HSI Committee
Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Committe
UC Riverside is one of 10 institutions honored this year for its efforts serving Latino students. For more information, visit the UCR news article or the Excelencia in Education feature on UCR.
Committee Overview and Charge
In 2008, UC Riverside was the first UC campus to become a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Five of our ten UC campuses are now HSIs with another two possibly on the way soon. The UC will likely become the largest university system in the nation to be Hispanic serving in the near future. Despite these advances, our campus has many internal processes we can improve to more successfully build graduation/matriculation and pipeline infrastructure, as well as to compete more successfully for national grants to better serve our students.
The UCR HSI committee will build on our legacy as a Hispanic-Serving institution to help UCR become a national HSI leader that effectively serves Chicano/Latino students, advancing student success.
Vision: Fortaleciendo Juntos: Liderando el desarrollo exitoso de nuestras comunidades/ Strengthening; Together: Leading the successful development of our communities.
Mission: The UCR HSI committee will build on our legacy as a national Hispanic-Serving institution leader, that intentionally and effectively serves Chicanx/Latinx students, accelerating Chicanx/Latinx student success by producing the next generation of researchers, professionals, and community leaders.
The goals of the Committee are as follow:
- Build institutional capacity to create a culture of servingness (Garcia et al., 2019)
- Conduct data equity analysis of Chicanx/Latinx student success and disseminate evidence based best practices to address equity gaps.
- Improve the systemic infrastructure for the matriculation and graduation of undergraduate, graduate and professional students.
- Boost our grant and philanthropic HSI development activities supporting our HSI mission.
- Advocate for the investment in HSI initiatives and infrastructure, creating synergy across campus and in the community.
- Embed the Seal of Excelencia framework, maintain our Seal of Excelencia certification enhancing our capacity to serve.
- Increase our involvement with regional, state, and national Latinx serving organizations, generating opportunities for our students.
The Committee is chaired by acting Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Estela Gavosto and Chicano Student Programs Assistant Director Arlene Cano Matute.
If you would like to connect with the committee, please email us at hsi@ucr.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.
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What is an HSI?
The US Department of Education defines a Hispanic Serving Institution as an institution of higher education that—
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is an eligible institution; and
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has an enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25 percent Hispanic students at the end of the award year immediately preceding the date of application.
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Committee History
In 2008, UC Riverside was the first UC campus to become a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
In 2000, UC Riverside was classified as an “R1”.
In 2022, UC Riverside was among 20 of the nation’s top research universities that have formed the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRU). The 20 universities represent every university that has been both categorized as R1 (very high research activity) by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. By 2030, the HSRU Alliance aims to double the number of Hispanic doctoral students enrolled at Alliance universities and increase by 20% the number of Hispanic professors in Alliance universities.
Additionally, UC Riverside has been invited to join the Association of American Universities (AAU) in June 2023. Membership in the AAU is highly selective, and the association includes the nation’s most outstanding institutions of higher education.
The UC Riverside HSI committee continues to build its legacy as a Hispanic-Serving institution to help UC Riverside become a national HSI leader that effectively serves Chicanx/Latinx students, advancing student success.
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Reading Resources
Hispanic Serving Research Institutions:
- Matute, A. C. 2022. “Chicanx/Latinx Student Success at UC Riverside: Capturing the History of a Thriving Hispanic Serving Institution”. UC Hispanic Serving Institutions Initiative. Oakland, CA.
- Marin, P. (2019). Is “business as usual” enough to be Hispanic-serving? Becoming a Hispanic- serving research institution. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 18(2), 165-181.
- Paredes, A.D., Estrada, C., Venturanza, R.J., and Teranishi, R.T. 2021. "La Lucha Sigue: The University of California's Role as a Hispanic-Serving Research Institution System." The Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education. Los Angeles, CA.
Campus Racial Climate/Environments:
- Elsa Gonzalez, Guillermo Ortega, Mauricio Molina & Gilberto Lizalde (2020) What does it mean to be a Hispanic-Serving Institution? Listening to the Latina/o/x voices of students, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 33:8, 796-809, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2020.1751896
- Hurtado, S., Clayton-Pedersen, A. R., Allen, W. R., & Milem, J. F. (1998). Enhancing campus climates for racial/ethnic diversity: Educational policy and practice. The Review of Higher Education, 21(3), 279-302.
