCenter for Excellence (ACE), which offers tutor-ing and assistance in writing and math. The lastworkshop centered on time management skills.

By the time Barrera started Goucher as afreshman, he knew the campus inside and out. He

knew what resources the college offered, whereto find math and English tutoring, how to use fac-ulty’s office hours for one-on-one sessions andtap a teacher’s assistant (TA) for help. Thosesummer workshops eased the transition for afirst-generation college student from high schoolto independent college student. EOP just didn’tprovide scholarship money; it enabled students tohave the right skills to perform well on campus.

Adjusting to campus life presented some

issues. During his freshman year, Barrera gravitat-ed to becoming friends with international studentsfrom India, Japan, Mexico and Colombia, stu-dents with whom he felt a camaraderie. He alsoplayed on the college’s tennis team but didn’t con-nect with most of his teammates. He admits facing“culture shock” when dealing with most majoritystudents. As his confidence rose in his sophomoreand junior years, he branched out and becamefriends with a wider range of Goucher classmates.

Academically, Barrera has been enriched by hisclasses at Goucher. He’s currently student teachingin biology at a public high school in Baltimore, Md.He intends to teach biology for several years andthen apply to pharmacy or nursing school.

Faculty treated Barrera and his EOP col-leagues “just like any students,” which was finewith him. “The faculty was there to help you.Some embraced us as Hispanic students andwanted to know more, but in no way did EOP stu-dents receive any preferential treatment,” he said.

Though Barrera benefited from attendingGoucher’s EOP, he also gave back to the college.In his work-study assignment, he was a teachingassistant in Spanish 101. He worked two hoursweekly during two courses, but after class stu-dents would stop and ask him to review theirSpanish papers. Barrera was delighted to helpout and go the extra mile. “Learning takes placewhen we all learn from each other,” he said.

As is required of every Goucher student,Barrera studied overseas, the summerafter his junior year, in Alicante, Spain.He studied history on his own at aSpanish college. That internationalexperience boosted his confidence andgave him further insight into theSpanish culture and language.

Spending four years at Goucher hasenhanced Barrera’s life. “Intellectually,you grow at Goucher in different ways– not only in my major, biology, but inmany subjects. My writing has beenstrengthened,” he said. He’s alsolearned to speak up in class and haveconfidence in his academic abilities.

Despite the Summer Bridge program,mentors, weekly meetings and advisors,EOP students can still encounter prob-lems trying to graduate in four years. Ofthe first five students accepted into EOP,two have graduated on time, one isscheduled to graduate a year late, one is

on hiatus but planning to return to college, and onewasn’t a good fit for college and dropped out. Inthe program’s five years, Gordy says Goucher haslearned more about which students fit the pro-gram. Of the students who are now seniors in EOP,nine of 10 are on course for graduation.

In terms of discrimination toward EOP stu-dents, Barrera encountered none of it. Goucherpromotes a culture of inclusiveness, and moststudents accept others rather than needle orbelittle them, Tandia says.

Goucher’s EOP students received a first-ratecollege education, but Goucher has benefitedfrom having them on campus. “We live in aworld of diversity. We’re focused on issues ofglobalization. It would be remiss not to reachout to people who are economically challengedand try to pull them up so they could go back totheir community and make a difference,” saidTandia, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y.


How Goucher College Creates a More Diverse –and Persistent – Student Body by Gary M. Stern

Kimberly Gordy, Assistant Director of Admission and Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment

FranciscoDorame:A Leader in

the Making

by Michelle Adam

Last year, Francisco Dorame, doctoral student at California LutheranUniversity, was bestowed an Examples of Excelencia Award, one offive given annually to community colleges nationwide for promoting

college for Latinos. He was honored for helping minority and low-income community college students succeed and graduate from collegethrough a program called the Transfer Achievement Program, at SantaBarbara City College.

Since working with hundreds of minority students at Santa Barbara,Dorame continues to help underrepresented students achieve and succeedin higher education. A Mexican immigrant to the U.S. at age 5, he has builta passion, from his own experiences and struggles, to change higher edu-cation for the better for underrepresented students and all students seek-ing the dream of a better life.

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine recently spokewith Dorame about his life and goals, beginning with his current work atAllan Hancock College in California.

The Hispanic Outlook: About the program you are currently run-ning at Alan Hancock College, how many students are served by this pro-gram, and how long have you been running it?

Francisco Dorame: Our program is called the College AchievementNow (CAN) program. It’s a TRIO program. There are different grants withthe TRIO program, and ours is a student support services program with140 students served. Our whole mission is to service first-generation low-income students, students with disabilities, and students with limited

English proficiency. Our mission is to have these students persist in collegeso they can get to their goal of transferring or getting a degree from thecommunity college. I arrived with the program this January.

HO: How important is this program, and what do you feel happens tothese same students without such a program?

Dorame: It is extremely significant. As California continues to strugglefinancially and budget cuts continue to grow for programs that service cer-tain students, we need these programs to supplement these cuts. Studentsare being turned away from other Californian programs like ExtendedOpportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), which helps low-income andeconomically challenged students achieve their educational and careergoals. These kinds of programs continue to be cut. Federally funded pro-grams have allowed us to supplement some of those cuts. What happens tothese students without this is they don’t get the proper assistance academi-cally and financially as well. They won’t get book grants and other financialassistance. Everything from tutoring and resources that are one on one areprovided through the program. Our program comes in to assist and pro-vide that help for these students.

HO: Tell me about the Transfer Achievement Program at Santa BarbaraCity College. How long were you with this program? How many students didyou serve, and how much did you help them?

Dorame: I assisted 600 ethnically underrepresented students there,but when I first arrived at the program in 2004, it had a little over 200 stu-

LEADERSHIP


dents. When I got there, I put a system together to allow these students tosucceed. We provided a step-by-step process on academic planning,career planning, career assistance and financial assistance. What wasunique is that we were assisting undocumented students. It was a district-funded program, so it allowed us to be flexible on whom we serviced. Inthe beginning, one of the things I started seeing is that many of these stu-dents were not getting serviced. I began recruiting these students and cre-ated an open-door policy to give students counseling and support. It grewto 600 in three years. Our students were succeeding at much higher ratesthan the general population. For math, which is a huge challenge, our stu-dents were persisting. They were transferring in three years instead of four,and we were moving these students forward. This was because of the sys-tem and expectations that we put into place.

HO: You won an Examples of Excelencia Award for your work with theTransfer Achievement Program? Why do you feel you received this award?

Dorame: I think I got the award because with community colleges ingeneral we are seeing low transfer rates. Not only are our students nottransferring to university, but they are dropping out within a year of attend-ing a community college. I think the reason these programs are importantis that we are a retention tool for the school and a tool for graduating thesestudents. With these programs, we are having success rates of 90 percent,whereas transfer rates are anywhere between 15 to 25 percent for ethni-cally underrepresented students.

HO: What got you involved with programs like these?Dorame: It’s been my own personal experience that drew me to this. I

didn’t have any programs that assisted me at a younger age. At first, I want-ed to be a high school teacher because I felt there were many students withhigh aspirations that were not getting the guidance they needed. When I gotinto college, I began receiving that support and saw the connectionbetween mentors and how academics play a role. I got a lot of support atCalifornia State-Northridge where I went, and I wanted to later be able tohelp students out. While I was at Cal State, I did internships to motivateyoung kids to go to college.

HO: How common are these kinds of program nationwide? Has therebeen an increase or decrease in these programs?

Dorame: Programs like the College Achievement Now should be a lotmore common. Out of the 112 community colleges in California, 48 haveTRIO programs. That is actually about 40 percent. Programs like theTransfer Achievement Program are even more rare because they are locallyrun, and the institutions provide their own funds to provide that service.When I first started that program, it was staffed by six people, and thenwhen I left it was staffed with three. It was extremely underfunded by thetime I left there. As time passes, these programs get eliminated. Programsfor underrepresented students are the first to go when there are cuts.

HO: You are a doctoral student in educational leadership development atCalifornia Lutheran University. How long have you been a doctoral studentthere, and how much work are you doing “in the field” and in research?

Dorame: I started my doctoral program in 2007. I have a family, and ithas been extremely difficult to balance work and family and studies. At thesame time, I understand the value of what I am doing and the value for thecommunity. I am doing this to help more people. My research is directlyrelated to what I am doing now. It is in degree aspirations for Latino males

at California community colleges. I am looking at the successes of studentsand how they maintain their degree aspirations. Latino males are the mostat risk for lowering their degree aspirations at California community col-leges. Within a semester or a year of saying they want to transfer andreceive a bachelor’s degree or beyond, these students will lower theirdegree aspirations and aim for an A.A. degree or certificate programs. Iam writing my dissertation, and it should come out in May.

HO: What is your ultimate goal in pursuing this doctorate? What do yousee yourself doing 10 years from now?

Dorame: Hopefully, I will be in upper administration – a vice presi-dent or president of a community college – and really be an integral partin changing the system. I think there need to be a lot of systemic changes.We can’t continue at the rate we are going – this old-world structure is notgoing to survive. There need to be a lot of structural changes at communitycolleges. We need to look toward the community and do more fast-trackprograms and accelerated programs. The other aspect is the pipeline fromhigh school to community college. It is not as clear as it used to be.Community colleges don’t do a good enough job at creating that pipelinefor high schools. Students are coming in and are asking to be failedbecause there isn’t any real pipeline.

HO: Tell me about your childhood. What were your hopes and dreamsas a child?

Dorame: I was 5 years old when we came from Mexico. We were alow-income family new to the United States. I grew up moving a lot. I wentto five different elementary schools in California for six years. My dad wasa welder. I am the youngest of five, and my brothers and sisters were mucholder than me, so they had it a bit harder with the language barrier. Ialways had the expectation I was going to succeed. I knew I could, but Iwasn’t given the tools to know I was doing wonderful things. I was neverexposed to programs or told by teachers or counselors that I could suc-ceed. I didn’t know what I would succeed at.

HO: What kind of student were you in middle school and high school,and how were you inspired to go to ultimately attend California State-Northridge?

Dorame: When I was in middle school, my mom went to school withme because I had become that bad of a kid. She went to school with mefor three months. That helped extremely much. It changed my attitudebecause now the bad kid beating up everyone actually had a mom. Shebecame more of a disciplinarian with me and took away things I loved, andI started changing little by little. In high school, I wanted to play sports, soI had to keep my grades up to play. I would do the average. I would doenough to just get by. Nobody ever told me to be great and put effort intomy work. My older brothers and sisters all went to community colleges,and only one transferred. The rest lowered their degree aspirations anddidn’t graduate. My high school teacher noticed that trend and said if Iwere to go to a local community college that could happen to me as well.He started telling me about universities and what I should be focused on.He provided a lot of guidance, and I got into California State-Northridge –something I never, never thought I would do.

HO: What happened for you in higher education? What was it like?Dorame: A light bulb went on when I got to Cal State Northridge. I

decided I would not let this opportunity go by. I became a completely dif-ferent person than the one I was in high school. I became a good stu-


dent, meeting with professors and study groups. I liked the freethinking,the classes and the environment. I thought, wow, this is education theway it should be.

HO: How did your college experience impact your future aspirations?Dorame: I felt high school was a waste of time. I ended up being

angry at my high school experience and decided I wanted to teach and goback into my community and provide that assistance. My friends had beenjust like me, and yet I had the fortune of having a teacher that helped meout. But my friends who didn’t have that teacher, they didn’t get that sup-port. A lot of them didn’t go to college or they dropped out after the firstsemester. I wanted to go back into high schools and help the youth.During my time at Cal State Northridge, I did an internship where I wentinto middle schools and high schools. The internship then recruited me towork with them as a coordinator for the GEAR UP program. I fell in lovewith the university and college system. This position as a professionalincreased my degree aspirations. I never thought I’d get a master’s degree,and a doctorate degree had never been on my radar.

HO: How have your friends and family responded to you pursuing adoctorate and a career in higher education?

Dorame: My friends and family can’t even fathom what I am doing. Ican’t even believe it myself. I am really amazed by where I am. It is like anout-of-body experience. It feels unusual, but at the same time it is so spe-cial. This is just going to get me closer to really being a leader in the com-munity and also in higher education. The accessibility of a doctoratedegree into upper administration allows you to really make changes.

HO: Today when you work with students, and specifically Hispanics,how similar are their stories to your own? How are you able to help themwith your own story and example?

Dorame: Our stories are very similar. Every time I speak with students,I share part of my own story. It allows me to build that bond with them.They see me as a role model and accessible and real. That allows them togrow their own ideas and say to themselves, “I can probably do this.”

HO: How common is it for Hispanics to be in community colleges butnever get to a four-year-institution? Why do you think this is so, and howdo you feel programs like yours help in this process?

Dorame: It is very common for Latinos to be in community colleges.They are not underrepresented in the California Community College sys-tem, but they are at four-year universities. Part of the reason is that the stu-dents don’t have the tools, the resources (financial, study skills, discipline,environment) to succeed. We are providing those resources and tools androle models for them to succeed. Unfortunately for me and for low-income families, your neighbor is not a lawyer or doctor. You become aproduct of that environment.

HO: What advice do you give Hispanic students?Dorame: I offer a lot of different advice. The one thing is for them to

have high expectations for themselves. Good is not good enough. It isimportant to take risks and not settle – to be willing to be an individualand to expect to be great. Having a positive role model is also important.If Hispanics can have access to different professionals and professions,this is very significant. They can see a tangible person – someone whohas made it.


Community of Promise–an equal opportunity college–

The CF Board of Trustees announces the national search forapplicants and nominations for the position of

COLLEGE PRESIDENT

The College of Central Florida offers educational opportunities which are accessible,affordable and high quality. In a climate that nurtures excellence CF provides under-graduate instruction and awards associate and baccalaureate degrees and certificates;prepares students for careers requiring professional and technical training; encouragesstudent success through a variety of support services; and promotes the economic,social and cultural development of the community.

Presidential ProfileThe selected president will hold an earned doctorate from a regionally accredited institu-tion.The selected president will have a minimum of five years of exemplary senior-levelcollege administrative experience.

In addition to the above requirements, the Board of Trustees is looking for a highlyenergetic, creative and ethical leader who possesses the following skills and characteristics:

• A principle-based visionary who communicates high standards andexpectations for learning as a priority for the college and its constituents.

• Strong track record of effective leadership with the ability to motivate andlead through ideas, persuasion, relationships and by example.

• Effective written and oral communication skills; ability to promote andadvocate for the college and its students.

• Proven ability to work within a structure requiring substantial participation andcollaboration; strong interpersonal skills.

• Experience working with services to students, including those with special needs.

• Experience with strategic and long-range planning including fiscal, staffing andtechnical planning.

• Proven ability to work effectively with higher education accrediting agencies.

• Proven willingness to support and work effectively with local and regionalpartners in the economic development of the community.

• Willingness to learn and respect the culture of the college.

• Extensive budget experience and fiscal expertise.

• Committed to professional development for all employees of the college.

• Committed to promoting diversity and global understanding.

• Demonstrated practices of a person who values community involvement, is partof the community, is visible in the community.

• Committed to the promotion of the arts in higher education and appreciation ofthe role of the college in community cultural development.

• Proven ability to work effectively with a Board of Trustees.

• Successful experience working with a foundation and other sources of fund raisingand who understands fully the role of the president in resource development.

• Good sense of humor.

Application and Nomination ProcessApplications and nominations should be submitted electronically in MS Word or PDFformat to http://hrapps2.cf.edu/application/pres_application.php by 4 p.m. onMonday, Aug 1, 2011.

Applications will include a three-to five-page letter addressing the applicant’s back-ground in relation to the skills and qualifications listed for this position, an up-to-dateresume and five references along with positions and telephone numbers.

Applications received after Aug. 1 are not guaranteed full consideration.

To learn more about the College of Central Florida and the presidential search processvisit www.CF.edu and click on CF Presidential Search. For further information,please contact Dr. Jillian Ramsammy, search coordinator at 352-873-5835 [email protected]@cf.edu. You may also contact Dr. Jeff Hockaday, search consul-tant at 919-718-9812 or @ [email protected].

3001 SW College Road, Ocala, FL 34474-4415CF is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Just the Facts – from by Mary Ann Cooper

Recently released 2010 U.S. Census figuresshow that the Hispanic population in theUnited States has exploded. Analysis pro-

vided by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR)reports the increase is not limited to one state orarea of the country. Most regions have seen anincrease of their Latino population, which ischaracterized by its youthfulness.

The figures reveal that one in four Americanchildren is Latino; nearly three in four Hispanics,overall, are U.S. citizens; and more than nine in10 Latino children are U.S. citizens. Hispanicworkers represent one in five agricultural, con-struction and food manufacturing workers.

