Abstract: The changing demographics of higher education have led to an increase in the number and type of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). As research universities continue to see a rise in the enrollment of Latino/a students, a better understanding of the implications of this change within the existing institutional context will be essential to best serve this growing community of students. We position our study within a tradition of organizational culture theory that points to the importance of organizational actors’ interpretations, perspectives, and actions in order to understand an organization’s general behavior and change. By acknowledging the importance of graduate students within research universities, we focus on their perspectives at an Emerging Hispanic-Serving Research Institution (HSRI) and ask, “What are the organizational culture implications of an HSI designation for a research university?” Our analysis revealed four important themes: communicating institutional pride as an HSRI, engaging the benefits of an HSRI, operationalizing a serving mission, and involving graduate students as institutional actors at HSRIs. Institutional recommendations that follow from our findings include providing clear communication regarding HSI status, objectives, and commitment; assessing the campus climate; and increasing graduate student involvement as key leaders within HSRIs.

Abstract: While Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) enroll at least 25% Latinx students, the perennial question facing HSIs is, “What does it mean for postsecondary institutions to be Latinx-serving”—essentially an organizational identity question. Guided by the extant literature on organizational identity, culture, and institutionalism and using an in-depth case study of a federally designated, four-year HSI, this study focused on the way members construct an organizational identity for serving Latinxs. Findings suggest that while members constructed an ideal Latinx-serving identity based on legitimized outcomes (i.e., graduation), they constructed their current identity from environmental cues about cultural practices. Using two theoretical lenses, I present a typology that considers outcomes and culture in a Latinx-serving identity. Future research should explore the construction of a Latinx-serving identity in a nuanced way.

Abstract: Broadening participation in computer science for women and underrepresented minority students remains an area of concern for many colleges and universities. Yet, little is known about the role of department chairs in initiating and leading efforts to recruit and retain women and students of color. Interviews with 15 department chairs participating in a nationwide effort to diversify computer science provide greater understanding about the change process and reveal insights about the barriers to and challenges in broadening participation. The findings illuminate the ways that department chairs grapple with both internal and external factors that impact their ability to diversify their departments.

Abstract: Historically, the predominant narrative framing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) is that they are monolithic and underperforming, inscribed in a false dichotomy as “Hispanic-Serving” or merely “Hispanic-Enrolling” (Núñez, Hurtado, & Calderón Galdeano, 2015). Together, these narrative threads weave a deficit perspective on HSIs that manifests itself too often, either implicitly or explicitly, when HSIs are addressed in research, policy, and practice. Unfortunately, such tendencies can result in unintended negative consequences for HSIs, including reduced institutional resources if inappropriate evaluations of institutional performance are conducted for performance funding purposes (Núñez, 2014; Núñez & Rodríguez, in press; Webber & Ehrenberg, 2009). Reflecting on her experiences in HSIs, the author argues to advance an “HSI positionality” that centers HSIs’ realities, rather than externally imposed frames, as a central departure point to infuse future research, policy, and practice concerning HSIs. This move can mitigate the “epistemic injustice” (Frank, 2013) that traditionally has characterized the description and recognition of HSIs through deficit perspectives that do not fully recognize the contexts and contributions of HSIs. In this article, she suggests on how to build dispositions to conduct equity-oriented research on HSIs: (1) outlines the importance of mitigating epistemic injustice, by advancing a more socially just, holistic, and informed way of understanding HSIs; (2) discusses the importance of distinguishing between methodology and methods in higher education research, calling on researchers to employ a “transformative paradigm” (Hurtado, 2015; Mertens, 2009) in studying HSIs (Núñez, Hurtado, & Calderón Galdeano, 2015); (3) she delineates how three components of a transformative paradigm–epistemology, ontology, and axiology–can constitute an “HSI positionality” that can shape the last component of a transformative paradigm-methodology–to be more inclusive of the perspectives of HSIs and the personnel in them; and (4) in order to empower HSIs from the HSI positionality and the transformative paradigm, she addresses how researchers can partner with faculty and staff at HSIs to flip the narrative around HSIs.

Abstract: As institutions not founded to “serve” Latina/o students, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) are criticized for solely being “Hispanic-enrolling,” with access and graduation rates being hypothesized as indicators of an organizational identity for HSIs. Drawing from a case study with 88 participants, the purpose of this investigation was to complicate what it means to be Latina/o-serving by listening to the way students, faculty, and administrators at a four-year HSI construct their Latina/o-serving identity. Findings show that members made sense of their organizational identity through an expression of values and processes for sustaining and enhancing the culture and education of Latina/o students.

Abstract: Less than 20% of undergraduates earning a degree in engineering are women, and even more alarming is minority women earn a mere 3.1% of those degrees. This paper reports on a qualitative study examining Latinas’ identity development toward and in undergraduate engineering and computer science studies using a sociocultural theory of learning. Three major themes emerged from the data analysis: 1) Engineering support clusters as affinity spaces contributing to development of engineering identities; 2) Mexican or Mexican-American family contributing to persistence in engineering; and 3) Equity in access to engineering education. Engineering support clusters and Mexican heritage family support were vital in developing and sustaining Latinas’ engineering identity. Additionally, data supported the idea that Latinas at the research site experienced gender and ethnic equity in their access to engineering education. The authors call for a more gender-inclusive engineering education and situating education experiences in more effective learning approaches (i.e., critical thinking in community and cultural contexts), which deserves attention in order to move engineering away from a ubiquitous view of inflexibility regarding women in engineering.