Introduction
Despite the difficulties imposed by the pandemic, particularly in terms of holding in-person events and strategy sessions, from November 2020 to June 2021, the Hispanic Serving Institution Phase 2 Implementation Task Force took up the challenge of advancing the goals of the 2019 report, Investing in Rising Scholars and Serving the State of California: What It Means to be a Hispanic Serving Institution, produced by the original task force.
Task force members successfully transitioned from a group that issued the report to one that advanced some of its most important recommendations. Four implementation subcommittees–Recruitment, Retention and Persistence, Communications, and Grantsundertook specific projects that together embraced the report’s main themes in terms of supporting Rising Scholars, strengthening the academic pipeline, and creating a culture of belonging. The two co-Chairs oversaw the development of a “hot sheet” to help track our progress and inform everyone involved of the work that is being done. In addition, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion forged a closer relationship with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) by sponsoring the attendance of task force members to their annual conference and annual capitol forum.
The consequences of the global health crisis clearly demonstrates the urgency of this work. Although Latinx/Chicanx students have made tremendous strides in closing the college enrollment gap with their White peers over the last several decades–Hispanic student enrollment has increased from 4% in 1976 to 19% in 2017 according to the the National Center for Education Statistics–Covid-19 appears to have caused a troubling reversal of that progress. As the Chronicle of Higher Education reported recently, as a result of the families of Latinx students “disproportionately devastated by Covid-19 related sickness and job losses, the number of Latino first-time freshmen tumbled by 20 percent, according to a recent report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.” Deborah Santiago, the co-founder and CEO of Excelenia in Education, a leading organization conducting research and advocating for informed educational policies to ensure the success of Latinx college students, shared her concern with the Chronicle about the impact of the pandemic upon Latinx scholars. “It costs more to educate us. We might need more financial aid and more academic support because many are the first in our families to attend college.” That reality is one that U.C. Davis must confront and overcome if we are to realize our HSI aspirations.
Although several task force members expressed concerns regarding the impact of the budget crisis upon HSI work, the academic year concluded on a high note: the campus authorized the hiring of a full-time HSI Director.
Near the end of 2020, Chancellor May renewed his commitment to the university’s HSI aspirations by issuing a new charge letter forming the “HSI Phase 2 Implementation Task Force.” The first HSI Task Force, he explained, was created to define what success meant for a research intensive, public land-grant, Hispanic Serving Institution in California. That goal was met. Investing in Rising Scholars and Serving the State of California: What It Means to be a Hispanic Serving Institution adopted an asset-oriented view of “Rising Scholars” and presented the vision of UC Davis as a culturally responsive learning community that closes the equity gap in higher education.
Above all, the report defined the HSI initiative as one of institutional transformation. Toward that end, it outlined 54 comprehensive recommendations, grouped into four main goals and “Eleven High Priority Activities,” and articulated four key values to guide implementation.
Charged “with developing subcommittees to implement specific recommendations, particularly in regard to recruitment, retention/persistence, communications, and funding,” the two co-Chairs of the Task Force Committee, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity, Lorena Oropeza, and Chief of Staff Mark A. López, began with these recommendations, goals, and values to guide the work of the implementation task force.
A Renewed Charge
HSI Implementation Values and Goals
What is a Rising Scholar?
It is increasingly evident that minority, low-income, and first-generation students possess experiences and characteristics that make them prime candidates for what a 21st-century college student needs to be. In an increasingly diverse, urbanized world, many of these students have firsthand knowledge of the challenges faced by the majority of people…Often, driven by their own experiences, they bring a keen sensitivity and insight to issues of equity and justice, which are sorely needed at a time when seemingly intractable disparities within society are straining social and economic structures. –White, “Beyond a Deficit View
First, HSI institutional transformation is foremost an equity project. It defines advancing equity as essential to our UC Davis identity and sustainability as an institution.
Second, HSI institutional transformation means recognizing and serving “Rising Scholars.” Coined by Byron P. White, the term “rising scholars” jettisons a deficit framework in favor of an assetoriented view of all students, including minorities, low income, and first-generation.
Third, HSI institutional transformation depends upon creating a culture of belonging. The report refers to several studies that show a direct connection between students feeling socially connected, supported, and respected and retention rates.
Fourth, HSI institutional transformation is inseparable from the land-grant mission of the university to serve all of California’s residents. It recognizes the university as an engine of social mobility, particularly for first-generation college-goers, children of immigrants, and the economically disadvantaged.