Here are some of the main points revealed inthe census figures:

1) In the last 10 years, the Hispanic popula-tion in the United States increased by 15 millionfrom 35.3 million to 50.5. This population alsoaccounted for more than half of the nationalpopulation growth during that period.• The growth rate for the Latino population andfor Asian-Americans was 43 percent; all non-Hispanics, 4.9 percent; non-Hispanic Whites, 5.7percent; non-Hispanic Blacks, 12 percent.• Hispanics make up one in every six people inAmerica. That translates to 16.3 percent of theoverall American population. Hispanics make upalmost one-fourth (23 percent) of all Americanchildren under 18.• Hispanic youth and children under the age of18 showed the highest rate of growth (28 per-cent) while the rate of growth for non-Hispanicyouth decreased by 5 percent.

2) The Hispanic population has grown inmost areas of the country, but the West andSouthwest have shown the biggest growth spike.In some states, the Hispanic population hasmore than doubled. More specifically:• California, Texas, Florida, New York, Arizona,Illinois, New Jersey, Colorado, New Mexico andGeorgia have the highest number of Hispanicresidents.• New Mexico has the highest percentage ofHispanic residents (46 percent) followed byTexas and California (each 38 percent), Arizona(30 percent), Nevada (27 percent), Florida (23percent) and Colorado (21 percent).• The most significant changes have occurredin South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee,

Kentucky, Arkansas, North Carolina, Maryland,Mississippi and South Dakota, where Hispanicpopulations have more than doubled.

3) Hispanics are a dominant force in theworkplace and, if the trend lines continue, willrepresent a third of the labor force by 2050.• Latinos participate in the work force at ahigher level than any other demographic group.In 2010, 75 percent of Hispanic men were in the

labor force as opposed to 69 percent of non-Hispanic males.• The Latino percentage of the work forcestands at 15 percent today. It is estimated that by2050, that percentage will jump to 33 percent.According to the NCLR report on these censusfigures, “Over the same time period, the countrywill age as the percent of the total U.S. popula-tion over 65 grows from 13 percent in 2010 to20 percent by 2050.”• Hispanics are not only in the work force,they also own businesses. The number of Latino-owned businesses was up 43.7 percent from2002 to 2007 compared to 14.5 percent growthin businesses owned by non-Hispanics. Of allnonfarm U.S. businesses, Hispanics own 8.3percent or 2.3 million.• Hispanics also heavily populate all branchesof the military and are 16 percent of newlyenlisted active duty members, according to theOffice of the Secretary of Defense’s Defense

Manpower Data Center.The census reports over the past 20 years

paint a positive picture of Hispanic involvementin civic affairs.• Over the past 10 years, nearly six millionHispanics became eligible to vote. Voter pollingshows that Hispanics have “the highest growthrates of voter registration and participation.”• Close to three-fourths of Hispanics in the U.S.

are citizens (73.6 percent). The numberincreases with Hispanics under age 18. In thatcase, 93 percent are citizens. According to theCensus Bureau, “Based on the trends of the lastdecade, at least 500,000 Latino youths will turn18 every year for the next 20 years, adding 10million potential voters to the population.”• When it comes to language, 76 percent ofHispanics speak English, 52 percent are bilin-gual, and 24 percent speak English in theirhomes.• According to a poll conducted by theWashington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation andHarvard University titled Race and RecessionSurvey, 72 percent of Hispanics said they felt opti-mistic about the future, “despite the dispropor-tionate impact of the economic recession andhousing crisis on this population.” The surveywas conducted between Jan. 27 and Feb. 9, 2011.

REPORTS


South Carolina 4,625,364 235,682 95,076 147.89% 5.10%

Alabama 4,779,736 185,602 75,830 144.76% 3.88%

Tennessee 6,346,105 290,059 123,838 134.22% 4.57%

Kentucky 4,339,367 132,836 59,939 121.62% 3.06%

Arkansas 2,915,918 186,050 86,866 114.18% 6.38%

North Carolina 9,535,483 800,120 378,963 111.13% 8.39%

Maryland 5,773,552 470,632 227,916 106.49% 8.15%

Mississippi 2,967,297 81,481 39,569 105.92% 2.75%

South Dakota 814,180 22,119 10,903 102.87% 2.72%

Delaware 897,934 73,221 37,277 96.42% 8.15%

Ten States with the Highest Growth in the Latino Populations, 2000-2010

Source: NCLR calculation using U.S. Census Bureau, “American FactFinder,” 2000 and 2010 Decennial Census,http://factfinder2.census.goc/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml (March 2011).

TotalPopulation

Hispanic orLatino, 2010

Hispanic or Latino, 2000

PercentChange inHispanic

Population,2000-2010

Percent ofPopulation

that IsHispanicState


CGS Reports Graduate Education &National Prosperity Vitally Linked

It’s almost a mantra now. “America’s futureprosperity is going to depend on enhancingour historic success in competition and inno-

vation.” To do that, graduate college educationis vitally important, argues the Council forGraduate Schools (CGS). “The federal govern-ment, universities and industry are all going tohave to work together to ensure that graduateeducation remains a viable option for a growingproportion of students.”

Over the past year, CGS has released tworeports supporting this thesis. In 2010, it issuedits seminal study, The Path Forward: The Futureof Graduate Education in the United States.While other organizations have issued similarstudies, this was the first to “connect the dots”that American innovation and competitivenesswere dependent on a vibrant, inclusive system ofgraduate education, according to CGS.

In early April, congressional representativesand education and corporate leaders gatheredin a Senate hearing room to discuss CGS’ follow-up report, Steps Taken on the Path Forward. Itaddresses the challenges facing the goal ofbuilding the nation’s capacity for innovation on astrong system of graduate education. One ofthe report’s biggest supporters is GeorgiaRepublican Sen. Johnny Isakson.

“It all started for me three years ago when Itook a trip to India to try to figure out where allthose American jobs were going,” the senatorrelated. “I was a businessman. I know the powerof good, well-trained and educated employees tobenefit a company, how valuable they are to acompany and to a nation. What I realized inIndia was that America will never lose its com-petitive edge until its loses its system of highereducation.”

But that’s what worries the senator. He hasfought (successfully, at least by end of April) topass and fund the COMPETES Act to support stu-dents studying the sciences. Support for studentloans “will happen,” he said. “It will win overdefense spending, once the cost-benefit analysis isunderstood.” But he is concerned about the num-

bers of students going into graduate studies. Weneed to increase that talent pool, he maintained.

Asked if he supported giving foreign graduatestudents in STEM fields permanent immigrationstatus once they had completed their advanceddegrees at American universities, he agreedwholeheartedly. “We need the best and brightestgraduate students,” he said, repeating whatmany congressmen seem to be saying thesedays. “We need to keep them all, no matter whattheir skin color and nationality.”

New York’s Democratic Congressman TimBishop echoed much of Isakson’s concerns.“We’re now 12th in the world in the percentageof population with college degrees,” he lament-ed. “We are changing the paradigm of Americancollege graduates. While many blame the econo-my, rising deficits and costs, the thing I am mostworried about is that Pell Grants will be cut. Idon’t disagree with Isakson that there will needto be some cuts in higher education costs, butwe must be very, very careful.

The senator nodded vigorously. “We have afirst-rate college system, but there are things thatare going to have to be cut. We need to do a bet-ter job of putting a human face to the cost-benefitanalysis of higher education. It will take a gener-ation to realize that Pell Grants are highly expen-sive and just go up as the economy slips down. Idon’t know anyone in Congress who does notwant to cut things equally,” he concluded.

Under Secretary of Education Martha Kantersaid that she “truly didn’t know what the impactof cutting Pell Grants would be.” Studies weren’taccurate for Pell 2, she said. But PresidentObama took a very long-term view of it in hisState of the Union address in February. Heknows we have to improve what we have now,which is that at high school graduation, onlyabout 50 percent of American students are acad-emically ready for college.

“We’re looking for best practices throughoutthe nation to guide the way,” Kanter continued.They will include some alternative loan fundingand repayment programs, especially the increas-

ingly popular “Income Based Repayment” planthat allows students with high college debt towork in relatively low-paying but public servicejobs. “It’s a reasonable proposal in the currentpolitical and economic climate,” she added.

The bottom line for the president is, “If wedon’t save undergraduate college programs,then we will not have a graduate program,”Kanter concluded.

“Governments around the world are invest-ing in graduate education as a key component ofinnovation and competitiveness,” states the fol-low-up report. Europe already produces moredoctorates in science and engineering than areproduced in the U.S. China and India are mak-ing substantial investments in their graduateeducation systems. Support for graduate educa-tion is critical to U.S. economic and social pros-perity in the future.

The report examines the impact of the PathForward report’s suggestions on universities, thegovernment and also on industry. Corporatespokesmen at the Senate hearing room con-firmed their interest in investing particularly inthe graduate level of education. Stanley Litow,president of the IBM International Foundationand member of the Commission on the Future ofGraduate Education, noted that “companieswant to hire employees who have broadadvanced education, can learn quickly as theytrain in specific jobs and have a hunger for con-tinuous education and skill development.” Litowhas created a number of cooperative programsbetween the foundation and universities, includ-ing those for cutting-edge research. Companyresources invested in the projects come bothfrom the foundation and from IBM’s personneldevelopment funds, Litow said.

The CGS plans to address student and employ-ers aspirations and expectations of graduate edu-cation in future reports and analysis. It plans todevelop policies that will foster career pathwayswithin industries. The goal is to enhance and sup-port a stronger and more cohesive graduate edu-cation system in the United States.

REPORTS

by Peggy Sands Orchowski

What happens to minority enrollment in colleges after affirmativeaction bans are enacted? What is the effect on underrepresentedstudents in states that have outlawed preferential treatment on the

basis of race or ethnicity in university admissions?Research has emerged that shows how affirmative action bans have

impacted Hispanics, Blacks and other groups. Currently, such bans exist inthe states of California, Washington, Arizona, Michigan, Nebraska andFlorida. Some of the latest research also examines how the response of thehigher education community in these states has affected the outcomes.

When bans are enacted by voters, court orders, or executive order (asGov. Jeb Bush did in the state of Florida in 1999), most universitiesrespond by publicly reaffirming their commitment to diversity.

“We remain committed to increasing opportunity and diversity on ourcampuses,” said University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken in 2008after state voters passed Initiative 424 banning government-sponsoredracial preferences.

“We will continue to do all we can, consistent with state and federallaw, to extend access to the university as broadly as possible, to encourageunderrepresented populations to participate in higher education, and tocontinue to provide educational and economic opportunity toNebraskans,” he said.

To reach those goals, higher education officials like Milliken mustscramble to enact race-blind policies that allow them to increase minorityenrollment while complying with the law.

Finding programs that adhere to the law and can withstand continuinglegal challenges has not been easy. Nevertheless, universities are imple-menting strategies, such as working more closely with mostly minority highschools and developing summer enrichment programs, that bring minori-ties to campus. Others are offering special consideration to applicants whoare the first in their families to go to college.

These programs and the aftermath of state bans on minority enrollmenthave produced a mix of negative and positive results. Analysis is complicat-ed by the fact that enrollment trends also have been affected by the eco-nomic downturn of the last three years and changing demographics.

Patterns Shift in Undergraduate EnrollmentThe three states with the longest-running affirmative action bans –

California, Texas and Florida – were examined by David Colburn, CharlesYoung and Victor Yellen in their study Admissions and Public HigherEducation in California, Texas and Florida: The Post AffirmativeAction Era. The California ban was enacted in 1996 when voters passedProposition 209. The Texas ban occurred the same year as a result of theHopwood court decision. In 1999, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush enacted the “One

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION


“The declines mean that therewere more than 200 fewer studentsof color in the natural sciences, 130fewer in education and nearly 100

fewer in engineering.”

Liliana Graces, Instructor andDoctoral Candidate, Harvard

How Affirmative Action BansHave Affected Hispanic andOther Groupsby Marilyn Gilroy

Florida” initiative to eliminate affirmative action in state universities’admissions.

To gauge the effect of these bans, Colburn and his colleagues studiedenrollments at the University of California (UC)-Los Angeles, UC-Berkeley,University of Texas (UT), University of Florida and UC-San Diego from1990 to 2005 and found gains and losses in minority groups. Overall, theauthors concluded that the elimination of affirmative action in Californiahad a “devastating effect” on African-American freshmen enrollment whilethe effect on Hispanics was mixed.

For example, in 1995 African-American freshmen made up 6.51 per-cent of the entering class at Berkeley, but by 2005 that percentage hadshrunk to 2.97. African-American enrollment also declined slightly inTexas and Florida, but the authors say governors’ initiatives in those twostates kept the loss from being greater.

Hispanic enrollment at UC-Berkeley during that period declined dra-matically, going from 20 percent of the enrollment in 1990 to 8.57 percentafter Proposition 209. But Hispanic enrollment actually remained stable orrose at the universities in Florida and Texas. Before Hopwood, Hispanicsconstituted 14.50 percent of UT enrollment; by 2005, that percentage hadrisen to 18.19.

On the other hand, the percentage of Asian-Americans grew from 37percent to almost 47 percent at UC-Berkeley. In general, the studyfound that in an open-admissions process without affirmative action,Asian-Americans did well and filled the gap as Black and Hispanicenrollments fell.

But those who thought the bans might give White students an advantagewill be surprised by UC-San Diego, where first-year White students fell to33.2 percent in 2005 from a high of 56.8 percent in 1990. At the Universityof Texas, White enrollment of first-time-in-college students (FTIC) wentfrom 66.9 percent to 55.4 percent during that same time period. Experts

cite changing demographics as part of the cause.A 2010 study by Peter Hinrichs, assistant professor at Georgetown

University Public Policy Institute, titled The Effects of Affirmative ActionBans on College Enrollment, Educational Attainment and theDemographic Composition of Universities, further defined changingenrollment patterns. Hinrichs concluded that the state bans decreasedunderrepresented minority enrollment at selective institutions while Whiteenrollment at those same colleges increased. Hinrichs’ research alsoshowed that fewer underrepresented minorities graduate from selective

institutions when affirmative action isbanned.

Turning to the state of Michigan,in which voters passed Proposal 2 toban affirmative action in 2006, thereis some comparative data available.At the University of Michigan, under-represented minority acceptance fellin the first admission cycle after theaffirmative action ban. Specifically,the class of 2010, the last to be cho-sen prior to the ban, was made up of12.6 percent underrepresentedminorities. For the class of 2012,that percentage was 10.5.

According to university officials,there was a 1.9 percent drop percentin the number of underrepresentedminorities who applied for and wereaccepted in the admissions cycle.The decline coincided with the state’ssevere economic downturn and theuniversity’s inability to offer race-based scholarships. Universityadministrators also expressed con-

cern that hostility toward affirmative action might have caused underrepre-sented students to apply elsewhere because they feared an unwelcomingclimate in which they might be stereotyped as a token minority.

Like other universities, Michigan has been pursuing options to diversify,such as moving outreach efforts into the lower grades and targeting middleand high school minority students for recruitment.

Sorting through the research on affirmative action bans can be daunt-ing. Part of the difficulty in reporting the trends is illustrated by seeminglyconflicting data that make their way to the media.

In Florida, the post-affirmative action Talented 20 program, whichguarantees admission to a state university for the top 20 percent of stu-dents from each public high school, was heralded as a success by Gov. JebBush, who stated that it had increased both Hispanic and African-American enrollment. In reporting the numbers, Bush presented state sta-tistics showing that from 1999-2006, African-American enrollmentincreased from 33,011 to 39,528 and Hispanic enrollment increasedfrom 32,776 to 48,821 in colleges and universities. However, critics saidthat this time period showed sharp increases in enrollment of students ofevery race. They countered with a study indicating that the percentagestell a different story.

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper conducted its own analysis and con-


1990 1995 2000 2002 2004 2005

Hispanic First Time in College Enrolled in Selected Schools

621 532 321 401 340 426

560 795 524 616 516 644

282 273 307 445 437 427

946 901 982 1114 1137 1235

260 665 830 794 793 983

Matriculation Year

UC Berk

UCLA

UCSD

Florida

Texas

Source: Colburn, David R. et al, Admissions and Public Higher Education in California, Texas, and Florida: The Post Affirmative Action Era, 2008.

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

tradicted Bush’s statements by showing the percentage of African-Americans and Hispanics going to college had declined after the affirma-tive action ban. According to the newspaper’s research, in 1999, Blacksmade up slightly more than 20 percent of Florida’s high school graduatesand 17.5 percent of college freshmen. But by 2008, Black high schoolgraduates accounted for 19.5 percent of the overall class and 14.5 percentof college freshmen. The gap between Hispanic students who graduatedhigh school and enrolled in college also widened from less than one pointin 1999 to 2.3 points in 2008.

Graduate School Programs Become Less DiverseUp until recently, there has been very little research to measure the

effect of affirmative action bans or restrictions on minority enrollment atthe graduate level. However, a new study shows there has been a decline inBlack, Hispanic and Native American enrollment in public graduateschools in the states of Texas, California, Washington and Florida.