- Hurtado, S., & Ponjuan, L. (2005). Latino educational outcomes and the campus climate. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 4(3), 235-251.
“Servingness”:
- Garcia, G. A., Núñez, A. M., & Sansone, V. A. (2019). Toward a multidimensional conceptual framework for understanding “servingness” in Hispanic-serving institutions: A synthesis of the research. Review of Educational Research, 89(5), 745-784.
- Garcia, G. A., & Okhidoi, O. (2015). Culturally relevant practices that “serve” students at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Innovative Higher Education, 40, 345-357.
- Garcia, G. A. (Ed.). (2020). Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs) in practice: Defining" servingness" at HSIs. IAP.
Chicanx/Latinx Student Success & Transformation:
- Yosso, T., Smith, W., Ceja, M., & Solórzano, D. (2009). Critical race theory, racial microaggressions, and campus racial climate for Latina/o undergraduates. Harvard Educational Review, 79(4), 659-691.Cristobal, Nik and Garcia, Gina A. (2022) "Race-neutrality and Race-consciousness in Students’ Sensemaking of “Servingness” at Two Hispanic Serving Institutions," Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs: Vol. 6 : Iss. 2 , Article 4.
- Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race ethnicity and education, 8(1), 69-91.
- Garcia, G. A. (2018). Decolonizing Hispanic-serving institutions: A framework for organizing. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 17(2), 132-147.
- Garcia, G. A. (2023). Transforming Hispanic-serving institutions for equity and justice. JHU Press.
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HSI Grant Resources
We invite you to reach out to the committee for HSI Grant resources by completing this Qualtrics form; we will be in touch shortly after hearing from you.
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HSI Partner Agencies & Organizations
Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities
The Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities is a voluntary association of universities that are both Hispanic-Serving Institutions as defined by Title V of the Higher Education Act and in the top 5% of universities in the United States for research as determined by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE)
The Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE) exists to support the work of the nation’s Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) as they seek to provide quality, relevant educational opportunities to large and growing numbers of underserved populations, particularly Hispanic students. All of the Alliance’s activities directly benefit practitioners and educators at HSIs through measures that involve cooperation, networking, partnerships, information-sharing, technical assistance and collaboration.
Excelencia in Education accelerates Latino student success in higher education by promoting Latino student achievement, conducting analysis to inform educational policies, and advancing institutional practices while collaborating with those committed and ready to meet the mission. Launched in 2004 in the nation’s capital, Excelencia is building a network of results-oriented educators and policymakers to address the U.S. economy’s need for a highly educated workforce and engaged civic leadership.
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) was established in 1986 with a founding membership of eighteen institutions. Because of HACU’s exemplary leadership on behalf of the nation’s youngest and fastest-growing population, the Association rapidly grew in numbers and national impact. Today, HACU represents more than 500 colleges and universities committed to Hispanic higher education success in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, Spain and U.S. school districts. Although our member institutions in the U.S. represent only 17% of all higher education institutions nationwide, together they are home to two-thirds of all Hispanic college students. HACU is the only national educational association that represents Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs).
Southern California Consortium of Hispanic Serving Institutions (SCCHSI)
The Southern California Consortium of Hispanic Serving Institutions is committed to preparing Latino students for tomorrow’s challenges through collaboration and leveraging institutional strengths and resources. We will provide a cooperative vehicle to enhance the success of member institutions in reaching their individual and collective goals.
UC – Hispanic Serving Institutions Initiative
A critical component of the UC HSI Initiative is an advisory board comprising faculty, staff and administrators from each UC campus (with the exception of UCSF). This advisory group is integral to:
Informing the mission of the initiative and how it can best serve members' campuses. Serving as a conduit to individual campuses for information about the initiative and its actions. Providing critical leadership for the work that is taking place on each campus. Helping to make outside constituents, including other public sectors in California, aware of the work. Engaging in broader national conversations related to HSIs.
- 2023-2024 Committee Members