The 2019 report takes a comprehensive look at what it means for UC Davis to be a Hispanic Serving Institution, how we arrived at the cusp of achieving this designation and our goals for moving into the future. It argues that as a land-grant university, UC Davis has a responsibility to offer an accessible and meaningful education to all California residents. Fulfilling the premise and promise of higher education, in turn, means providing opportunities for individuals who have been marginalized to elevate themselves, their families, and communities.
The 2019 report grouped all of its recommendations into four main goals:
GOAL 1 - Prepare and attract a broad profile of Rising Scholars to UC Davis.
GOAL 2 - Ensure that Rising Scholars have the opportunity to learn, succeed, graduate and thrive.
GOAL 3 - Fulfill our Hispanic Serving mission by elevating students to industries with critical workforce needs and by preparing and educating all students to serve a multicultural society.
GOAL 4 - Harness the University of California collective strengths as a system to transform public higher education.
Since November 2020, members of the HSI implementation task force have pursued innovation projects specifically aligned with these goals and infused with these core values.
Under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Renetta Tull, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion granted the HSI Task Force $25,000 to pursue its implementation charge. That money was matched by the creativity and persistence of task force members to engage in HSI institutional transformation despite the difficulties imposed by the pandemic.
Task force members first joined one of four implementation subcommittees: recruitment, retention and persistence, communications, and grant-funding. Members within these subcommittees then applied for $5,000-$6,000 “innovation grants” in support of specific projects. Highlights of these projects appear below. In addition, the lists of subcommittee members as well as their end-of-year reports appear as appendices to this report.
HSI Implementation Projects
Strategies to Recruit Rising Scholars
The development and implementation of interactive and engaging bilingual webinars and student ambassador events made prospective students feel that UC Davis would be a welcoming place. This approach should continue for both the recruitment and yield phases of admissions.
In 2008, the campus set as its goal to become a Hispanic Serving Institution by 2018. According to the U.S. Department of Education (ED), the campus has not yet reached that goal because it does not have 25% Latinx undergraduate enrollment. The campus has waged a two-year campaign to prompt ED to reconsider its methodology which, the campus argues, unfairly recognizes the race/ethnicity of some students but not others (see below under “Challenges”).
To move the campus closer to that 25% threshold, several members of the task force, representing Strategic Diversity Recruitment Initiatives and Transfer Programs, the School of Education, the Center for Student Involvement, and the Chicana/o Studies Department, came together in 2018 to assess culturally and linguistically relevant recruitment strategies developed by strategic recruitment initiatives and transfer programs staff [1]. Subsequent events such as the Salinas Experience, which brought admits and their families from Watsonville and Salinas to campus for Freshmen Decision Day, were a resounding success based on the number of SIRs (Student Intent to Register forms) that resulted [2].
In accord with the academic literature, this partnership aimed to foster a sense of community. Education research has shown that successful outreach to first-generation students, and for the retention of these students once they arrive on campus, is dependent upon feeling like they belong. Students who feel “socially connected, supported, and respected” gain a “greater sense of fit at school [3].”
During Covid-19 times, new strategies were needed. Members of the Recruitment Implementation Subcommittee, including Marcela Cuellar (Associate Professor, School of Education), Natalia Deeb-Sossa (Professor, Chicana/o Studies), and Joseph Martinez (Center for Student Involvement, Student Expression & Activities Coordinator), received an innovation grant to determine the effectiveness of three new yield activities that targeted Latinx admits during the pandemic. They hired a Graduate Student Researcher, Mayra Nuñez Martinez, to study these three events:
1) a phone-banking effort in which student ambassadors, after receiving specialized training, called admits to congratulate them, to offer answers to their questions when possible, and to encourage them to attend Aggie Experience Live Events (Zoom webinars that covered various topics including housing, meals, deadlines, and classes).
2) a bilingual webinar for students and their families over Zoom with 135 registrants and their families participating.
3) two virtual meet-and-greet events, called Diversity Inclusion Networking Events (DINE), to foster student-to-student connections, one for freshmen and the second for transfers. Three-hundred and eighty-five admits took the opportunity to meet via a virtual platform campus groups that included ethnic/cultural/identity-based organizations as well as arts/performance, academic/professional, advocacy/community service ones, and “Ask an Aggie.”