Liliana Graces, an instructor and doctoral candidate at Harvard, hasexamined how bans have impacted student of color enrollment in graduatefields of study.

One of the factors making research on this level more problematic isthat admission into graduate school can vary greatly according to disci-pline; thus it is more difficult to track enrollment consistently. However,Graces used annual national surveys and data from the Council of GraduateSchools and the Graduate Record Examination Board (GRE) to look atfour states in which racial preferences have been barred. The results showa 1 percent drop in Black, Hispanic and Native American enrollment at allpublic graduate schools in those states. A decline of two percentage pointsoccurred in programs in the natural, engineering and social sciences.According to Graces, the losses might have been greater had not publicuniversities taken steps to mitigate anticipated declines.

When Graces presented her findings at the annual meeting of theAssociation for Higher Education last fall, she discussed why the drop issignificant. When translated into actual numbers, the declines mean thatthere were more than 200 fewer students of color in the natural sciences,130 fewer in education, and nearly 100 fewer in engineering. Even theseseemingly small drops are enough to make a big difference to the climatein graduate school.

“Classes in graduate school have smaller cohorts, and even a few grad-uate students of color can make a difference because they increase thediversity of viewpoints and experience,” said Graces.

And because underrepresented groups will soon represent one-third toone-half of the nation’s population, the possible long-term consequencesof these declines are worrisome.

“Advanced degrees are often the key to positions of power and influ-ence in the United States,” she said. “We need more people of color to bein these positions to help us shape policies.

“We also need to keep increasing the pipeline for faculty of color whocome out of these graduate schools. This is something that has conse-quences for our future, especially in terms of our global competitivenessand the strength of our democracy.”

The Debate Goes On The debate about affirmative action is often contentious and polarizing,

with both supporters and opponents claiming to be concerned about equi-ty and fairness.

Those who oppose racial preferences use civil rights language in con-veying their opinion, saying it is a matter of equality and parity for all. Forthese individuals, there is no room for making employment or educationaldecisions on the basis of sex, race or ethnicity.

Linda Chávez, chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO), haslong argued against affirmative action because, as she says, skin color isnot relevant to performance. She has written that “making choices basedon race or ethnicity is simply wrong ... and perpetuates race obsession thatharms all Americans.”

Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of CEO, has called for anexecutive order that would support colorblind guarantees and ban affirma-tive action, which he deems “politically correct discrimination.” The cen-ter continues to be vigilant in monitoring the use of racial preferences andpublishes findings on its website and in the media. In February, it issued areport that criticized Ohio State and Miami universities of significant dis-crimination based on race and ethnicity in undergraduate admission. Thereport claimed that African-Americans and, to a lesser extent, Hispanicswere admitted with lower test scores and grades than White applicants.

However, many supporters still believe there is a need for affirmativeaction to counter both past and present discrimination, and to ensure thatqualified underrepresented segments of the population get access to edu-cation and jobs in ways that level the playing field. Recently, some haveproposed shifting the emphasis of affirmative action to an economic issuerather than a racial one.

President Obama has made several statements about affirmative action,most notably during his campaign for the presidency, when he stated thathis daughters certainly would not deserve affirmative action preferencesbecause they are “privileged.” The president elaborated on his remarks bysaying perhaps it is time to discard racial preferences and use class-basedaffirmative action to give poor people of all colors a chance to make edu-cational and economic progress.

Obviously, affirmative action is an issue that is not going away. It wasback in the news earlier this year when a federal appeals court upheld theuse of race as an admissions factor at the University of Texas-Austin as asupplement to its “10 percent” plan guaranteeing a slot for the top 10 per-cent of Texas high school graduates in one of the state’s public universities.

This certainly is not the final word on the subject because the courtscontinue to hear challenges on affirmative action “proxies,” and voters willprobably face new initiatives on the issue at the ballot box.


WELCOME TOWELCOME TOTHE APP AGETHE APP AGE

When You Advertise In The Hispanic Outlook Magazine®

Your Exposure Is Universal

by Thomas G. Dolan

When Celia Barberena, Ph.D., president ofChabot College, a community collegebased in Hayward, Calif., recalls her first

impressions on arriving in this country on a schol-arship: “I had always thought of this country as aland of opportunity where you work hard and canachieve your goals. But I noticed that I was onlyone of a very few Hispanics at that school, and Isoon discovered there was a disconnect betweenwhat I thought this country was and what it was, atleast for Hispanics. I wondered why Hispanicsseem to have so much trouble with education, andhow immigrants functioned in American society.”

It turns out that how Barberena ponderedthese questions and sought for answers forgedthe path for her own education success and hasbeen a beacon for so many students who havefollowed in her footsteps.

Barberena was born and raised in Nicaragua.Her mother, who had wanted to be a doctor butresigned herself to being a homemaker, becamequite adept at curing ailments, utilizing everythingfrom traditional herbs to modern pharmaceuti-cals. She was also determined that her daughterwould receive the higher education denied her.

“I knew from an early age I would be goingto college,” Barberena says. She studied in bilin-gual schools, taking most of her courses inEnglish. When she graduated from high school,the American Embassy encouraged her to apply

for a scholarship. She went through the processand was awarded a scholarship to FindlayCollege, a private liberal arts college in Findlay,Ohio, now a university. It was there that shereceived the culture shock of being thrust from acommunity of Hispanics she had always takenfor granted to being isolated in a strange land.

After graduating from Findlay with a bache-lor’s degree in education and sociology,Barberena went to Bowling Green StateUniversity in Ohio to earn her master’s inSpanish literature. At the time, she thought shewould become a high school teacher in Spanish.

However, Bowling Green wanted someone whowould develop services to direct Hispanic students.

Barberena was just that person. Eventually,she partnered with a visiting scholar, ArthurWimbey, who wrote a book, Intelligence Can BeTaught. “Basically, his idea was to break downsequential thinking into its component parts soyou can develop the skills for problem solving,”Barberena says.

Barberena applied this theory in her man-agement of tutoring services. So, starting in themid-1970s, Barberena was not simply a master’sstudent, but also held the faculty position asHispanic affairs specialist. Her responsibilitiesincluded the development, coordination anddelivery of student services designed to increasethe number of Hispanic and other underrepre-

sented students at the school. She was involvedin recruitment, advising, curriculum develop-ment and instruction in guidance, study skillsand critical thinking, as well as managing thetutoring program, plus instruction in Spanishand a second language as an overload.

After earning a Ph.D. in educational adminis-tration and supervision from Bowling Green in1980, Barberena worked for a couple of years asexecutive director for Oficina Hispana, a non-profit education center in Roxbury, Mass. Thecenter offered basic skills, ESL, vocational train-ing and job development to Hispanic immigrants.Then for four years, she took a detour into busi-ness, working in sales, supervision and market-ing for the Sacramento, Calif.-based AllnetCommunication Services. She became a top salesproducer and was promoted to both sales super-visor and major account representative.

Barberena returned to education in 1986 asdirector of Educational Clinics, an alternativehigh school for high-risk students, also inSacramento. Then in 1989, she began moving upthrough appointments at various community col-leges – Sacramento City College, Modesto JuniorCollege, and Hartnell College in Salinas, Calif.Through these schools, she maintained herfocus on opening up education to minoritieswhile broadening her administrative duties infinancial, community relations and other areas.

LEADERSHIP/COMMUNITY COLLEGE


Celia Barberena,

Trailblazing

President,

Chabot College

She became president of Chabot College onJan. 14, 2008. “I’ve moved from student advisorto teaching critical thinking to being director,dean, vice president and now president,”Barberena says. “So I’ve done my learning curvefrom the bottom up.”

Chabot College, which celebrated its 50thanniversary last year, has a head count of about15,000 students, a population that reflects theethnic diversity of the East Bay Area. All majorgroups and many nationalities are representedamong faculty and staff.

The school had already begun to make signif-icant improvements in reducing Latino dropoutrates before Barberena arrived. No doubt, one ofthe reasons she was hired was to continue thistrend. Latino dropout rates fell from 17 percentin fall 2000 to 9 percent in fall 2009. Chabot hasbecome a more Latino-friendly college throughgiving students access to learning communitiessuch as Puente, summer academic success work-shops, bilingual financial aid workshops andSpanish-speaking counselors, faculty and staff.

Under Barberena’s leadership, the number ofnew Latino students has increased in the pastthree years from about 22 percent to its current31 percent. “If a student declares he is Latino inhis application, we recruit him by making fol-low-up phone calls,” Barberena says.

Yet, though Barberena has a natural focus onstudents of her own ethnic background, her phi-losophy of diversity is much broader than that.Chabot is currently about 28 percent Hispanic,20 percent Caucasian, 17 percent Asian-American, 16 percent African-American, 9 per-cent Filipino and the rest from Southeast Asia,India and other parts of the world.

Being not only a woman but also the firstwoman president of Chabot, Barberena has anatural affinity here. She’s promoted two femaleAsians. And she actively promotes other racesbesides Hispanics. Two of her vice presidentsare African-American, and for two years theschool has hosted the NAACP in the celebrationof Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

“In the past three years, we have added 28new faculty,” Barberena says. “Fourteen havecome from a foreign country or have a minoritybackground.” A process is in place so that whenapplicants go through the interview process, thefinalists are reviewed by Barberena to make surethe faculty and staff reflect diversity.

“We want to open doors,” Barberena says.This attitude extends to those youth most schoolswould not consider student material – gangmembers. Chabot works with a communityagency that identifies gang members with poten-tial, provides counseling for the misguided youth

and their families, plus state tuition money, andChabot offers the education.

“We started last summer with about 45 stu-dents, and 38 have stayed through the fall,”Barberena says. “These kids are now acclimatedto student life, but if we were not here, theywould most likely not have gone to college.”

But Barberena is not simply interested in get-ting at-risk or minority students in the frontdoor; she wants them to go out the back doorwith a degree. Therefore, she says, “We don’tjust offer services; we analyze them to see howappropriate and effective they actually are.” Forinstance, it was long assumed that breakingdown remedial studies into two semesters ofreading and writing would give students withsubstandard skills the time needed to progress.

“It seems somewhat counter-intuitive, but the

data show it’s better for students to remainbelow the college level for only a single semes-ter.” Barberena is not sure why this is so, butthinks the students may get discouraged beingstuck in a remedial group, especially if they havethe added pressures of needing to work. So thestudents needing remedial work at Chabot aregiven an accelerated course, aided by coun-selors who help students utilize their real-lifeexperiences, shaping same, with discipline, intotheir studies – and this along with helping stu-dents articulate their goals and motivating themto achieve them as quickly as possible.

At the same time, Barberena is sharpening theschool’s academic programs so they fit commu-nity needs and improve the likelihood that thestudent’s degree will result in a job. “As an exam-ple,” says Barberena, “BMW came to the school

and wanted us to partner with them to provide anautomotive associate degree with a BMW certifi-cation. They wanted us to buy the equipment andhire the qualified faculty to teach the courses. Wedid that. We’re the only school west of theMississippi that does this, but our students areoffered jobs as soon as they graduate.”

Along these same lines, Barberena is shapingthe school’s curriculum to reflect the state’s envi-ronmental initiatives and prepare for the emer-gence of the opportunities for “green” jobs. “I haveto ask where we are going and look at the data soour program in environmental science results inthe student’s studies paying off with a job.”

Right now, Barberena continues, “There is arenaissance going on in this college and this com-munity. We’re in the final $150 million of a $250million grant. There’s a whole lot of activity, and

faculty and staff are working very aggressively tomeet our goals.” The money is being used primar-ily to build the facilities with the best and mostcurrent technologies to provide the types of educa-tion that will best meet the community needs.

To this end, there is a five-year master plan.But Barberena emphasizes that it is not simplyher plan. “My management style is that I energizethe team of faculty and staff. I want the benefit oftheir experience and want them to feel empow-ered to bring their knowledge and ability to theproject. When the planners came to me, the firstthing I said is go talk to the faculty and staff, thehopes and dreams they have for their divisionsfor the next five years. Before there were threepeople, perhaps, who came up with the plan,which was put on a shelf and nobody read. I wantthe ideas to come from the teachers. My job is to


Chabot College Instructional Office Building

make sure that what is offered is verified by thedata, so that the best ideas survive.”

She adds that the data show that when thepeople involved in the work are consulted, theyare more motivated. “Companies like Googleand Facebook hire talented people and givethem free rein. The CEO and employees workside by side. This results in a more level playingfield and better ideas.”

Barberena also utilizes the technologiesinnovative companies provide to rethink andredefine teaching and learning methods. Asopposed to the old-style and somewhat standardlecture format, more flexibility is offered.Students can attend courses on campus or

online, do one or the other, or hybrids of both.Many lessons are online, as well as answers tofrequently asked questions. And even careercounseling can take place online.

Barberena usually works 10- to 12-hour days,often in the evenings from home. She says she is “atthe top of her career” but finds her work stressful,so she finds quiet times, especially during the week-ends, and enjoys gardening. She tries to carve outtime with her husband, Edwin Budlong, of Swedishand Danish background, who has retired from hiscareer in social work and as a marriage counselor.They are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversarythis year. They have no children together, but he hastwo sons from a previous marriage. And Barberena

stays in touch with her family, including her olderbrother who lives in Brazil. His daughter goes tocollege in San Francisco, so is nearby. Barberenaloves to travel and utilizes all her vacations visiting,with her husband, diverse parts of the world, suchas Japan and Africa in recent trips.

“There were very few Hispanic students whenI started out in the 1970s,” Barberena says.“That number has really grown. The country isbecoming more equitable in terms of offeringmore opportunity. Stories of struggle have shownwhat a difference there is now.”

One of the most inspiring of those stories isthat of the educational leader, Dr. Celia Barberena.


My Hispanic name and Japanese surname are indicative of my unique cultural origins. I am aprime example of the heterogeneous nature of the Latino population. My upbringing was a blend ofJapanese heritage and Mexican traditions in an American context. I was born in Mexicali, B.C.,Mexico; my family immigrated to the U.S. when I was 2 years old, and I grew up in a small farmingtown in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Although we had limited economic resources, my par-ents provided a supportive environment where education and autonomy were fostered and encour-aged. I embraced my parents’ commitment to education and in 2007 received my baccalaureatedegrees in psychology and sociology from the University of California (UC)-Irvine, becoming thefirst woman in my extended family to graduate from a major university in the U.S. In 2013, uponcompleting my doctoral studies in counseling psychology at the University of Missouri, I will becomethe first person in my family with a Ph.D.

While being the “first” has always been a motivating factor for me, being a first-generationcollege student has also been a very challenging, and sometimes lonely, experience. At UC-Irvine,I was fortunate to have crossed paths with Dr. Jeanett Castellanos, who mentored me and taughtme to draw on the collectivistic strengths of my culture and create for myself an academic family.Over the years, I have supplemented the support of my loving family and husband with the support of academic brothers and sisters, madrinasand padrinos.

Nurturing my academic family and seeking mentorship has been critical in my persistence in my doctoral studies. At the University of Missouri, Iam privileged to have strong mentorship and advising from Dr. Puncky Heppner and Dr. Lisa Flores. I have also benefited greatly from participatingin programs such as the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) 2010 Graduate Student Fellows Program, the FordFoundation Diversity Fellows Program and other professional organizations. These programs and organizations have given me access to guidance,support and resources by connecting me with scholars across the nation. It is always an incredibly rejuvenating experience to be in the presence ofother scholars who know better than anyone the difficulties of my journey and can truly capture the sweetness of the successes.

As we continue to work toward increasing the number of Latina/o students who move on to higher education, it is important to prioritize stu-dents’ mental health so that they can persist at their institution. In the future, I look forward to doing my part to support the next

generation of Latina/o scholars by sharing the gift of mentorship that has been so graciously given to me. I also hope to con-tinue to advance knowledge in the areas of minority mental health as I pursue my research interests in the psychological

well-being of Latinas/os in higher education, cultural wealth as it relates to coping, and mental health dispari-ties. By taking an active role as a researcher, practitioner and educator, I am determined to be an integral

part of initiatives that seek to promote mental health among underserved communities.

BByy MMaarrlleenn KKaannaagguuii--MMuuññoozzM.Ed., Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2010 AAHHE Graduate Fellow

SScchhoollaarrss’’ CCoorrnneerr


Making a personal commitment to anoth-er human being is one of life’s greatpleasures and challenges. Most of us

couldn’t imagine going through life alone. Butmost of us don’t make a real and lasting con-nection to the land on which we live.

If you’re looking for inspiration to makethat connection and get in touch with your cre-ative inner soul, Together, Alone is worthreading. Author Susan Wittig Albert’s memoiris inspirational on many levels. We first seeAlbert as a woman who, by all measures ofaccomplishment, would be considered quitesuccessful. A graduate of the University ofIllinois-Urbana and the University of California-Berkeley, Albert spent a great deal of hercareer as a university English professor and administrator. But in the 1980s, she findsherself about to embark on a new life adventure with her husband, Bill Albert.