In each case, an emphasis on cultural and linguistic relevance enhanced outreach efforts. A subset of student ambassadors proficient in Spanish, for example, decided to switch to that language in order to address the concerns of the families of students, who worriedaccording to the collected interviews—about their child moving far away from their home, about who their professors would be, and about students' health and well-being.
The bilingual seminar meanwhile offered an overview regarding deadlines, course requirements, and financial matters, twice, once in English and once in Spanish. One fortuitous consequence, this format featured a built-in review for most audience members. In addition, the staff and a guest speaker that participated in the webinar shared in Spanish their personal experiences navigating college as first-generation students with the participants. They stressed the importance of community and support available for Latinx students on campus, an important consideration for students and parents alike.
Interviews with DINE attendees made clear that they thought that UC Davis had taken a step beyond its sister UCs in terms of making new students feel welcome and to reassure them that UC Davis was a place where they could flourish. In fact, UCD shone brightly compared to other UCs. In a follow-up interview, one transfer student explained that one had not reached out after Mural project on the back wall of the Woodland High School's theater building. The project was directed by Artist, hearing about this student’s and Professor, Malaquias Montoya, and completed by UC Davis Art Studio students. admission and another only had pre-recorded videos that were not engaging or interactive. While a third did provide a conference to connect with faculty, the student thought it felt like a one-sided conversation.
Of the 54 participants who completed a post-DINE survey, 96% “strongly agreed” or “agreed” they were able to engage with current students in a meaningful way. Despite the obstacles posed by the inability to meet in person, 89% of the respondents also “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that after the event they could find a sense of community at UC Davis.
Based on the data, members of the task force believe that these type of innovative and culturally and linguistically relevant strategies provide the key for meeting the 25% Latinx enrollment threshold that would make UC Davis a federally designated HSI according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Recovering the Past to Forge Belonging
Undergraduates in CHI-141: Community-Based Participatory Research conducted oral interviews with UC Davis alumni, staff, and faculty to document the efforts of the “pioneros” that brought UC Davis within reach of our HSI aspirations. Documenting this history will give our Latinx/Chicanx students a sense of belonging as they see themselves as part of a larger struggle and legacy.
During spring quarter 2021, Natalia Deeb-Sossa (Professor, Chicana/o Studies) and Lina Mendez (Associate Director, Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success), trained 18 students in Deeb-Sossa’s undergraduate course, CHI 141—Community-Based Participatory Research, on oral history methodology, including best practices, ethics training, and technology tools. Members of the communications subcommittee conceived of using this course to start capturing the Latinx experience at UC Davis.
The 2019 HSI Task Force Report mandated just such historical discovery. The authors of the 2019 report made clear that their vision of HSI institutional transformation built upon the contributions of those they called “pioneros,” Latinx students, staff, and administrators, who have advocated for inclusion over the preceding decades. As one of its “Eleven High Priority Action Items,” the report challenged the campus community to “document and acknowledge our journey to HSI status and to tell the stories of our students, staff, faculty, and community members.”
The students in CHI 141 met that challenge by interviewing three different groups on campus. The first group conducted oral history interviews with the primary goal to record the dates, key moments, and stories from Latinx alumni and holders of institutional knowledge of UC Davis. A total of 14 interviews and transcriptions were conducted with these UC Davis alumni, staff, and faculty: Sam Blanco, Cirilo Cortez, Mayra Llamas, Lina Mendez, Manuel Barajas, Griselda Castro, Joaquin Galvan, Caroline Cabias, Taty Aguilera, Blas Guerrero, Patricia Gandara, Gloria Rodriguez, Maria Saldana, and Julie Lopez Figueroa.
The students also conducted 14 oral history interviews of the AB540 and Undocumented Student Center founders, scholars, and affiliates to provide a rich historical record of their existence as the first center of its kind in the nation. Additionally, students conducted 19 oral history interviews with local farmworkers to understand their experiences during the pandemic.
On a strictly pedagogical level, the students gained skills in networking, outreach, research and will help with the analysis of the transcripts. Not only did these students have the ability and opportunity to gain valuable mentorship but they also learned how to utilize their networks.
On an emotional level, the students gained a powerful sense of belonging on campus because they saw themselves as part of a larger struggle as a result of learning about people who had endured and overcome circumstances that were often completely unfamiliar with them. Because the student population is constantly changing, many learned for the first time of the pepper-spray incident, and of incidents of racism at fraternities, and how alone and isolated students in years past have felt.
These empowered students, moreover, shared that their participation and engagement in this research project inspired them to learn other forms of research methodologies that are more aligned with their culture and interests. Many met with campus librarian Robert Delgadillo to continue their scholarly journey as researchers and to match events mentioned during the oral history interviews with relevant primary sources.
Elevating the Work and Urgency of HSI Institutional Transformation
A team of communicators from across campus collaborated on a comprehensive and coherent three-year plan to help the campus community understand the meaning and benefits of our HSI aspirations. This plan will facilitate more engagement with the campus through social media, answer questions about our progress to becoming an HSI, and contribute to an inclusive climate and culture by amplifying the histories and ideas of Latinx/Chicanx voices on campus.
The 2019 HSI Task Force Report was itself a major vehicle of communication. It catalogued on-going efforts across campus, envisioned what the future might hold as a Research 1 HSI, and articulated important values and recommendations to guide institutional transformation. Two years later, it remains one of the most detailed and comprehensive HSI documents ever issued by a UC campus and serves as a model for institutions of higher learning across the nation as they explore their identity as an HSI or emerging HSI.
The major task before the communications subcommittee is to ensure that the vision of HSI institutional transformation championed by the report remains vigorous and progress toward that change is noted. Toward that end, members of the communications subcommittee spent the months since November drafting a three-year communications plan that builds on and enhances existing campus endeavors including several high-quality news articles from the university’s Strategic Communications office. In addition, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s website has a number of pages devoted to the 2019 report : one provides a comprehensive list of organizations and units on campus responsible for much of UC Davis’ progress in serving Rising Scholars and becoming an HSI; another collects thoughts from members of the original task force, students, staff, faculty, and community members regarding the future of UC Davis as HSI; and a third that links to HSI-related resources beyond campus (Links here: Pioneros, Testimonios, and Resources.)
Like the other subcommittees, the communications subcommittee brought together experts on this particular topic, including Molly Bechtel, the Assistant Director of Communications and Culture, College of Engineering and the Chair of the Staff Assembly; Caroline Cabias, Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association (CLAA); Christopher Macias, a speechwriter in Strategic Communications; Jeanette B. Ruiz, an Assistant Professor of Teaching in Communications; and Tom O’Donnell, a policy analyst in the Office of Academic Diversity.
The subcommittee first developed a communications vision. What did the campus and stakeholders beyond the campus need to know about UC Davis’s committment to become not only a federally-designated Hispanic Serving Institution but a truly Hispanic Thriving Institution? How might they become engaged in this process and understand its relevance for them? With these questions in mind, the subcommittee developed the following communication vision:
- Keep our campus and surrounding community informed about the progress toward our HSI designation
- Raise the profile and significance of UC Davis HSI efforts
- Contribute to a UC-wide inclusive climate and culture through amplifying and archiving the histories, voices, and ideas of our Latinx students, staff, faculty, alumni, and surrounding community members (the student interviews in CHI-141 represented Phase 1 of this objective)
- Educate and inspire the UC Davis community to help realize the vision imagined in the 2019 HSI Task Force Report
Subcommittee members also quickly determined that the current state of UC Davis’ HSI initiative on-line, while informative, leaves tremendous room for improvement. Not particularly engaging, it lacks clear messaging and intentionality, has little-to-no social media presence, and is not measured for reach or effectiveness. In response, the subcommittee, in consultation with other task force members, drafted a communication plan that centers clear and intentional messaging to reach defined audiences; aims to disseminate strategically planned content through appropriate and diverse media channels in collaboration with our campus and community partners; and intends to regularly analyze its messaging for effectiveness via available metrics.
Additionally, the plan outlined an ambitious set of goals for the next academic year.
Raise awareness about what it means to be an R1 HSI, especially to highlight the opportunities and benefits of becoming a HSI and dispel misperceptions about what it means to be a HSI Collect and promote personal stories (" testimonios" ) related to the future of UC Davis as a HSI Build and deploy creative storytelling formats to engage our community and national audiences with the impact and value of our HSI aspirations Identify “milestones" to anchor the communication strategy through multiple and ongoing communication campaigns; record and promote historical moments in UC Davis' journey to HSI (recognition of the twentieth anniversary of AB540, for example, will begin to roll out in the fall 2021) Foster a strong community of HSI supporters who are engaged and sharing on social media and other communication channels Coach and empower HSI communicators to amplify our messaging (because funding is limited for traditional communication campaigns, we must rely on campus and community members to help share and amplify our messaging rather than boosting our messaging through paid communications)
Indeed, precisely because funding is limited, part of the work of the communication teams is to bring attention to the existing campus entities that already support HSI institutional transformation. In addition, to the AB540 and Undocumented Student Center and the Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success, the Student Farm has contributed to creating a culture of belonging for Latinx undergraduates.