It must have been culture shock for this high-octane couple when they settledon a patch of rural land northwest of Austin, Texas. They had a simple and somewould have said naïve plan. They intended to commit to the land completely. Sheand Bill decided to raise their own food and animals while entertaining a romanticnotion of forming a writing partnership. Susan and Bill decided they would worktogether and separately on writing projects at their Meadow Knoll home.

They soon found that the mechanics of making this work were not as complicatedas the thought process and self-reflection that it took to establish their dream. They hadto explore questions such as: What does it mean to belong to a place, to be truly rootedand grounded in the place you call home? How do you commit to a marriage, to a fullpartnership with another person, and still maintain your own separate identity?

It was a delicate dance and balancing act for Albert – one that she describes inpoignant terms in this thought-provoking book.

What Albert discovered on her journey was that her soul yearned for alonetime to look inward and find her central core that brought her the contentmentand satisfaction she could find nowhere else. Albert saw this as the counterbalanceto her life as wife, partner and homesteader living off the land. In Together, Alone,Albert describes how she managed to find that counterbalance – a place where shecould be alone and explore those parts of the self that only emerge in solitude. Forher, this place was Lebh Shomea, a silent monastic retreat.

In writing about her time at Lebh Shomea, Albert reveals the deep satisfactionshe still finds in belonging to a community of people who have chosen to be apartand experience silence and solitude.

Albert’s story is particularly inspirational to aspiring writers who might haveabandoned their journals or half-finished novels because life got in the way of theircreative efforts. And her subsequent résumé after her move back to nature pro-vides even more encouragement. Albert is the author of popular mysteries,including the China Bayles series; books for young adults; and booksfor women on life-writing and work.

In 1997, she founded the Story Circle Network, anonprofit organization for women who want to writeabout their lives.

Reviewed by Mary Ann Cooper

Together, Alone: A Memoirof Marriage and Placeby Susan Wittig AlbertUniversity of Texas Press, 195 pages list $19.95 paper ISBN 978-0-292-71970-5

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aanndd MMeeddiiaa......

Bitter HarvestBy Paul Hart

Between 1910 and 1919, Morelos, Mexico, experi-enced an agrarian revolution that sowed the seeds for eco-nomic change that would usher in the leadership ofEmiliano Zapata in that region. This book traces the rootsand results of that revolution.

2006. 328 pgs. ISBN 0-8263-3663-9. $42.50 cloth. The University ofNew Mexico Press. (503) 277-0655. www.unmpress.com.

The Brazilian SoundBy Chris McGowan and Ricardo Pessanha

This revised and expanded edition of The BrazilianSound includes developments in samba as well as the riseof female singers and songwriters since 1998 when the vol-ume was first published. It also contains an extensive glos-sary of Brazilian music terms.

2009. 280 pgs. ISBN 978-1-59213-929-3. $34.00 cloth.Temple University Press. (215) 204-8787. www.temple.edu/tempress.

Case Studies and CocktailsBy Carrie Shuchart and Chris Ryan

This guide, produced by Manhattan GMAT, offers informa-tion and advice to new M.B.A. students about financing theirdegree, readjusting to homework and attracting recruiters.

2011. 657 pgs. ISBN 978-1-935707-21-9. $22.00paper. MG Prep Inc. (212) 721-7400. www.manhattangmat.com.

Coca: A New Leaf of LifeThis program tells the story of Peru’s struggling

cocaleros (farmers), whose livelihoods and ancient agri-cultural traditions have become a casualty of anti-drugpolicies.

2007. 26 minutes. ISBN 978-1-4213-9202-8. $99.00DVD. Films for the Humanities and Sciences. (800) 257-5126.www.films.com.

HHIIGGHH SSCCHHOOOOLL FFOORRUUMM

High School and CollegeRemediation:

One Size Does Not Fit Allby Mary Ann Cooper

According to the National EducationLongitudinal Study, three out of five highschool students who enroll in community

college need to take at least one remedial courseto acquire the basic skills necessary to succeedin college-level courses in a particular subject.But mere remediation at the college level for the60 percent of high school seniors not academi-cally ready for college might be too little too late.The study also reveals that less than 25 percentof these same students earn a college degreewithin eight years of enrolling in college.

The study, entitled Replacing Remediationwith Readiness, was prepared for the NationalCenter for Postsecondary Research and developedunder a grant from the Department of Education.It explores how we currently label high schoolgraduates who are going on to college. They areeither “college-ready” or “remedial.”

The problem with this kind of labeling is thatit is too absolute, according to the study. Inessence, all high school seniors are both “col-lege-ready” to some degree and, at the sametime, “remedial.” Not recognizing the nuances ofthese labels not only does a disservice to highschool seniors, it leads to a waste of time andmoney spent trying to pigeonhole incomingfreshmen into one category or another. In somecases, dealing with remediation in a one-size-fits-all manner is like using a hammer to kill afly. In others, students who are marginally “col-lege-ready” don’t get the help they need and fallthrough the cracks of academia.

The study begins with the premise that thecurrent system of evaluating and addressing col-lege readiness is broken (as indicated by thefinding that only 25 percent of remedial studentsearn a college degree). Then author David T.Conley (University of Oregon, Center forEducational Policy Research, and EducationalPolicy Improvement Center) reveals a soberingstatistic. According to ACT, only 22 percent of all

high school students taking its exam scored highenough to be considered college ready, by ACTstandards. The study also reveals that first-gener-ation college students disproportionately qualifyfor remedial help, and since that segment of thecollege population is growing, the problem ofdealing with ill-equipped high school graduatesentering college will grow.

And the shortcomings of the system, unlessaddressed, says the survey, will only exacerbatethe college-readiness issue. Colleges are makingan earnest effort to mainstream high schoolgraduates into their freshmen classes throughwhat the study calls “multiple assessments,retesting, intensive refresher courses, learningcommunities, enhanced academic advising, tar-geted orientation opportunities, cohort models,and summer bridge programs.” A predominanceof two-year colleges and a significant proportionof four-year colleges have “learning assistancecenters,” as well as freshmen seminars to helpstudents as they begin their academic journey,but most schools group and tag students gener-ally, rather than recognize individual differencesand degrees of ability. The study argues that thisbroad spectrum approach makes it less success-ful and effective in directly addressing the indi-vidual student’s needs to succeed.

High schools and colleges have gotten onething right: both institutions of education are veryeffective in directing students to higher educationbut miss the mark when it comes to setting andachieving readiness standards. There is a con-stant push-pull when it comes to determiningwhich underprepared students should beencouraged to pursue higher education and whatwill be needed in terms of course adjustment andstandards to ensure those students’ success.Student motivation is an important criterion toconsider when making that determination.

High school seniors who move from sec-ondary to postsecondary school find themselves

in an unfamiliar and freewheeling system. As thestudy points out, “The U.S. postsecondary educa-tion system is also among the most decentralizedin the world. This combination of high accessand low centralization means that it is difficult todepend on any consistency among postsec-ondary institutions on any of a broad array offactors related to preparation, placement andadmissions.” The students come from a similartype of environment in that each state and themore than 15,000 school districts they manageare independent and create their own programsand readiness criteria. But the relative smallnessof the local bureaucracy is less intimidating formost students.

In the section of the study titled “The Problemof High School-College Discontinuity,” Conleydiscusses how different the learning environ-ments are in college as opposed to high school.He says, “Understanding the full range of thesedifferences is a crucial step in designing effectiveremediation programs. The place where the dif-ferences between high school and college firstbecome apparent to students is the entry-levelcollege course. This is where many students findout how ill-prepared they are, not just in theircontent knowledge but also in the ways that theylearn, study, manage their time, and organize andapply what they are taught.” He then citesresearchers at the Educational Policy Center whohave studied the content of entry-level collegecourses and, through a review of instructor sur-veys, tests, assignments and student work, havecome up with characteristics of these courses.Preparing high school students for how thesecourses are administered and evaluated could bean important tool to lessen the need for moreintensive remediation and improve academicsuccess rates among all students.

According to their analysis, high school stu-dents face these differences between the waythey were expected to conduct themselves in


high school and what actually is expected ofthem in colleges:

1) The Pace Is Faster – Students takingAmerican history in high school will find thatAmerican history in college covers much moreground, in greater detail and at a quicker pacethan that same course in high school. The con-cepts discussed are more complex. It’s not just amatter of memorizing facts and dates; it’s takingthe information learned and applying it in aninductive way.

2) Reading Is Fundamental – Not only arereading assignments lengthier and more numer-ous than what is expected of a high school stu-dent, the nature of a college textbook makesthose reading assignments call upon readingskills that may have been underdeveloped inhigh school. With reading comes the assumedability to read charts and maps.

3) The Write Stuff – Much of college course-work requires a proficiency in writing that is notexpected in high school. Term papers and book

reports on the high school level are inadequatepreparation for college assignments. As the studynotes, “Students have to write more and to do somore frequently, and to utilize writing styles theymay not have encountered very often in highschool, often encountering assignments thatrequire skillful use of expository, descriptive,and analytic modes.”

4) Self-Reliance – College instructors expectstudents taking their courses to work indepen-dently and not need handholding or monitoring.As the study states, citing the National Survey ofStudent Engagement as its source, “Entry-levelcourses almost always expect students to possessa range of attributes and behaviors that can besummed up as self-management skills. Studentsare expected to be able, without prompting bytheir instructors, to record assignments, managetheir time in order to complete assignments,know how to study alone and with a group, begenerally aware of their skill and achievementlevel in the subject area and any areas where

they may need to improve or seek help from theinstructor or elsewhere on campus, be motivat-ed to learn or at least to do what it takes to com-plete a course successfully, and to be sufficientlypersistent to deal with problems or assignmentsthat cannot be solved easily or quickly.”

5) Team Spirited – High school graduatesentering college need to know that there is safetyin numbers. Daunting reading assignments can bemanaged by forming a study group. Professorsoften encourage students to work in teams to fur-ther course comprehension and for course pre-sentations. This can aid students in anotherimportant way. By teaming up with students fromdiverse backgrounds, opinions are challengedand either discarded or reinforced. As the studynotes, “Students are expected to base their opin-ions on solid logic or sources they can cite, toknow how to engage in give-and-take discussionswith the instructor and fellow students, and to beable to accept feedback, critique and constructivecriticism amicably and productively.”


Theory into PracticeTheory into Practice

If the current method of analysis and evaluating college readiness is flawed and resulting in inadequate strategies for increasing the possibility of acade-mic success for high school seniors in college, what can be done to reverse the trend? Replacing Remediation with Readiness author David T. Conley out-lines a comprehensive readiness model to address this problem in his book College and Career Ready: Helping All Students Succeed Beyond HighSchool. The book aims to give educators and policymakers a better understanding of the rationale and methods necessary to redesign high schools so thatthey focus on both college and career readiness. In addition, it offers practical methods by which high school faculty can fine tune their instruction to pro-mote college/career readiness. He seeks to move the discussion from existing test scores being used to form the whole picture of a student’s potential andneeds to be addressed to a more comprehensive readiness model. Here is a summary of his model:

1) Development of Key Cognitive Strategies: Conley sees using cognitive strategies as one of the most important skills a student can possess when enter-ing the realm of higher education. These strategies include being able to use content knowledge in problem solving. He also places a high value onresearch skills and the ability to evaluate and analyze sources of information used for problem solving. Being able to organize information in a usable for-mat and work with that information in a precise manner is also an important skill.

2) Mastery of Key Content Knowledge: Advanced knowledge needs a strong foundation to take hold and build on. As Conley notes, “Key content knowl-edge consists of the big ideas of the academic disciplines, organized into a structure that enables learners to understand and retain this information.Specification of key content knowledge comes from studies of the content of entry-level college courses at two-year and four-year institutions. These studiesmake it clear that students do not need to know everything before they go to college, but they do need to master a strong set of foundational knowledge andskills very well.”

3) Proficiency with a Set of Academic Behaviors: All the brain power in the world won’t guarantee academic success without a set of academic behaviorpatterns that are rooted in self-reliance and maturity. Conley acknowledges that maturity is not an overnight occurrence, but says that mentors and parentsneed to encourage the systematic development of maturity throughout the high school experience so that the graduating high school student will be readyfor college. Conley includes time management; study skills, using study groups; goal setting; self-awareness of academic strengths and weaknesses; and per-sistence with challenging academic task as necessary skill sets for incoming college students.

4) Sufficient Level of Knowledge About What Postsecondary Education Requires: Conley concludes his recommendation by stating the enormity of thechanges that must be made in mindset and practices to turn around the dismal statistics about the lack of success for remediation students in college.Conley states, “Finally, college knowledge is awareness that college is different from high school, that students must pay attention to numerous details andmake many decisions in order to apply to, receive financial aid for, and be accepted by the right postsecondary institution. In short, college knowledge isaccess to all the ‘privileged knowledge’ held by those who have easy access to college by virtue of their position in society but hidden from those who wouldbe first in their families to attend a postsecondary program. Schools must make this information explicitly available to all students, and particularly to thosewho will only be exposed to it in school and not at home.”

College Affordability at Risk forLatino, African-American andNative American Youth

LOS ANGELES, Calif.

The Civil Rights Project/ProyectoDerechos Civiles at the University ofCalifornia-Los Angeles (UCLA) has releasedtwo studies showing that college affordabili-ty in California is at risk and financial aid isurgently needed. Across the board, studentsare found to be working too many hours tokeep up with their studies, and a huge pro-portion (30 percent) of those surveyedmight abandon their studies and hopes ofgetting a college degree. The lowest-incomestudents are now getting a smaller share ofCalifornia State University’s (CSU) StateUniversity Grant (SUG) than they received inthe past, says the Civil Rights Project study,and middle-income students need increas-ingly more aid to keep up with rising costs.Although the federal Pell Grant has grown inrecent years, the recent budget agreementmeans that it will not grow as tuition rises inthe next several years, and it will not be

available for summer study after this year.Although the Master Plan for Higher

Education called for tuition-free affordablecollege for all qualified California students,the fiscal reality of California has led to theabandonment of that promise and rapidlyrising tuition and other costs of college.Over the last decade, the Civil Rights Projectreports, CSU has sustained a substantialdecrease in state general funds and has off-set these decreases by increasing tuition andfees by more than 166 percent. In 1967, thestate paid approximately 90 percent of astudent’s education while today it paysapproximately 64 percent. As costs associat-ed with college rise for students, includinghousing and books, attending and financingcollege might become too difficult for stu-dents with the greatest financial need, thereports find, particularly the state’s majorityof Latino and African-American youth.

The first study, Higher Tuition, MoreWork, and Academic Harm: AnExamination of the Impact of TuitionHikes on the Employment Experiences ofUnder-represented Minority Students atOne CSU campus, by San Jose State

University Professor Amy Leisenring, saysthat due to rising college costs and budgetcuts, 86 percent of students surveyed in thestudy work for pay while in college, withunderrepresented minority students com-prising a large majority of students whowork while in college. The study exploresthe impact of recent budget cuts on Latino,African-American and Native American stu-dents, their views on tuition/fee increases,and the effects of working in paid employ-ment on their academic success.

The second study, by UCLA ProfessorJosé Luis Santos, explored the SUG, itseffects on underrepresented students, andtrends over a 20-year period with inflation.Santos reported that middle-income stu-dents are becoming the casualties of feeincreases because while middle-incomefamilies are seeing an increase in SUGawards, it isn’t enough to keep up with therising tuition. On the other hand, the lowest-income groups have seen a proportionaldecrease, the report states. The study alsofinds that students who did not qualify forstate or federal financial aid have benefitedthe most from SUG.

AFT Releases Report Calling forMore Collaboration to ImproveCollege Student Success

WASHINGTON, D.C.

To increase student success in highereducation, there must be greater opportuni-ties for collaboration between university andcollege faculty and staff, and their institu-tion’s administrators and other key stake-holders, according to a report released by

the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).The report, Student Success in Higher

Education, which has been in progress fortwo years, takes on additional urgency giventhe political environment in which somegovernors are attempting to eliminate col-lective bargaining for public employees,including public university faculty and staff.

“Faculty and staff need a voice in their work-places to help strengthen their institutions andthe education they provide, whether it’s throughcollective bargaining or other avenues,” AFT

President Randi Weingarten said.The report encourages higher education

institutions to bring the voice of frontlinefaculty and staff into policymaking – partic-ularly on curriculum and assessments – toensure that ideas work as well in the class-room as they appear to work on paper. Toooften, the report said, campus policies andpublic debate on student success have beenheavily focused on standardization of cur-riculum and assessment and on unaccept-ably flawed graduation-rate formulas.