Finding Common Ground at the Student Farm
Staff and students of the Student Farm helped produce a bilingual video about the Farm that honors its history and the experiential learning opportunities it provides students today. The video is designed to foster a sense of belonging for our Latinx/Chicanx students by recognizing their cultural roots and the land-based knowledge shared by many.
Emerging from the retention and persistence subcommittee, this project brought together UC Davis’ land-grant mission, and its agricultural history with the desire to make the campus a more welcoming place for Latinx students.
Specifically, this project strengthened outreach to Latinx students through the production of a five-minute bilingual video about the 23-acre Student Farm. The Student Farm honors both UC Davis’s origins in 1908 as the University Farm of UC Berkeley, and its land-grant mission, to serve the state of California through teaching and research. Today, it provides multifaceted experiential learning for undergraduates. The video employed the talents of Hector Amezcua (videographer, communications, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences) to reach out to Latinx undergraduates by recognizing their cultural roots and the land-based knowledge shared by many.
Currently in post-production, the video captured interview footage of Natalia Deeb-Sossa (Professor, Chicana/o Studies); Melissa Moreno, (Professor, Ethnic Studies, Woodland Community College); Carol Hillhouse (Director, Student Farm, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences); and Katharina Ullmann, (Director, Student Farm), as well as that of two students–Yissel Martinez and Franklin Cartagena–who were interviewed in mid-June to speak about their experiences at the Student Farm and their interest in agriculture careers more generally.
This project recognized that achieving federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution is void of meaning without sustained efforts made on behalf of serving those enrolled at UC Davis and preventing the hard work of recruiting them from becoming lost through attrition.
Challenges
Following verification of the final enrollment numbers for the 2020-21 academic year, we remained short of achieving the necessary enrollment threshold to be designated a HSI by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The first challenge confronting the campus in terms of HSI institutional transformation is the elusive nature of official HSI status because, minus this EDapproved designation, the ability to apply for HSItargeted funding, which stands to benefit all Rising Scholars regardless of race or ethnicity, is severely limited.
Ironically, the sustained and admirable outreach by UC Davis to students from Spanish-speaking origins domestically and across the globe actually undercuts our ability to reach the 25% Latinx undergraduate enrollment threshold as determined by the Department of Education. When the race/ethnicity of all domestic students, regardless of citizenship is counted, UC Davis reached more than 25% Latinx enrollment in 2017. ED methodology, however, disallows international students from being counted as Latinx and undocumented students from being counted at all. When international student students contribute to the overall campus population but not all Latinx undergraduates contribute to Latinx enrollment, the result (larger denominator, smaller numerator) is disappointing. According to ED’s calculations, the Davis campus had 23.2% Latinx enrollment in 2019 and 24.1% in 2020. The figures for 2021 are still unknown.
Nevertheless, given its size and location, UC Davis already enrolls more Latinx students than nearly 90% of formally-designated HSIs. Task force members recognize, moreover, that the campus commitment toward true HSI institutional transformation must continue apart from any particular percentage. Ensuring that UC Davis as a campus provides the resources to ensure the academic success of Rising Scholars is the second challenge articulated by task force members.
A quick calculation reveals that UC Davis already spends close to $4.5 million on non-DEI campus endeavors that support the goal of HSI institutional transformation in whole or in part. The sum tallies the budget of Chicana/Chicano Studies, TANA (Taller Arte de Nuevo Amanecer), the AB540 and Undocumented Student Center, the Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success, the Center for Educational Effectiveness, and the Student Farm.
The concern articulated by several task force members is whether this funding has kept pace with increasing need. In recent years, the “Introduction to Chicana/o Studies” course typically enrolls as many as 400 students whereas a 2004 version of this course enrolled 150 [4]. The AB540 and Undocumented Student Center has the same number of full-time staff (2) as 6 years ago while the number of undocumented students at UC Davis – who are predominantly Latinx – has nearly quadrupled in the same window of time. In addition, members of the task force worry that vacant staff positions on campus, particularly positions that include community outreach that they consider critical in advancing HSI institutional transformation, have not and may not be replaced. Compounding these concerns is the fact that the 2019 report lists its “Eleven High Priority Items” as action items for 2020. That the 2021 task force made progress on most of them (see “HSI Hot Sheet” in the appendix), does not dispel concerns regarding stagnation.
Ultimately, all of these concerns might be alleviated by dramatically increasing funding, which is exactly what the 2019 report advocated. Yet this scenario seems unlikely given the campus budget situation in the wake of the pandemic. Across campus, positions are not being filled and almost none are being added. One position that was added, however, was that of a new HSI Director.
Triumphs
In a year beset by a pandemic, these triumphs are particularly sweet:
HSI Director
In mid-July, the application period for our new HSI Director will close and task force members will move one step closer to hiring an experienced and visionary leader to help realize HSI institutional transformation. The HSI Director will connect individual efforts and elevate what is happening across campus to magnify those efforts such that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We believe, in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, that the goals of our work should be embedded in every unit across campus, and we maintain a similar expectation for our HSI aspirations.
Creativity and persistence of task force members
Task force members are deeply committed to UC Davis becoming a first-class R1 HSI that serves Rising Scholars. They are intimately familiar with the workings of this university and they have remained unwavering for what is now three years of task force service. Their tenacity and creativity has kept the HSI initiative moving forward and benefited the campus overall.
HACU as a resource
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion played an instrumental role in forging a closer relationship to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the organization that originated the idea of Hispanic Serving Institutions as a means of advancing educational equity. DEI paid for 50 attendees, most of them task force members, to participate in the organization’s virtual national conference in October that was organized across several key categories from grants and fundraising opportunities to how to further academic success for Hispanic students. Attendees heard the latest research on these topics and learned of best practices at other HSIs and emerging HSIs. In addition, in April 2021, members of the task force met with congressional representatives during HACU’s Capitol Forum. These relationships are critical as the campus keeps exploring ways to prompt the Department of Education to recognize UC Davis as a HSI.
Non-Department of Education grants
Absent the Department of Education formally designating UC Davis an HSI, the campus nevertheless secured three other HSI-related funding opportunities, two from the federal government, and one from the UC Office of the President (UCOP).
In 2020, UC Davis Professor Karen McDonald (Chemical Engineering) and Dr. Denneal Jamison-McClung (Biotechnology Program Director) became PIs on a UC-HSI Doctoral Diversity Initiative grant, “ Advancing Diversity by Educating the Professors of Tomorrow ” (ADEPT) to build an academic pipeline from Sacramento State University to UC Davis for students interested in biotechnology and related STEM fields. To encourage pathways to the professoriate, the UC-HSI-DDI program allows UC campuses that are not yet formally HSIs to partner with California State University campuses that are. In this case, the grant funded the establishment of a broad multi-campus mentor network between the two campuses, summer research awards and job shadows, monthly workshops during the academic year and an annual ADEPT Leadership Workshop & Symposium.
In 2020, Dr. Damon Tull of the Graduate School of Management received National Science Foundation (NSF) funding for a HSI “Strategic Innovation Summit for Advanced Research and Instruction in Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Information Sciences.” On June 21, 2021, in the first installment of this video summit series, Dr. Tull hosted a one-day Zoom conference that convened computing faculty, including UC Davis mathematics professor Naoki Saito, and institutional leaders to exchange ideas and foster partnerships across three areas: curriculum, research, and broadening participation. A similar summit on Quantum Science will occur later this summer. The purpose of both is to enhance HSI participation in the latest AI and QIS initiatives.
In 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) established a $75,000 fund with the Student Farm at UC Davis to advertise career opportunities with the NRCS and recruit students for their Hispanic Workforce Development Program. Through workshops and field trips (pre-Covid), and zoom seminars (during the pandemic), a group of students learned about job opportunities at the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Conclusion
With the worst of the pandemic, we all hope, behind us, the members of the Implementation Task Force look forward to an ambitious and productive year, starting this summer.
Seeking funding from non-ED sources remains a priority. A number of grant funding agencies and calls for proposal align with the goal of HSI institutional transformation. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, an agency that task force member Josephine Moreno (Graduate Studies) has built a decades-long relationship with through her work including the Alliance for Multi-campus, Inclusive Graduate Admissions (AMIGA) grant, is looking for proposals that center social justice.