The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education www.hispanicoutlook.com June 27, 2011


The Latino Electorate in 2010:More Voters, More Nonvoters

WASHINGTON, D.C.

More than 6.6 million Latinos voted inlast year’s election – a record for a midterm– according to an analysis of recent CensusBureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center, aproject of the Pew Research Center. Fueledby their rapid population growth, Latinosalso were a larger share of the electorate in2010 than in any previous midterm election,representing 6.9 percent of all voters, upfrom 5.8 percent in 2006.

However, while more Latinos than ever

are participating in the nation’s elections,their representation among the electorateremains below their representation in thegeneral population. In 2010, 16.3 percentof the nation’s population was Latino, butonly 10.1 percent of eligible voters andfewer than 7 percent of voters were Latino.This gap is due to two demographic fac-tors – many Latinos are either too youngto vote or are adults who do not hold U.S.citizenship.

Even so, the number of Latinos eligibleto vote continues to increase. In 2010, 21.3million Latinos were eligible to vote, upfrom 17.3 million in 2006. In recentmidterm election cycles, growth in the num-

ber of eligible voters has exceeded growthin the number of voters, resulting in arecord number of Latino nonvoters last yeartoo – 14.7 million.

Among eligible voters, Latino participa-tion rates have lagged behind those of othergroups. In 2010, 31.2 percent of Latino eli-gible voters say they voted, while nearly half(48.6 percent) of White eligible voters and44.0 percent of Black eligible voters saidthe same.

The report, The Latino Electorate in2010: More Voters, More Non-Voters, isavailable at the Pew Hispanic Center’s web-site, www.pewhispanic.org.

More Working Women than MenHave College Degrees, CensusBureau Reports

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Among the employed population 25 andolder, 37 percent of women had attained abachelor’s degree or more as of 2010, com-pared with 35 percent of men, according todata from the U.S. Census Bureau. In con-trast, among all adults 25 and older, 29.6percent of women and 30.3 percent of menhad at least a bachelor’s degree.

The data come from tabulations onEducational Attainment in the UnitedStates: 2010 and not only examine genderdifferences in attainment but also providethe most detailed information on years ofschool completed ever presented by theCensus Bureau, showing for each level ofattainment exactly how many years of edu-cation adults have.

“The tabulations permit one to see notonly the broad levels of educational attain-ment adults experienced, but also, forinstance, if they did not receive a highschool diploma, the specific level of school-ing they did reach,” said Sonia Collazo, aCensus Bureau demographer.

In 2010, 36 percent of the nation’s popu-lation 25 and older left school beforeobtaining a degree. This includes 15 per-cent of the population that didn’t earn a reg-ular high school diploma – a group some-times labeled “dropouts.” Among this groupwere about 1 percent of the population whoreached the 12th grade, 2 percent whoreached the 11th grade but still did notgraduate and 2 percent who earned a GED.

An even greater share of the 25-and-older population, 17 percent, attendedsome college but left before receiving adegree. At the graduate school level, 4 per-cent of the population left before obtainingan advanced degree.

The majority of adults, 64 percent, how-ever, finished their schooling with a regularhigh school diploma or college degree. Themost common of these is a high schooldiploma, which was the highest level attainedby 30 percent of those 25 and older. Another9 percent left school with an associatedegree, and 15 percent finished with a bach-elor’s degree (not statistically different fromthose who did not earn a high school diplo-ma). Eleven percent of the populationattained an advanced degree in 2010.

Data also include levels of educationcross-referenced by a wide range of demo-graphic and socioeconomic characteristics,including age, sex, race, Hispanic origin,marital status, household relationship, citi-zenship, nativity and year of entry. Historicaltables provide data on mean earnings byattainment level, sex, race and Hispanic ori-gin, with data dating back to 1975 and tableson attainment levels dating back to 1940.

The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education www.hispanicoutlook.com June 27, 2011



Castro Appointed Chairperson ofU.S. Commission on Civil Rights

President Barack Obama this year desig-nated Martin Castro as chairperson of the U.S.Commission on CivilRights. Castro becamethe eighth chairpersonand first Latino chair-person since its incep-tion in 1957. He wasappointed to the com-mission by the presi-dent in January andapproved by a unani-mous vote of the commission in March.

UTSA’s President Romo ReceivesExecutive Excellence Award

The San Antonio chapter of ExecutiveWomen International (EWI) has recognizedUniversity of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA)President RicardoRomo with its Exe-cutive ExcellenceAward, in honor of hisleadership as pre-sident of UTSA.Founded in 1958, theSan Antonio chapterof EWI funds both traditional and nontradi-tional college scholarships for men andwomen who choose to go back to school tocontinue their education, achieve self-esteemand improve their personal life, employment,family and community.

Regent University’s PresidentCampo Receives Excellence inLeadership Award

Dr. Carlos Campo, president of RegentUniversity in Virginia, received the2011 Excellence inLeadership Awardfrom the NationalHispanic ChristianL e a d e r s h i pConference (NHCLC),one of the largestLatino Christian orga-nizations in Americaand the sister organi-zation of the Hispanic National Association ofEvangelicals.

Guardia Elected NALFO ChairDr. Juan R. Guardia, director of multicul-

tural affairs and adjunct faculty in higher edu-cation at Florida StateUniversity, was recent-ly elected chair of theNational Associationof Latino FraternalO r g a n i z a t i o n s(NALFO). The pur-pose of NALFO is topromote and fosterpositive interfraternalrelations, communication and development ofall 19 member Latina/o fraternities andsororities through mutual respect, leadership,honesty, professionalism and education.

Post University’s Marrero NamedVP of Enrollment Management

Post University in Connecticut promotedVerónica Marrero to vice president of enroll-ment management forthe university’s accel-erated degree pro-gram. The first in herfamily to graduatefrom college, Marrerohas a bachelor’sdegree in communica-tion from EasternConnecticut StateUniversity and a master’s in business manage-ment from Albertus Magnus College.

Astronaut Hernández ReceivesHonorary Doctorate at NHU

José Hernández, former NASA astronaut,delivered the National Hispanic University’s(NHU) 2011 com-mencement addresslast month andreceived an honoraryDoctor of HumaneLetters. Hernández hasa bachelor’s degree inelectrical engineeringfrom the University ofthe Pacific and a mas-ter’s in electrical and computer engineeringfrom the University of California-SantaBarbara. He was a member of NASA’s 128thshuttle mission and the 30th mission to theInternational Space Station.

Santiago Receives USDA EducationFellowship

A plant scientist at the University ofCalifornia-Riverside has received an educa-tion fellowship fromthe U.S. Departmentof Agriculture (USDA)that is designedto encourage moreHispanic students totake an interestin and perform sci-ence research. LouisSantiago, assistant pro-fessor in the Department of Botany and PlantSciences and member of the Center forConservation Biology, has been selected toparticipate in the 2011 USDA E. Kika de laGarza Fellowship Program, which addresseschallenges faced in the development of a well-prepared Hispanic work force. Santiago has aPh.D. in botany from the University of Florida.

Salas-Provance Speaks onNational Need for Interpreters inHealth Care

The need for bilingual speech-languagepathologists and highly trained interpreters inhealth care settings isstaggering, says MarleneSalas-Provance, NewMexico State University(NMSU) professor anddirector of the NMSUCollege of Education’sC o m m u n i c a t i o n sDisorders Program.Salas-Provance recentlyspoke at the American Speech-Language-HearingAssociation’s Health Care and Business Institute.

HHIISSPPAANNIICCSS OONN TTHHEE MMOOVVEEHHIISSPPAANNIICCSS OONN TTHHEE MMOOVVEE

CorrectionAn article in the May 16 issue about the

University of Michigan’s efforts to attractLatinos and minorities misstated thatSupreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger(2003) prohibited the use of affirmativeaction as a way to spur minority enrollment inundergraduate admissions. In fact, it was thepassage of Michigan ballot Proposal 2/2006that amended the state constitution to prohibitMichigan’s public institutions from utilizingaffirmative action in college admissions.


SENIORVICE PRESIDENT FORACADEMICAFFAIRSAND PROVOSTUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

The University of Minnesota invites applications and nominations for the position ofSenior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. The Senior Vice President andProvost is the University’s chief academic officer and reports directly to the President.The Senior Vice President and Provost’s primary responsibility is to foster the academicexcellence of the educational and research missions of the University and to provideleadership for undergraduate, graduate, and professional education. The Senior VicePresident and Provost is responsible for issues concerning academic policy and facultydevelopment, including promotion and tenure. In addition, the Senior Vice President andProvost is responsible for the assessment of collegiate performance and the University’sacademic budgeting process. The Senior Vice President and Provost develops andimplements strategic initiatives with the President, and facilitates, nurtures, coordinates,and supports the efforts of deans, faculty, staff, and students to meet institutional goalsand priorities.

Founded in 1851, the University of Minnesota is located in the vibrant metropolitan TwinCities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and is a hub for creativity, research, and artisticexpression. The University is the flagship public research university in the state and isrecognized for the excellence of its academic programs and the quality of its faculty.Through strong ties to local business and industry, it has played a transformative role inbuilding the economy of the state and the region. The University boasts many highlyranked graduate and professional programs of national and international distinction; itsfaculty has included Nobel Laureates and currently includes members of the NationalAcademy and numerous recipients of nationally recognized honors, awards, fellowships,and prizes.

The University seeks to appoint an energetic, strategic, and visionary leader with ademonstrated commitment to academic excellence, and a proven record of inspiring andleading faculty, staff, and students. S/he will be expected to have a broad understandingof multiple and diverse academic disciplines, across a comprehensive researchuniversity, as well as an appreciation for the complexity of issues within them, and adeep knowledge of the higher education environment in the United States. Otherqualities to which priority will be assigned include an ability to communicate well withthe full range of constituencies within the University, financial acuity, and the highestlevel of professional and personal integrity. Sh/e will be expected to have a deepcommitment to, and an understanding of, diversity, and be able to pursue and promotediversity and foster a meaningful pluralism within the University. S/he must have anearned doctorate or equivalent, achieved distinction as a researcher and teacher, andacademic credentials commensurate with an appointment as a full professor in a majorAAU research university.

Interested individuals should provide an electronic version of their curriculum vitae. Aletter describing interest in, and qualifications for, the position will be welcome, but byno means required. Applications from women and underrepresented minorities areencouraged.All inquiries, nominations, and applications should be sent electronically viae-mail (Microsoft Word or PDF attachments strongly preferred) to:

Dr. Ilene H. NagelSearch Committee Consultant

Leader, Higher Education PracticeRussell Reynolds Associates

[email protected]

The appointment date is open, but the preferred start date is January 2, 2012. To ensurefull consideration, materials should be received as soon as possible. Review ofnominations and applications for the position will commence immediately and continueuntil the position is filled. This search will be conducted with full confidentiality of allcandidate information. References will not be contacted without the prior knowledge andapproval of the candidate. Candidates are urged to review all information and documentsposted on the search web site at http://www.umn.edu/provost-search.

The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equalaccess to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard torace, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sex, age, marital status, disability,public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender

expression. This material is also available in alternative formats upon request.


Vice President for Advancement& Executive Director of Foundation

Florida Gulf Coast University

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) invitesapplications for Vice President for Advancement &Executive Director of the FGCU Foundation. The positionprovides leadership for the University’s fundraising,community relations and marketing, and alumni relations.

Responsibilities include securing private support fromalumni, friends, foundations, corporations, and othersources through capital campaigns; planned giving; annualfund; athletics support; significant personal fundraisingduties; staging events for fundraising and other importantUniversity initiatives; relationships with potential andexisting donors; alumni development and support, andextensive personal community involvement to represent theUniversity. Also, the position is responsible for theUniversity’s Alumni Association, Office of CommunityRelations and Marketing, and the FGCU Foundation, Inc.As Executive Director of the Foundation, theVice Presidentis responsible for program coordination and directorrelations for the FGCU Foundation Board of Directors.

Opened in 1997 as the 10th institution in the StateUniversity System of Florida, FGCU is situated on 760lush acres in the heart of coastal Southwest Florida,where the climate is mild, the air is clean, and thesunshine is abundant. Currently in its 15th year ofoperation, FGCU has a diverse enrollment of 13,000students; 51 undergraduate programs and 32 graduateprograms, including a doctorate in physical therapy and adoctorate in education; more than 1,000 faculty and staff;a technology enhanced campus with state-of-the-artfacilities to support educational programs; five collegesof Arts & Sciences, Business, Education, HealthProfessions and Professional Studies; 14 NCAA DivisionI athletic teams; 160 student clubs and organizations;3,500 living in student housing, and 12,000 graduates.

Despite the University’s youth, the FGCU Foundation todate has raised more than $300 million for scholarships,academic programs, endowed chairs, and buildings.Decreased availability of State funds requires exceptionalleadership and results from FGCU’s Vice President forAdvancement in raising significant private funds tosupport rapidly growing needs for academic programs,student scholarships, and buildings and facilities.

Minimum Requirements: Demonstrated experience andresults in fundraising.Ability to not only direct fundraisingprograms and staff, but also to personally cultivatepotential donors and secure private funds. Master’s degreefrom an accredited institution in an appropriate area ofspecialization and eight (8) years of appropriate experiencein higher education or related areas; or Bachelor’s degreefrom an accredited institution in an appropriate area ofspecialization and ten (10) years of appropriate experiencein higher education or related areas. PreferredQualifications: Demonstrated experience in alumnirelations, community relations and marketing. Experiencein directing foundation finances and investments. Provenleadership qualities. Strategic thinker.

For Additional Information and to SubmitApplications, please visit: FGCU’s SOAR website athttp://jobs.fgcu.edu and access Requisition #1377. Reviewof applications will begin on July 5th, 2011 and theposition will remain open until filled. Only applicationssubmitted through the SOAR website will be accepted.

Under FL Public Record Law, applications submittedare available for public review upon request.

FGCU is an EO/EA/AAI, which has a commitment tocultural, racial, and ethnic communities andencourages women and minorities to apply.

Department Chair, Machining Technology

FT, 9+3 faculty responsible for program & budget development, accreditation, planning, & supervisionof FT & PT faculty & staff in the dept. Qualifications: AAS in Machining or a related field req’d.Credentials for National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) in Materials, Measurement, & Safetyreq’d. Job Planning Benchwork & Layout; CNC Mill Operator; CNC Lathe Operator. Prefer forkliftcertification, or be able to obtain. Min 5 yrs in manufacturing req’d. Direct supervision & mgmtexp req’d. Curriculum development exp pref. Community College teaching or training exp pref.Visit our website www.gtcc.edu for more information & application. Open until filled. As anEqual Opportunity Employer, GTCC is strongly committed to diversity & welcomes applicationsfrom all qualified candidates, particularly minorities and faculty under-represented in highereducation. EOE


An AA/EOE/ADA Employer Georgia is an Open Records State

Georgia Perimeter College (GPC), a regional nonresidential two-yearmulti-campus institution, strives to meet the changing expectations ofour diverse collegiate and community constituencies by providingeffective, innovative, lifelong educational opportunities. GPC is currently seeking a talented professional to fill thefollowing Academic Division Dean position:

Dean of English & ReadingThe Academic Division Dean of English & Reading leads theEnglish and Reading Departments on all campuses, whichincludes over one hundred (100) full-time faculty. In addition, theDean of English & Reading position will have oversight of theSouthern Academy for Literary Arts and Scholarly Research.A Master's degree in English or Reading is required; Doctorate ispreferred. Finalist candidate must be Southern Association of Collegesand Schools (SACS) qualified to teach courses in English or Readingat the collegiate level. Five (5) years of progressively responsibleadministrative experience at the Department Chair or higher position ina college or university environment is required. A combination ofeducation, training, and experience MAY BE considered.As a member of the college Academic Team, the Dean will helpdevelop new and innovative programs to enhance academicquality and strengthen student success. Serves as an advocatefor the division's Department Chairs, and is responsible forworking with Department Chairs and their faculty to ensureefficient management of the division's resources. In addition, theDean will be the academic representative to a campus executiveteam and reports to the Vice President of Academic Affairs.

GPC is among the nation’s fastest-growing metropolitan two-yearcolleges. With approximately 26,000 students, GPC is the third-largestinstitution in the University System of Georgia. GPC’s onlineprogram is the largest in Georgia, with over 9,000 studentsenrolled. Award-winning faculty teach GPC students in smallclasses every day. Since 2001, thirty faculty members havereceived the National Teaching Excellence Award, and GPCmaintains the largest number of Governor’s Teaching Fellows(18) in Georgia.

For more information or theopportunity to apply andbecome a vital part of thisthriving academiccommunity, please visit:https://careers.gpc.edu.

Missouri State University accepting applications for BUDGETAND FINANCIALANALYST for the Office of theProvost. Respons.: providing accounting, budgeting, financial analysis, and other business services for assignedaccounts and associated departments or units under the Office of the Provost; under the supervision of the Budget andFinancial Manager, reconciling accounts, managing procurement card accounts, preparing financial analysis andbudget projections, and completing other projects as directed.

For required qualifications: www.missouristate.edu/jobs or call (417) 836-4683. Exc. Ben. Pkg. Salary: Pay Grade:43. Salary: $30,000-$42,000/ann.

Submit letter of interest, resume, online application, copy of transcript, & name, address, & phone no. of 3 prof. refs. by6-17-2011 to: Joye Norris, Office of the Provost, Missouri State University, 901 S. National, Springfield, MO 65897.

Successful candidates must be committed to working with diverse student and community populations. Employmentwill require a criminal background check at University expense. AA/EOE.

Center for UrbanTransportation Research

DirectorThe Center for Urban Transportation Research(CUTR) at the University of South Florida (USF), isseeking a new Director. The Director should be anentrepreneurial visionary capable of anticipating andanalyzing trends in transportation policy, framingresponsive strategies, and finding ways to launch andsustain new research efforts. The Director will beadept at outreach and building traditional andnontraditional collaborative partnerships, diversifyingthe funding base, and growing CUTR. The Directorwill also be responsible for the oversight of thecurrent research, training and technical assistanceprograms, which include over 110 active projectsvalued at approximately $25 million. CUTR was established in 1988 by Florida statute,is internationally recognized, and serves as aresource for state policymakers, transportationagencies, transportation professionals and thepublic. CUTR conducts over $8 million inresearch annually for a variety of sponsorsincluding federal, state, and local governmentalagencies, as well as private organizations. To learn more about CUTR and USF, please visitwww.cutr.usf.edu. For full position descriptionand application instructions, please visitwww.cutr.usf.edu/jobs.

USF is a EO/EA institution

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DIRECTOR OF COUNSELINGUnion County College seeks an individual with current experience in the planning and supervision of a Counseling Dept. in a higher education setting. Ability to direct department staff in responsibilities of academic advisement & counseling - specifically for enhancing student success, academic intervention, special needs, personal needs and career, as well as school transfer/ articulation services. Will oversee weekend/evening services on three campuses and student retention projects/services. Requirements: Master’s in Counseling & experience in a college setting. Knowledge of student development theory, demonstrated success in working with culturally diverse and non-traditional students. Also required are supervisory, communication and program planning skills. Preferred: Doctorate in Counseling or College Student Personnel, LPC Licensure and Community College Counseling administration experience.

Email resume w/cover letter (in Word format) to: [email protected] & reference job # 68-10 in the subject line. AA/EOE


9-Month Teaching Faculty Two Positions

Beginning August 15, 2011Nursing, Position F0088Biology, Position F0093

Southside Virginia Community College, a comprehensive community college, is seeking individuals tocomplement our quality facilities. We are accepting applications for one Nursing Instructor for 1st YearStudents, located at the John H. Daniel Campus, Keysville, VA and one Biology Instructor, located at theChristanna Campus, Alberta, VA. The successful candidates must be committed to our mission to providequality education to a diverse constituency. Responsibilities: Duties include teaching and student advising. Classes taught may be a combination ofday, night and/or weekends and may be located on or off campus or in a correctional center. Teaching 15credit hours (day, evening, and/or weekends) per semester at locations served by the college. Other dutiesinclude serving on committees and advising students, participating in professional activities, mentoringadjunct instructors, and may include program development and assessment. Master's degree is required for both positions. Visit our website for additional information onqualifications at www.southside.edu/about/employment. Both positions are full-time, 9-month facultypositions and include an excellent benefits package including both State and VCCS benefits. Salarycommensurate with education and experience and follow VCCS guidelines. Positions are contingentupon available funding.To apply, individuals must submit applications electronically through the RMS website at:http://jobs.virginia.gov and attach electronic copies of transcripts for all graduate and undergraduatestudies (certified transcripts will be required of successful candidate). Criminal background check required.Review of candidate materials will commence June 20, 2011 and positions will remain open until filled. SVCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in itsprograms and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Peter Hunt, Vice President of Finance and Administration, 109 CampusDrive, Alberta, VA 23921, 434-949-1005.Women, minorities, and those with disabilities are encouraged to apply. In compliance with theAmericans with Disabilities act (ADA and ADAAA), SVCC will provide, if requested, reasonableaccommodation to applicants in need of access to the application,interviewing and selection processes.

SVCC is committed to Diversity, Equal Employment Opportunityand Affirmative Action.

Candidates are asked to apply online at http://jobs.gmu.edu for position number FA18Bz; complete thefaculty application; and upload a curriculum vitae, a cover letter explaining relevant experience, and thenames and contact information for four professional references. If you haveproblems with the online process please contact [email protected]. In addition, nominations can be sent to the Chair of the Search Committee,Dean Mark R. Ginsberg, at [email protected]. All nominations and applicationswill be regarded as confidential communication to the search committee.

Minority candidates are encouraged to apply. EEEEOO

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

DEANHEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

George Mason University seeks an experienced and exceptional leader for the position of Dean of theCollege of Health and Human Services (CHHS), effective Fall 2012. The Dean provides overallacademic and administrative leadership for the college and serves on the Provost's AdministrativeCommittee and the President's University Council. Dean Shirley Travis will retire from this position in June 2012. As a result, the university invitesapplications and nominations for this important leadership and management position. CHHS was created in 2006 with the internationally respected College of Nursing and Health Science servingas the foundation for an expanded presence for health and human service programs at the university. Today,CHHS is comprised of the School of Nursing and the departments of Global and Community Health, HealthAdministration and Policy and Social Work. Since the formation of CHHS, the college has more than doubledits enrollment and has a continuing commitment to expand research activities and academic programs.During the 2011-2012 academic year, the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies and the Department ofRehabilitation Science will be formed. By 2015, a School of Social Work will be established, and theDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics and Department of Environmental and Occupational Healthwill be created in anticipation of the establishment of a School of Public Health. Additional information about the College of Health and Human Services can be found at: http://chhs.gmu.edu/.Candidates for the position of Dean should have significant academic leadership experience in atleast one field represented among the academic programs of the college while also having familiaritywith the broad array of fields in the college. Candidates must have an earned doctorate and a strongrecord as a scholar consistent with the academic rank of professor. Preference will be given tocandidates with significant senior-level management experience; a record of securing and managingexternal funding; effective and open communication skills; and success in working with externalconstituencies to support teaching, research, employment opportunities and ongoing professionaleducation. The review of applications will begin by October 14, 2011.

TheUniversity ofChicagoBoothSchool ofBusinessis seeking to appoint outstanding scholars totenure-track positions in Marketing beginning inthe 2012-13 academic year. We are seeking thebest possible candidates and invite applicationsfrom individuals who have earned a PhD (orequivalent) or expect to receive a doctorate in thenear future.

Members of our faculty are expected to conductoriginal research of exceptionally high quality, toteach effectively, and to participate in andcontribute to the academic environment. Juniorcandidates will be judged on potential, and wewill rely heavily on the advice of establishedscholars.

Each candidate should submit a curriculum vitae,a sample of written work, and at least two lettersof reference from scholars qualified and willingto evaluate the candidate’s ability, training,and potential for research and teaching.Applications will be accepted online athttp://facultyapply.chicagobooth.edu. We willbegin formally reviewing applications on July 11,2011 and strongly encourage you to completeyour application by then. We will continue toaccept applications until February 28, 2012.

The University of Chicago is an AffirmativeAction/ Equal Opportunity Employer.

This is a full-time, 12-month salaried position responsiblefor the development, implementation, and evaluation ofprograms designed to increase recruitment and improvethe retention of students from multicultural backgrounds.A minimum of a bachelor’s degree and three years ofadmission experience recruiting multicultural students arerequired.

For details about this and other positions visit theDePauw University website at:

www.depauw.edu/admin/hr/jobannouncements.aspDePauw University is an equal opportunity employer.Women and members of under-represented groups are

encouraged to apply.

Assistant/Associate Director ofAdmission & Coordinator ofMulticultural Recruitment


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Assistant VicePresident forInclusion Initiatives

Grand Valley State University(www.gvsu.edu) invites applications for the positionof Assistant Vice President for Inclusion Initiatives tobegin as soon as possible. Grand Valley is a comprehensive,public university that provides a wide array of fullyaccredited academic programs, each building on a longstandingcommitment to education in the liberal tradition. Grand Valleyattracts more than 24,000 students with its high quality programsand state-of-the-art facilities.This Assistant Vice President will work with colleges, departments/schools, and divisions to provide informational resources, consultationand other support that will help to enhance the University’s inclusion workin various areas such as strategic plan implementation, program evaluation,pipeline, recruitment, and retention initiatives for faculty, staff and students.The successful candidate will possess an appropriate terminal degree;substantial teaching experience; a record of excellent administrativeleadership in a diverse academic setting; an open administrative style; stronginterpersonal skills; efficient and effective planning and implementation skills;excellent written and oral communication skills; commitment to supportingdiversity of all types; knowledge and credibility to navigate politically chargedor sensitive issues, competing interests, the dynamics of systems, andorganizational change.For a full description and to apply online, go to www.gvsujobs.org. Include adetailed letter of interest addressing the selection criteria and outliningexperience relevant to the above responsibilities, a resume or curriculum vitae,

and the names and electronic mail contactinformation of three references. The onlinesystem will allow you to electronically attachthese documents. Review will begin immediatelyand continue until the position is filled.

Grand Valley State University is an affirmativeaction/equal opportunity institution.

Responsible for the management of a comprehensive Student Health Program fora campus of approximately 21,000 students which is housed in an attractive andup-to-date outpatient facility. The Director leads and manages an accredited, mul-tifaceted health care program of full-time physicians (and part-timephysicians/consultants), nurse practitioners, nurses, medical assistants, pharma-cists, pharmacy technicians, laboratory technicians, x-ray technicians, and supportstaff. In addition, the Director will provide supervision and oversight to theWellness Services Program and a Psychological Services clinical staff, who alsosupervise graduate student counseling interns. Total staffing is approximately 37.

The UHPS provides a broad range of primary medical care and mental health serv-ices, as well as prevention and wellness outreach services. The Director is respon-sible for providing overall administrative direction, budget oversight, and supervi-sion, as well as collaborating with other on- and off-campus departments/agenciesto ensure a high level of care and quality services are provided to students. Thefocus of the UHPS is both on the provision of direct medical care, as well as pro-viding students information and skills to develop a healthy lifestyle.

Qualifications: Master's degree or higher in a health related discipline (nursing,public health), Master's in a business-related field like Business Administration orHealth Care Administration, or a terminal degree in medicine (M.D. or D.O.);Individuals who are required to have a license to practice must possess pertinentCalifornia licensure and certifications (Board Certification, DEA, CPR, etc.); At leastfive years of progressively responsible administrative experience in a health careorganization. See other qual. at job site.

Preferred Qualifications: Knowledge of nationally recognized accreditation stan-dards, processes and health care models; Management experience in a collectivebargaining environment; Significant experience in college or university studenthealth care.

Applications received by June 24, 2011 will be given full consideration. To apply for this or any open position at Fresno State, visit:

http://jobs.fresnostate.edu.

DIRECTOR OF UNIV HEALTH & PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES Job ID: 11675

Equal Employment Opportunity

LARAMIE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE is accepting applications from persons interested in the

directly to the county-elected, seven-member Board of Trustees.

The President oversees approximately 360 full-time and 500 part-time employees serving an enrollment of approximately 4,400 FTE credit students and 1,800 non-credit students.

LCCC has a strong transfer component, state-of-the-art technical programs, leading-edge workforce development, and community education. The College offers 82 programs of study that lead to an

programs can be completed online.

Master’s degree or greater from a regionally accredited college or university

college missionCollegiate instructional experience

For an application packet or to make general inquires about LCCC regarding application materials, contact 307.778.1289 or email [email protected].

directed to Peggie Kresl-Hotz, LCCC Human Resources, at 307-778-1258.

application materials should be submitted by August 5, 2011.

WYOMING COLLEGE SEEKS A PRESIDENT

H I S P A N I C O U T L O O K • 0 6 / 2 7 / 2 0 1 1

P.O. Box 68 Paramus, NJ 07652-0068

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes ofmind. – William James

Woeto the Latino student who hates school. He dreads math,cannot see the point of reading much, is not motivated byextracurricular activities and avoids writing whenever

possible. He believes teachers, administrators and parents are determined tomake his life miserable. Friends might be the best part of school, with luck.

More lamentable are the dismal reports of high Latino dropout ratesand low academic achievement followed by false assumptions thatLatinos don’t value education. With the new U.S. Census data indicating atremendous growth in the Hispanic population, many will hold a collec-tive breath, anticipating the emergence of a massive underclass.

It’s time to do things differently.Instead of pushing school, maybe we are wiser emphasizing learning

with Latino children. If young Hispanics are told that learning is impor-tant, they are capable and lifelong learning is expected of them, they candiscover their own strengths by pursuing their personal interests. Thisapproach makes it easier for parents – especially those who have notpersonally pursued formal education – to objectively encourage theirchildren to learn. Emphasizing, promoting and embracing learningremoves the struggle that ensues when students feel forced to spendyears of their lives in a school that seems exclusive or irrelevant.

If Latino children focus on naturally learning what they love, they canmore easily learn the other things that are required academically, usingtheir self-discovered approach to learning. School can become a placeof their own where education is neither “given to” nor foisted on stu-dents, but is willingly embraced as part of an interesting, productive life.As Adam Robinson noted in his 1998 book What Smart Students Know,the focus needs to be on knowing how to learn and love learning inone’s own way. The rest of academic success follows naturally.

Helping a Latino student shift from loathing school to loving learningrequires far more than a reframing of words. It requires a major shift onvarious fronts.

Latino parents remain responsi-ble for instilling the values andexpectations of learning – by wordand example – in their children. Encouraging their children to broadenpersonal interests and relationships beyond the traditional boundaries offamily to explore the unfamiliar is important. Welcoming the questionschildren ask also provides an opportunity to encourage self-guidedlearning. Children may also need parental support if other family mem-bers chastise or mock them. And parents need to acknowledge thechild’s intelligence and natural talents, and then enforce the expectationthat the child will do well. As prime supporters of their children’s learn-ing, Latino parents need to view teachers and coaches as partners, main-taining communication with them in the interest of their children.

At school, teachers can guide the Latino student’s self-discovery bydeveloping flexible lesson plans, materials and activities that will challengestudents’ thinking and mesh well with their interests and natural learningstyle. Structuring in time for individual interaction with the student willhelp shift the Latino student’s perception of the teacher as an unfamiliaradult trying to control a student’s life to a view of the teacher as a guideand mentor, offering tools and information to promote learning.

School administrators are crucial in creating an environment wherelearning is primary and based on respect for individual students and theirfamilies. Teachers, parents and students know that the tone for learning isset by administrators, and the message is received the first time anyoneapproaches the school. Latinos will feel more ownership and participatemore actively when an integrated faculty, staff and the student body reflectsthe Latinos in the community. Administrators are key in changing theschool from being a mandatory place of struggle for many to a hospitableplace where children fulfill the community’s expectations of learning.

The change in perspective from “going to school” to “learningbecause it is natural” is a seismic shift for any student, and it might alterhow a Latino student views himself and influence his other choices. Activelearning will become the carrot for Latino students, with tests and gradesfollowing naturally, no longer the large stick pushing them forward.

FOCUS ON LEARNING –NOT JUST SCHOOL

PPrriimmiinngg tthhee PPuummpp......

Miquela Rivera, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist withyears of clinical, early childhood and consultativeexperience. She lives in Albuquerque, N.M.

These articles appearedonline only in the

06/27/11Issue

Legacy Status and the Minority Studentby Frank DiMaria

Everyone is looking for a leg up in the col-lege admissions sweepstakes. One group ofindividuals that often enjoys preferential

treatment during admission time is the childrenand grandchildren of a school’s alumni.

Michael Hurwitz, doctoral student at theHarvard Graduate School of Education, recentlyexamined the impact of legacy status at 30 highlyselective colleges and found that applicants to aparent’s alma mater had, on average, seventimes the odds of admission of nonlegacy appli-cants. And those whose parents did graduatework there or who had a grandparent, sibling,uncle or aunt who attended the college were, bycomparison, twice as likely to be admitted. Inthe Hurwitz study, legacy applicants received a23.3 percent increase in their probability ofadmission. If the applicant’s connection was aparent who attended the college as an under-graduate, which is considered a primary legacy,the increase was 45.1 percent.

Hurwitz looked at data from 133,236 appli-cants for 2007 college admission, and analyzedthe outcomes of the 61,962 who applied to morethan one of the elite colleges, allowing him tocompare how much more likely they were to beoffered admission where they had family con-nections. He was able to take into account all theapplicant’s characteristics because they were thesame at every school at which they applied. Theonly difference was their legacy status.