UC-wide, conversations among members of the UC HSI advisory board and the Chicanx/Latinx Advisory Council to the UC Office of the President (CLAC) continue about how to leverage a ten-campus system to move forward on HSI institutional transformation at each campus. Closer to home, on-going discussions between the Office of Academic Diversity and local stakeholders center on the possibility of forging regional partnerships with nearby HSIs, including community colleges, as well as local K-12 districts, to strengthen and lengthen the academic pipeline.
The task of HSI institutional transformation also raises questions regarding next steps. Campus task force members are heavily weighted toward the Social Sciences and Humanities. How might this task of HSI institutional transformation converge with STEM disciplines? Any HSI initiative, by definition, is geared toward serving undergraduates. But if UC Davis wants to be a R1 HSI, how might the initiative expand to include graduate students and a greater focus on research in all fields? Add in grant-seeking, relationship-building with regional and national partners, and the numerous goals articulated in the 2019 report that remain unmet, the new HSI Director will face a long list of “to-dos.” The first task will be to decide, in consultation with task force members, what items to prioritize given budget constraints.
We must position UC Davis as a leader among the very few but growing number of R1 HSI universities. UC Davis plays a vital role as an engine of social mobility, educating first-generation college-goers, children of immigrants and the economically disadvantaged. In moving beyond access, our HSI aspirations will enable Rising Scholars to tap into the college-going experience and professional networks that often accompany social mobility, while bringing into those environments their own personal and cultural assets that will move society forward through real cultural and social integration.
End Notes
- Natalia Deeb-Sossa email to Lorena Oropeza, June 17, 2021.
- Investing in Rising Scholars and Serving the State of California: What It Means to be a Hispanic Serving Institution, 72.
- Romero, C. (2015, July). “What we know about belonging from scientific research.” Mindset Scholars Network.
- Miroslava Chávez Garcia e-mail communication with Lorena Oropeza, July 9, 2021.
HSI IMPLEMENTATION TASK FORCE
Neptaly “Taty” Aguilera Chair of Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association UC Davis CAAA Board of Directors
Cathy Rodriguez Aguirre President and CEO Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Ignacio Alarcón Assistant Director AB540 and Undocumented Student Center
Raquel Aldana Professor of Law
Edwin Arevelo Executive Director Academic Senate
Sheri Atkinson Associate Vice Chancellor Student Life, Campus Community & Retention Services
Jose M. Ballesteros Director UC Davis McNair Scholars Program
Molly Bechtel Assistant Director of Communications and Culture College of Engineering Chair, Staff Assembly
Caroline Cabias Chicanx Latinx Alumni Association Trustee, UC Davis Foundation Board
Vincent Cardenas Residential Academic Specialist
Laura Cerruti Analyst Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Lillian Cruz-Orengo Assistant Professor Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology School of Veterinary Medicine
Marcela Cuellar Associate Professor School of Education
Natalia Deeb Sossa Professor Chicana/o Studies Department
Efren Diaz Undergraduate Alumni Chicana/o Studies, Gender, Sexuality Women’s Studies
Nancy Galindo Undergraduate Initiatives Program Coordinator UC Davis Health
Leticia Garay Ex officio chair of the Latino Staff and Faculty Association
Alicia Garcia Graduate Student School of Education
Jorge Garcia Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor
Laura Bohórquez García Director AB540 and Undocumented Student Center
Maria-Cecilia Gomez Education Specialist Center for Educational Effectiveness
Blas Guerrero Director Strategic Diversity Recruitment Initiatives and Transfers Programs
Don Hunt Associate Vice Chancellor Enrollment Management
Kevin Johnson Dean School of Law
Kristin Lagattuta Professor, Psychology Faculty Advisor to the Provost on Closing Student Opportunity Gaps
Vanessa Madrigal Lauchland Ph.D. Candidate History
Mayra Llamas Executive Director of the Community Resource and Retention Centers Student Affairs
Mark A. López Chief of Staff to Vice Chancellor Tull
Christopher Macias Speechwriter Strategic Communications
Sergio Maravilla Undergraduate Student Community and Regional Development and Sociocultural Anthropology
Alma Martinez Student Affairs Officer Chicana/o Studies
Joe Martinez Student Expression and Campus Activities Coordinator Center for Student Involvement
Lina Mendez Vice-Chair for the Staff Diversity Administrative Advisory Committee
Josephine Moreno Graduate Diversity Officer HASS