Hurwitz, who published his findings inEconomics of Education Review in December,found that legacy applicants did have slightlyhigher SAT scores than those who did not have aparent or grandparent who went to the schooland that legacy advantages varied greatly fromone school to the next. At one of the 30 collegesincluded in the study, students with a legacyadvantage were more than 15 times as likely togain acceptance. But at other schools, the accep-tance rates were insignificant.

To many, legacy status is just another way toprivilege those who are already privileged. Foryears, proponents of legacy status, and college offi-cials in general, have argued that legacy status isonly a “tiebreaker” in very close calls in the admis-sions process. But Richard Kahlenberg, a senior

fellow at the Century Foundation, a nonprofitresearch organization, disagrees, saying that theHurwitz study provides strong evidence that collegeofficials are wrong. “Discrimination based onancestry is quite significant at highly selective insti-tutions,” he says. He estimates that the children of

alumni generally make up 10 percent to 25 percentof the student body at selective institutions.

Kahlenberg, who edited Affirmative Action forthe Rich: Legacy Preferences in HigherEducation, written by John Brittain and Eric Bloom,believes that legacy preferences reduce the chancesof nonlegacies to attend selective schools, andtherefore squashes their chances of reaping themany benefits of attending a selective institution,benefits that can be quite substantial. Kahlenbergestimates that the least-selective colleges spendabout $12,000 per student annually while the most-selective institutions spend $92,000 per student. Inaddition, wealthy, selective institutions providemuch greater subsidies for families. At the wealthi-est 10 percent of institutions, students pay, on aver-age, just 20 cents in fees for every dollar the collegespends on them, while at the poorest 10 percent ofinstitutions, students pay 78 cents for every dollar

the college spends on them. Furthermore, selectiveinstitutions are better than less-selective institutionsat graduating equally qualified students.

Then there is the question of a graduate’spotential salary. Graduates of more-selectiveschools enjoy a 45 percent higher salary than thoseof less-selective schools, with the difference inearnings being widest among low-income students.Graduates of selective institutions also tend tobecome the leaders in American society. Accordingto research by the political scientist Thomas Dye,54 percent of America’s corporate leaders and 42percent of governmental leaders are graduates ofjust 12 institutions. “One of the most egregiousthings about legacy preferences is that they advan-tage the already advantaged. ... Legacy preferencesare especially harmful to Latino and African-American applicants, whose parents are much lesslikely to be alumni,” says Kahlenberg.

Some legacy opponents contend that the prac-tice is not just wrong, it is actually illegal. In fact, inthe 1970s the practice was litigated in federal courtin the case Rosenstock v. Board of Governors ofthe University of North Carolina. In that case,Jane Cheryl Rosenstock, a resident of New York,claimed that when the University of North Carolinarejected her application it violated her constitution-al rights by a variety of preferences, including thosefor in-state applicants, minorities, low-income stu-dents, athletes and legacies. The court, however,ruled in favor of the university.

But today legacy opponents have two new legaltheories available to challenge legacy preferences,according to Kahlenberg. First, Carlton Larson, alaw professor at the University of California-Davis,offers that legacy preferences at public universitiesviolate a little-litigated constitutional provision that“no state shall ... grant any Title of Nobility.”Kahlenberg writes in a recent article that Larsonmakes a compelling case that this prohibitionshould not be interpreted narrowly as simply pro-hibiting the naming of individuals as dukes orearls, but more broadly, to prohibit “government-sponsored hereditary privileges,” including legacypreferences at public universities.

The second theory, offered by attorneys SteveShadowen and Sozi Tulante, argues that legacypreferences are a violation of the 14th

ADMISSIONS/RECRUITMENT


Richard Kahlenberg, Senior Fellow,Century Foundation

Amendment’s equal-protection clause. While theamendment was aimed primarily at stamping outdiscrimination against Black Americans, it alsoextends more broadly to what Justice PotterStewart called “preference based on lineage.”Individuals are to be judged on their own merits,not by what their parents do, which is why thecourts have applied heightened scrutiny to lawsthat punish children born out of wedlock, orwhose parents came to this country illegally.Shadowen and Tulante also argue that legacypreferences at private universities are illegal,under the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Unlike Title VIof the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlaws dis-crimination only on the basis of “race, color ornational origin,” the 1866 law prohibits discrim-ination on the basis of both race and ancestry.

Those schools that do offer legacy status makea number of good arguments to support their con-troversial policy. One is that legacy preferenceshelp support the financial vitality of colleges anduniversities because alumni tend to donate ingreater amounts if they know their children will beoffered legacy status. With larger endowments,schools can more readily provide scholarships forlow-income and working-class students. In hisarticle “10 Myths About Legacy Preferences inCollege Admissions,” published in the Chronicleof Higher Education, Kahlenberg wrote that whileuniversities claim that legacy preferences are nec-essary to improve fundraising, there is little empir-ical evidence to support the contention. In fact,several colleges and universities that do notemploy legacy preferences nevertheless do wellfinancially. As Golden notes, Caltech raised $71million in alumni donations in 2008, almost asmuch as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT), $77 million, even though MIT, which doesprovide legacy preferences, is five times the sizeand has many more alumni to tap. Berea Collegein Berea, Ky., which favors low-income students,not alumni, has a larger endowment thanMiddlebury, Oberlin, Vassar and Bowdoin. AndCooper Union, in New York City, does not providelegacy preference but has an endowment largerthan that of Bucknell, Haverford and Davidson.

“A study included in Affirmative Action forthe Rich, comparing universities that provide lega-cy preferences with those which don’t, found noevidence that legacy preferences per se increasegiving. Moreover, several universities which havedropped legacy preferences in recent years haveseen no decline in giving,” says Kahlenberg.

Joe Bagnoli, dean of enrollment and academ-

ic services at Berea College, says that it is likelythat Berea loses some gifts from alumni whowould prefer for their ineligible dependents toenroll at Berea, a school that actually favors low-income students over alumni legacies. But heasks Berea’s alums to consider the fact that ifBerea had admitted students who didn’t meet theschool’s financial eligibility criteria when theywere applicants for admission, it is possible thatthe school would not have had space for them.“In my experience, our alumni are almostalways understanding and supportive of our

admissions policy,” says Bagnoli.Berea exercises a practice Bagnoli calls

“legacy blind,” and qualifies every student on thebasis of demonstrated financial need. Regardlessof if or where an applicant’s parent or parentsattended college, Berea only considers thoseapplicants whose family resources are within thebottom one-third of college-bound studenthouseholds nationally. “A substantial portion ofour own alumni dependents are ineligible foradmission to Berea, and we make no exceptionson the basis of their legacy status,” says Bagnoli.

It is easy to imagine that Hispanics and otherunderrepresented students, says Bagnoli, are at agreat disadvantage at schools that exercise a legacyadmissions practice, which permits legacy candi-

dates to gain access when they may not otherwisebe competitive. At Berea, he says, such studentsare in no way disadvantaged by Berea’s admissionspractices. “In fact, it is safe to say, they realize anadvantage since students from wealthier familiesare not permitted to replace them,” says Bagnoli.

Kahlenberg agrees with Bagnoli and says thatlegacy policies hurt students of color dispropor-tionately. Accordingly, universities that wantracial diversity are put in a position of providingeven larger racial preferences than they would inthe absence of legacy preferences. This

increased reliance on racial preferences, inturn, makes universities more legally and politi-cally vulnerable to attacks on their racial affir-mative action programs.

In 2004, Texas A&M eliminated the use of lega-cy preferences, a decision that coincided with thediscontinuation of race and ethnicity considerationas well. Former Texas A&M President Robert Gatesmade the decision shortly after the U.S. SupremeCourt ruled that Michigan University’s point system(which automatically awarded points to underrep-resented ethnic groups) was unconstitutional. “Dr.Gates wanted to look each student in the eye andtell them they were admitted to Texas A&M basedupon their own merit and achievement,” says ScottMcDonald, assistant vice president for academic

0 6 / 2 7 / 2 0 1 1 • H I S P A N I C O U T L O O K

Joe Bagnoli, Dean of Enrollment and Academic Services, Berea College

services and director of admissions at Texas A&MUniversity.

McDonald says that Texas A&M does not cap-ture information on what percentage of TexasA&M’s student body are legacies, but students mayvoluntarily write about their family ties to TexasA&M in their admission essays. The admissionoffice does not track or record that information.

Some universities make their legacy prefer-ences front and center in their admissionsprocess. The University of Pennsylvania, for one,offers a program called Legacy AdvisingSessions. Held every weekday throughout theyear, these sessions offer Penn alumni who havechildren or grandchildren navigating the collegesearch process advice on their selective statuswith regard to Penn’s admissions procedures.Another program at Penn, Linking Legacies, is astudent-led buddy program that connectsprospective legacy students with current Pennlegacy students.

Like the University of Pennsylvania, Michigan

State University (MSU) also has a legacy program.“Designed especially for the descendants of MSUalumni and friends, the Legacy Program keepsyour children and grandchildren connected to theuniversity and its traditions. Each Legacy childreceives a welcome letter and gift from Sparty, apersonalized membership card, annual birthdaygreetings, and exclusive gifts and invitations fromSparty during the Legacy membership,” accordingto the Michigan State University Web page.

The Hispanic Outlook made repeatedattempts to allow the University of Pennsylvaniaand the Michigan State University to comment ontheir legacy admission philosophy and policy,but neither school answered HO’s questions.

Hurwitz does not seem alarmed by the findingsin his study. He says that at most-selective colleges,the vast majority of students (around 90 percent)are nonlegacies, so he does not feel that a changein admissions policy regarding legacy studentswould impact the number of acceptance andrejection letters received by the typical applicant.

Hurwitz contends that many of the schoolsthat he sampled appear to be strongly committedto diversity. In fact, many of the sampled collegeshave adjusted their financial aid policies duringthe past few years with the goal of increasingaffordability for low-income students.

“As I state in my paper, thwarted applicantsoften perceive that their spots were given toarguably less-qualified students admitted fornonacademic reasons [These might include lega-cy status, underrepresented minority status, ath-lete status, etc.]. The reality is that so many acad-emically exceptional applicants are rejected bythe nation’s most selective postsecondary institu-tions that removing nonacademic characteristicsfrom the admissions process would be unlikelyto change the number of rejection lettersreceived by any given applicant,” says Hurwitz.


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Challenging Barriers toHigher Education in Californiaby Manuel Barajas

Well into the 21st century, Chicanos remain among the most disadvan-taged in terms of representation at all levels in education, and thisproblem was recently (fall 2010) recognized by President Obama,

who called for an Executive Order – White House Initiative on EducationalExcellence for Hispanic – to address this educational national crisis.

This condition is particularly acute in California, which is home tothe largest number of Chicanas/os in the nation. They constitute close to40 percent of the state population. Mexican- and Latina/o-origin stu-dents in the K-12 public schools make up 50.4 percent of California’sstudents (California Department of Education 2009); yet only 10 per-cent of their population has a bachelor’s or higher degree compared tothe mainstream’s 30 percent.

This educational inequity and crisis is not something new, but one thathas grown more severe and unjustifiable over the past 30 years. InCalifornia, public leaders are addressing questions about the pipeline, thepath to higher education and interventions needed to produce moreLatina/o professionals germane to the state’s future.

The California State University (CSU) system plays a critical role in thesolution, as the largest institution in the nation and the system that hasgraduated the most racial minorities with bachelor’s degrees.

This report examines the educational crisis facing the nation throughseveral interrelated questions: 1) What are the population and educationaltrends in California? 2) How do the work force educational levels corre-spond to projected needs in California? 3) What role does diversity play inthe academic success of Latinas/os? 4) Why is accessible quality publichigher education a matter of justice that cannot wait any longer?

Population and Educational Trends: An Increasingly RacialMinority State

The Latino population has become the largest racial-ethnic minoritygroup in the United States, now constitutes about 16 percent of the nation-

al population and is projected to become 30 percent of the population by2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The demographic future of thenation will look like California’s today, and therefore the success of thisstate should be in the interest of everyone.

Asian-Americans, African-Americans and Chicanas/os now constitutethe great majority of the state population. Chicanas/os are the largestminority group and projected to become the largest racial-ethnic group by2020, if not sooner. This diversity has been part of the wealth of the state,offering an exciting and innovative environment that reflects and integratesworld experiences that position the state in a strategic and influential glob-al position. However, this potential is undermined by California’s failed pri-orities that place it among the last in the nation in terms of investing inpublic higher education and thus its people and future, according to theCivil Rights Project Report 2011.

The state’s population characteristics make access to quality highereducation more consequential and urgent than ever before. Chicanas/osand Blacks approximate half of the state population, yet these two groupshave the youngest populations, lowest median family income, lowest percapita income, and highest rate of uninsured (see Table 1). Facilitatinghigher public education will advance their social mobility and benefit thestate with workers with a surplus of skills rather than with the projecteddeficit of skills. Evidently, the need for higher education is an urgent matterfor these groups and the state.

In California, Chicanas/os have the lowest freshman college enrollmentand smallest percent of bachelor’s or higher degrees, i.e., they are 13 per-cent compared to Asian-Americans’ 53 percent, Blacks’ 20 percent andWhites’ 30 percent (see Table 2). When examining within the broad termof Latina/o, the Mexican-origin population is the most disadvantaged, withonly 9 percent holding a bachelor’s or higher degree compared to 16 per-cent of Puerto Ricans, 28 percent of Cubans and 20 percent ofCentral/South Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

PERSPECTIVES


Table 1 National Population Characteristics (2009)

Median Age 36 32 38.6 27.5 36.9

Median Family Income 65,637 34,218 55,530 37,916 50,303

Per Capita Income 30,292 18,406 28,502 15,674 26,964

Uninsured Health 2,344,000 7,284,000 21,322,000 14,558,000 46,340,000

Percent uninsured 17.6 19.1 11 31 15.4

Sources: US Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/p60-236.pdf.

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Population Characteristics Asian Black White Chican@ Total

This situation is significant because Chicanas/os make up about 65 per-cent of the Latino national population and 85 percent of those inCalifornia. Chicana/o underrepresentation in higher education presents acrisis to the state and nation, as has been noted in several recent studies(e.g., Public Policy Institute of California 2009 and Civil Rights ProjectReport 2011).

Skills Gap Projected in California Presents an Urgent CrisisThe state’s negligence in funding public education places California at

great risk. Without making higher education accessible to those who mostneed it, the state will not be able to respond to the needs of the economy,infrastructure and human services. According to the Public Policy Instituteof California (PPIC), the supply of college-educated workers is estimatedto fall short by one million in 2025 and presents incredible challenges tothe prosperity and future of California. The gap cannot be reduced withouta substantive investment in education at all levels and without concentratedefforts in expanding access to success in college education for racialminorities, particularly the Chicano/Latino communities.

PPIC recommends increasing the college-going rates of high schoolstudents and improving graduation rates of CSU-enrolled students.However, these objectives are impossible when the general education fundcontinues to decline, particularly over the past 10 years, and correspond-ingly, college tuition fees have more than tripled. This trajectory cutsaccess to quality public education and hurts graduation rates of studentswithin the California State University system. In 1980, the California educa-tion fund was 17 percent of the total budget; and in 2007, 10 percent. Thedamage is evident in the poor graduation rates.

Minority first-time freshmen’s graduation rates have suffered the most,with only about 30 percent to 38 percent completing their B.A. within eightyears. The dropout rates are associated with several factors including, inorder of frequency: 1) work related, 2) family/personal, 3) other financialreasons and 4) class availability, according to the CSU System Office ofInstitutional Research Graduation and Retention Report 2004. Contrary topopular thought that academic factors are primarily responsible for thehigh dropout rates, academic problems accounted for only 4 percent ofthe reasons for leaving the university. The defunding of public educationhas complicated access to higher education and completion of college

once in. Students face higher tuitions and the need to work more thanolder generations did.

In their first Civil Rights Report on the CSU system (February 2011),Patricia Gándara and Gary Orfield elucidate the effects of the recession onmany students’ families: one or more parents had been laid off, parent(s)’salary was reduced, their home was foreclosed, family lost medical cover-age, parents cannot pay bills and provide less support for school. Studentsare having more difficulties attending college because of higher fees,increased expenses, cannot find employment, need extra working hours,and family cannot help as much. Many students, particularly Latinos andAsian-Americans, had even reversed roles with their parents, helping themget by. And while many students reported recession-related hardships, themost impacted, disproportionately, were Chicana/o and Black students.

Given the socioeconomic disadvantage of the minority populations inaccessing equal public education K-12, the university must support reme-diation programs that help students reach college-level courses. But to thecontrary, the office of the chancellor mandated remediation changes – i.e.,early start – that will limit access to first-generation students, particularlyChicanas/os, Blacks, and Southeast Asians (Laos, Hmongs, Miens,Cambodians). The early start remediation will push college requirementsinto the summer, presenting burdensome costs and rigid timeframes tostudents already coming from the most recession-impacted families.Exclusion of these student populations from higher education denies themand their communities access to social mobility and improved quality oflife in times when higher education is indispensable for economic security.

Closing the door to working-class and minority students is not anoption in a democratic and just society. Therefore, the university mustinvest time and resources in orienting its teaching/services to meet theneeds of our typical students (i.e., lower SES and minority). This recom-mendation also requires the diversifying of its faculty in all universities.

Diversity Must Become a Core Value in Higher EducationAlthough diversity is a stated core value in many universities’ mission

statements, strategic plans and affirmative action plans, it has yet tobecome a practiced value and goal of higher education. The hiring of full-time faculty of color is important not only to the production of knowledge,but also to the success of all students, who will benefit from a university


Table 2 Educational Trends in California (2008)

Education (CA) Asian Black White Chican@ Total

CA K-12 956,000 416,000 2,057,000 3,173,000 6,602,000

CA Public High School Graduates 53,000 23,000 133,000 138,000 358,000

High School Dropout % (National) X 12 8.8 22.3 9.3

CA Higher Education Enrollment 26,000 6,000 38,000 36,000 116,000

CA Freshmen College Enrollment Rate 0.48 0.27 .29 .26 .31

CSU Eventual Graduation Rates 0.623 0.274 0.547 0.363 0.497 College Graduate or More % withingroup

52.6 19.6 29.6 13 29.3

Sources: Statistical Brief on Graduation Rates, CSU Office of the Chancellor, Analytic Studies March 10, 2008;http://www.cpec.ca.gov/OnLineData/GenerateReport.ASP; http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ 2010/tables/10s0224.pdf. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2011/tables/11s0266.pdf.

culture that reflects a broader universe of experiences and knowledge.As the student enrollment becomes more diverse, a diversified full-time

faculty becomes more important for several reasons: it brings new per-spectives that inform the curriculum and research; it reduces group thinkin university, college and departmental committees; it enriches the acade-mic experience and maximizes the universe of knowledge in the class-room; it prepares future professionals that are well equipped to work andto live constructively in an increasingly diverse society; and it improves thegraduation and success rates of underrepresented minority students.

Recruiting diverse faculty must be actively pursued by the university’sadministration, human resources, affirmative action office, colleges anddepartments. Particularly after Proposition 209, the widespread misconcep-tion that race cannot be used as a consideration in hiring must be correct-ed. The use of race as one element of diversity that can enhance the acade-mic experience of students, staff, faculty and community is legal under thecurrent federal affirmative action law. California Proposition 209 languagenoted that the public university was not prohibited from actions promotingdiversity and equity that were required by federal law and by funding obliga-tions. In the last 10 years, however, the general institutional orientation thatthe consideration of race (i.e., underrepresented minorities) is illegal hashurt equitable and fair hiring practices at California State University. Theexclusion is evident in the gross underrepresentation of faculty of color atthe university, particularly Chicanas/os (see Table 3 and Figure 1).

In a local glimpse of the CSU system trend (see Table 3), SacramentoState Office of Institutional Research data shows that the numbers of full-time minority faculty have remained stagnant or declined across most col-leges from 2000 to 2009. Out of 688 full-time faculty (including probation-ary/FERPs), there were 57 Latinas/os (8 percent) and 36 African-Americans(5 percent). Fifty-two percent of the Latinas/os and 45 percent of the

African-Americans were in the colleges of education and health and humanservices. With the exception of these two, the other five colleges failed todiversify their faculty at a time when many senior professors were retiring.In the third most diverse college, Social Science and InterdisciplinaryStudies has 115 full-time professors, and over the past nine years (2002-2011) Chicana/o full-time faculty declined from 12 to five.

This situation is grave for many reasons. For one, the declining institu-tional support for diversity and for faculty of color disadvantages historicalminority students on campus. The university denies minority students asense of belonging and connection to the conveyors and producers ofknowledge, which are conditions basic to the academic success of all stu-dents. The absence of minority faculty and curriculum, which reflect amultiethnic and multiracial society, shortchanges our students from worldexperiences and knowledge that can guide them to live constructively andproductively in our diverse and globally interconnected society.

In the CSU system, for every 100 Asian-American students, there areabout 3.8 Asian-American faculty; for every 100 Black students, 3.7 faculty;for every 100 White students, 10.4 White faculty; and for every 100Chicana/o students, 1.6 Chicana/o faculty (See Figure 1).

A Matter of Justice: The Choice Between Democracy andAristocracy

The state must support public higher education as a matter of justice

and democracy. Failure to do so creates an aristocratic system in whichaccess to higher education is largely based on inherited status, with themore affluent, generally White families securing for their children accessto college and the common families – working class and minority – beingless able to do so. Chicanas/os have the largest K-12 student populationbut have the least representation of college graduates and faculty, nurtur-


Table 3 California State University Faculty and Student Diversity (2009)

CSU Faculty Asian % Black % White % Chican@ % Other % Total

All CSU Student

75,474 17% 24,614 6% 152,619%

109,193 25% 73,154 17% 433,054

All CSU Faculty 2,831 12% 911 4% 15,894

70

%1,813 8% 1,254 5.5% 22,703

All CSU Full-Time Faculty

1,704 16% 430 4% 7,217 68

%834 8% 456 4% 10,641

All CSU Lecturers

1,017 9% 400 4% 7,864 72.

4% 862 8% 725 7% 10,868

All Faculty Sacramento

162 12% 71 5% 1,085 78

%96 7% 0 0 1,396

Full-Time Faculty Sacramento

108 16% 36 5% 462 67

%57 8% 25 4% 688

Sources: Changing Faces of CSU Faculty and Students: Vol. III, March 2010; CSUS OIR 2010.

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35

ing racist stereotypes that marginalize them. The falling numbers of minor-ity faculty and poor graduation rates for minority students reflect a sys-temic devaluation of equity and diversity in higher education. Further, thevalues of democracy and pluralism ring hollow when access to quality edu-cation is determined by ascribed categories, like race and class, and whendiversity is not valued as a source of universal knowledge and creativityand as a reflection of the larger society.

The state and nation must challenge the racial and class borders tohigher education. The use of borders, as opposed to barriers, clarifies thenature of disadvantages faced by working-class and racial minorities in oureducational system. Barriers connote limitations located within the Latinocommunities, e.g., low-socioeconomic or first-generation college students.Borders boldly underscore group power inequities and priorities, wherebythose with power monopolize resources like occupations and education.

Simply, the wealthy refuse to pay their ethical share of taxes, and ethno-centric nativists attack racial and cultural diversity. These political acts cre-ate educational borders, privileging some and marginalizing many othersnot on the basis of merit but inherited status.

Although abundant scholarship theorizes educationalinequalities/achievements, I only highlight the value of understanding edu-cational inequality by considering the factors of historical context, powerinequalities, and thus the emergent patterns of educational success/failurein higher education. In other words, to understand Chicanas/os education-al achievement, one must look at the history of institutional exclusion, dejure segregation, and eventually post-civil rights liberal reforms that lackedcontinuity and widespread support, as evidenced in a series of anti-affir-mative action movements that diluted and weakened civil rights’ goals (i.e.,UC v. Bakke 1978, Proposition 209 in 1996, Grutter v. Bollinger 2003).

Further, a history without an analysis of power relationships and domi-nation trivializes educational inequities. For instance, benefactors of pastsegregation or today’s proponents of equality of opportunity through color-blind programs claim reverse-discrimination by programs targeting histor-

ically marginalized communities. Simply, the educational playing field hasnever been fair or equal; and from the given trends, it is becoming veryunequal. Therefore, any analysis ignoring historical context and powerinequalities reproduces the facile and hegemonic deficit-barrier discoursethat attributes Chicanas/os’ poor academic achievement to deficiencieswithin their cultures and/or simply as a matter of socioeconomic status.

In these difficult times of budget deficits, furloughs and student feeincreases, the state and California State University cannot diminish its mis-sion to offer accessible quality education that prepares future generationsof professionals and leaders to be competent and effective practitioners oftheir field. The inclusion of minority students and faculty from historicallyunderrepresented populations becomes indispensible to the university’seducational role of producing and teaching critical knowledge with stan-dards that reflect a broad universe of experiences and that merit the title ofuniversity education.

Manuel Barajas, associate professor of sociology at California StateUniversity-Sacramento, specializes in social inequality, migrationstudies and Latina/o studies. He recently wrote the book The XaripuCommunity Across Borders: Labor Migration, Community, and Family(University of Notre Dame Press).


Figure 1 CSU Ethnic/Racial Representation of Faculty per 100 Students (2009)

All CSU Student All CSU Faculty

Asian Black White Chican@/Latin@ Other Total

75,474

2,831 (3.8) 911 (3.7)24,614

152,619

15,894 (10.4)

109,193

1,813 (1.6)

73,154

1,254 (1.7) 22,703 (5.2)

3

433,054

Magnetic, Charismatic,Passionate Leader:Gilberto Cárdenas

by Clay Latimer

Gilberto Cárdenas had been at the University of Texas for 20 yearswhen Notre Dame approached him in 1999 with the idea of estab-lishing an institute for Latino studies at the university.

It seemed like a dream job, one of the best in the nation for a Hispanicacademic, but Cárdenas turned it down on the spot.

“It just didn’t interest me,” said the internationally recognized scholar.On the surface, Cárdenas was well established at Texas, where he ran a

groundbreaking Latino studies program, had started a national radio pro-gram for Hispanics and owned a commercial art gallery in Austin with thelargest collection of Hispanic art in the country.

But another concern nagged at Cárdenas: he had been unhappy dur-ing his days as a Notre Dame graduate student, an era in which only ahandful of Hispanic students could be found at the country’s premierCatholic university.

“I was very conflicted as a graduate student at Notre Dame,” saidCárdenas, who earned a Ph.D. in 1977. “It never occurred to me the uni-versity might have changed” ... but “I eventually decided to take the job.”

Neither Cárdenas nor Notre Dame has ever regretted the decision.Today Cárdenas is assistant provost at the university, a prodigious fundrais-er and research entrepreneur, and a member of the SmithsonianInstitution Latino Board and the President’s Commission on Creation of theMuseum of the American Latino.

He’s the author, editor, co-author or co-editor of eight books andmonographs, including Loz Mojados: The Wetback Story (with JulianSamora and Jorge Bustamante), a seminal text in Latino scholarship.

But what sets Cárdenas apart is the Institute of Latino Studies (ILS), aninterdisciplinary program designed to increase Notre Dame’s commitmentto Hispanics, a predominately Catholic group. The institute plays a pivotalrole in understanding of the Latino experience in the United States, provid-ing information and data to educators, policymakers and political leaders.

Since 1999, when ILS began, Notre Dame has also been the headquar-ters of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research, which Cárdenasstarted at Texas.

The national consortium of 24 academic research centers, includingTexas and the Smithsonian Institution, works to advance the intellectualpresence of Latinos in this country, with research centered around borderaffairs and migration, demographics, arts and culture, and Latino families.

“When we moved here, we knew what we wanted to do – but we suc-ceeded much faster than any of us imagined. We built a very large institute,

not by intention; that’s just the way it developed,” he said.“It was just the right place at the time with the right people – doing the

right thing, I think.”Cárdenas wasn’t always so certain of himself. Growing up in Los

Angeles, he drifted into the streets as a teen, joining a gang that almostsnuffed out his academic potential before it had a chance to surface. “Ihad a lot of difficulty in high school, behavior-wise,” he said.

As he watched some of his friends head off to prison, Cárdenas foundhis bearings with the help of two high school teachers.

After earning an associate degree in 1967 at East Los Angeles College,he moved on to California State College in Los Angeles – during a timewhen radical politics were taking hold among Hispanic students. Fromstaging protests to organized marches, Cárdenas found himself at the fore-front of the revolutionary fervor, even going so far as to document eventswith his camera. Without realizing it, he was laying the foundation for anart collection that today includes everything from paintings to photographsand videos to silk-screens.

Meanwhile Cárdenas was making periodic trips to the border, the startof his groundbreaking work in immigration research. At the time, however,he didn’t consider graduate school, not until a professor singled him froma group of elite students.

“We were wailing along, and he said, ‘When you get your Ph.D.’ ...Well, I thought a B.A. was a really big achievement. So I looked at him andrealized he was looking at me. That was the first time I ever really thoughtabout getting a Ph.D. He kept prodding me, recommended that I approachNotre Dame.”

Arriving at Notre Dame in 1969, Cárdenas fell under the influence ofJulian Samora, the first Mexican-American known to have received a doc-torate in sociology and anthropology in the United Stares. During his yearsin South Bend (1959-95), Samora transformed Notre Dame into a hot spotfor Mexican-American graduate students, many of whom received doctor-ates and went on to high academic positions in Mexican-American studiesprograms that proliferated because of Samora’s pioneering success. Healso helped found the National Council of La Raza, widely regarded as thepremier Mexican-American civil rights organization, and initiated researchinto the cultural links across the United States-Mexico border.

“He was very instrumental in training me,” he said.Cárdenas was among the first scholars to cross the border and

research the experience of the undocumented worker coming to the

LEADERSHIP


United States, gaining a reputation for resourcefulness. One time, he sat ina federal prison with a group of undocumented immigrants who had beenarrested trying to cross the border.

From 1972 to 1974, Cárdenas coordinated a census survey of SouthBend’s Spanish-surnamed population, directed a research project on theSpanish-speaking population of two Chicago communities and compiled a269-page report on illegal aliens in urban labor markets, which becamehis thesis.

But with only a handful of Hispanic students and one faculty memberon the campus, Cárdenas felt isolated and culturally adrift at Notre Dame,and quickly turned to political activism. Through protests and rallies, hedemanded that the university take steps to recruit more Latinos, providemore financial aid and expand the Hispanic studies curriculum.

One day, he was on his way from California to South Bend when hespotted a car with Notre Dame and United Farm Workers bumper stickers.Curious, he pulled up to the car in a parking lot and before long was tour-ing the Michigan and Indiana farms where migrants worked. It was thestart of a long relationship with the group.

“I saw wretched living conditions, people living in box cars,” he said.Cárdenas tempered his political activism once he arrived at the

University of Texas and became head of the Latino studies program.“Not a lot was happening at the time in terms of faculty hiring,” he

said. “It’s a very important institution in a very important state for minori-

ty populations. We built a very strong faculty through the collective workof a lot of people as well as the support of the administration. I’m veryproud of that.”

In 1993, Cárdenas was appointed to the national board of directors ofthe Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a leadingLatino civil rights and advocacy organization.

Meanwhile, the time was right for Notre Dame to start a program as anew century neared. Data from the 2000 U.S. Census revealed that thenumber of Hispanics in the country exceeded 35.3 million, a 58 percentincrease from 1990 census figures. That increase moved Hispanicsahead of Blacks – 34.7 million – as the country’s largest minority. Byregion, the greatest percentage increase of Latinos happened in theMidwest (81 percent).

There was another crucial figure to consider: 70 percent of the Latinopopulation in the United States identified themselves as Catholic.

“We aspire to be the nation’s leading Catholic university, and thatincreasingly means serving our Latino population,” Notre Dame VP TimScully said about the hire. “Gil is magnetic and charismatic, a passionateand great leader. We want him to deepen and broaden the set of intellectu-al resources we have here for teachers and students.”

Cárdenas was in constant motion in 1999: he relocated the Inter-University Program for Latino Research to Notre Dame, moved more than100 works of art in his collection to the campus, was named to the firstSmithsonian National Board for Latino Initiatives and was one of six peopleappointed to an advisory committee of the new Millennium ScholarsProgram, the billion-dollar program started by the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation. He also started pulling in large amounts of grant money.

“We were getting grants the first semester. By the second or third year,we were the leading unit in the university outside the college of science ingetting outside money. Over the years, we’ve raised a little more than $23million, and I think that’s made everybody happy,” he said.

Cárdenas hasn’t slowed in recent years. He opened an outreach centerin Chicago and oversees the Centers for Latino Spirituality and Culture;Migration and Border Studies; and the Study of Latino Religion.

Through these centers, the institute co-sponsors conferences on suchissues as migration and theology, publishes research papers and studiesand has enabled students to work directly with immigrants.

Notre Dame launched a task force in 2008 dedicated to improving theeducational opportunities available to Latino children by doubling theirenrollment in Catholic schools. He was also appointed by President Bushto a commission to study the creation of the National Museum of theAmerican Latino, in 2008. President Obama kept him on the committeefollowing his election.

As the number of Hispanics continues to surge across the U.S.,Cárdenas is determined to keep pace before handing off the directorshipof the institute to his successor.

“I think it will be in good shape,” he says.


06/27/2011 continuing a legacy of inclusion

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