Lorena Oropeza Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity Professor of History
Lily Ploski Director Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success
Daniel Potter Chair UC Academic Senate's University Committee on Educational Policy
Melisa Price Community Engaged Research Specialist Clinical and Translational Science Center
Rahim Reed Associate Executive Vice Chancellor Campus Community Relations
Pablo Reguerín Vice Chancellor Student Affairs
Elizabeth Rice Associate Dean for Student and Faculty Success Clinical Professor
Timo Rico Executive Director Center for Student Affairs Assessment
Susan Rivera Professor and Chair Psychology
Jeanette B. Ruiz Assistant Professor of Teaching Communication
Katheryn Russ Associate Professor Economics
Hendry Ton Associate Vice Chancellor Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Renetta Garrison Tull Vice Chancellor Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Rogelio Villagrana Director Early Academic Outreach Program
RECRUITMENT
Neptaly Aguilera Board of Directors Davis-Cal Aggie Alumni Association UC Chicano Latino Alumni Association
Lilly Cruz-Orengo Assistant Professor Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology School of Veterinary Medicine
Marcela Cuellar Associate Professor School of Education
Natalia Deeb-Sossa Professor Chicano/a Studies
Rosa Deniz Executive Analyst Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Blas Guerrero Director Strategic Diversity Recruitment Initiatives and Transfer Programs
Joe Martinez Student Expression and Campus Activities Coordinator Center for Student Involvement
Melisa Price Community Engaged Research Specialist Clinical and Translational Science Center
RETENTION AND PERSISTENCE
Sheri Atkinson Associate Vice Chancellor Student Life, Campus Community and Retention Services
Vincent Cardenas Residential Academic Specialist Student Housing
Efren Diaz Alumni Chicana/o Studies, Gender and Sexuality and Women’s Studies
Nancy Galindo Undergraduate Initiatives Program Coordinator Office of Student and Resident Diversity, School of Medicine
Alicia Garcia Ph.D. Candidate School of Education
Jorge A. Garcia Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor
Laura Bohórquez García Director AB540 and Undocumented Student Center
Maria-Cecilia Gomez Education Specialist Center for Educational Effectiveness
Kristin Lagattuta Faculty Advisor to the Provost on Closing Student Achievement Gaps Professor, Psychology
Mayra Llamas Executive Director of the Community Resource and Retention Centers, Student Affairs
Sergio Maravilla Undergraduate Community and Regional Development; President, Chicanx Latinx Collegiate Association
Alma Martinez Student Affairs Officer Chicano Studies Department
Lina Mendez, Associate Director Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success; Vice-Chair for the Staff Diversity Administrative Advisory Committee
Lily Plotski Director Center Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success
Daniel Potter Chair Undergraduate Council of the Academic Senate
Timo Rico Executive Director Student Affairs Assessment, Budget and Institutional Analysis
Susan Rivera Professor and Chair Psychology
Katheryn Russ Associate Professor Economics
Rogelio Villagrana Director Early Academic Outreach Program
COMMUNICATIONS
Molly Bechtel Assistant Director Communications and Culture, College of Engineering Chair, Staff Assembly
Caroline Cabias Chicano Latino Alumni Association Trustee, UC Davis Foundation Board
Rosa Deniz Executive Analyst Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Christopher Macias Speechwriter Strategic Communications
Vanessa Madrigal Lauchland Ph.D. Candidate History
Lina Mendez Associate Director Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success Vice-Chair for the Staff Diversity Administrative Advisory Committee
Tom O'Donnell Analyst Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Lorena Oropeza Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity Professor, History
Jeanette B. Ruiz Assistant Professor of Teaching Communication
Lina Mendez Associate Director Center for Chicanx and Latinx Academic Student Success Vice-Chair for the Staff Diversity Administrative Advisory Committee
GRANT WRITING
Ignacio Alarcón Assistant Director AB540 and Undocumented Student Center
Jose M. Ballesteros Director McNair Scholars Program
Sophie J. Barbu Assistant Director ADVANCE, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Lilly Cruz-Orengo Assistant Professor Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology School of Veterinary Medicine
Mark A. López Chief of Staff Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Josephine Moreno Graduate Diversity Officer Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and Education Graduate Studies
Lorena Oropeza Association Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity Professor, History
Pablo Reguerin Vice Chancellor Student Affairs