Anne Marie Nuñez

Latino Access to Community Colleges and Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A National Study.

This article examines the factors that affect Latinos’ enrollment in community colleges that are Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs). Compared with community colleges that are not HSIs, HSI community colleges are serving students at greater risk for not completing college. Latinos who are enrolled in community college HSIs, compared with their counterparts not in HSIs, are more likely to be first-generation college-going, male, and older. They also have higher high school grade point averages and higher educational expectations. Este artículo examina los factores que afectan la inscripción de estudiantes latinos en colegios comunitarios preparatorios que son instituciones de servicio hispano (HIS). Analizamos una muestra nacional de estudiantes universitarios de primera generación, y de primer año, para explorar el fondo demográfico, características académicas, consideraciones para elegir universidad, y los contextos locales asociados con las inscripciones en los colegios comunitarios preparatorios que son HSIs. HSIs colegios comunitarios preparatorios parecen inscribir estudiantes con expectativas educacionales superiores pero también con alto riesgo de salirse del colegio.

Employing Multilevel Intersectionality in Educational Research: Latino Identities, Contexts, and College Access

The theoretical framework of intersectionality shows much promise in exploring how multiple social identities and their relationships with interlocking systems of power influence educational equity, particularly for historically underserved groups in education. Yet, social scientists have critiqued this framework for not adequately specifying how these dimensions shape life opportunities. This essay draws on the work of sociologist Floya Anthias to advance a conceptual model of intersectionality for educational research. This model addresses how different levels of analysis, types of practices, and relationships between social categories separately or together affect educational opportunities. To illustrate the model’s utility in research, policy, and practice, I apply this model to understand contextual influences on Latino im/migrant students’ college access.

Building a Multicontextual Model of Latino College Enrollment: Student, School, and State-Level Effects

Latinos’ college enrollment rates, particularly in four-year institutions, have not kept pace with their population growth in the United States. Using three-level hierarchical generalized linear modeling, this study analyzes data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS) to examine the influence of high school and state contexts, in addition to student characteristics, on Latino students’ enrollment in four-year institutions. Results suggest that academic preparation, navigation of financial aid, levels of school resources, and teacher quality are among the important areas to target to promote Latino four-year college enrollment.

Organizational Collaboration to Promote College Access: A P-20 Framework:

P-20 collaboration between the P-12 and higher education sectors has been increasing in recent years as a strategy to promote college access, particularly among underrepresented students.This article provides an overview of the current state of P-20 scholarship and practice in the field, offers an approach to conceptualizing the study and practice of P-20 collaboration, suggests strategies for refining research and practice in the field, and offers directions for future inquiry. Colaboración Preescolar-escuela de graduados (20) entre Preescolar-Preparatoria (12) y los sectores de educación superior ha ido incrementando en años recientes como estrategia para promover acceso universitario, particularmente entre estudiantes de baja representación. Este artículo provee una sinopsis del estado actual de investigación y práctica en el área de Preescolar-escuela de graduados; ofrece una forma de conceptualizar el estudio y práctica de colaboración Preescolar-escuela de graduados; sugiere estrategias para refinar la investigación y práctica en el área; y ofrece direcciones para la investigación futura.

Exploring What Leads High School Students to Enroll in Hispanic-Serving Institutions A Multilevel Analysis

This study examined the student and high school contextual factors associated with high school students’ enrollment in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). The authors drew on a conceptual framework of college choice involving the concepts of multiple capitals and individual and organizational habitus to examine the postsecondary trajectories of high school graduates using the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002/06. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors analyzed two separate models. One model predicted enrollment in an HSI within the 2-year sector and one within the 4-year sector. Distinct predictors of HSI versus non-HSI enrollment were found, particularly for the 4-year sector. This study suggests that in both sectors, high school contexts had a significant effect of channeling students toward HSIs.

Understanding the Racial Transfer Gap: Modeling Underrepresented Minority and Nonminority Students' Pathways from Two-to Four-Year Institutions

This study models student- and institutional-level factors that influence vertical transfer among a national sample of White and underrepresented minority (URM) community college students. Results indicate that the predictors of transfer are different in many ways for White and URM students. Most notably, findings suggest that enrolling in vocational programs may hinder students’ odds of vertical transfer for URM (but not White) students. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

Advancing an Intersectionality Framework in Higher Education: Power and Latino Postsecondary Opportunity

This chapter proposes a multilevel model of intersectionality to apply to the study of higher education. Drawing on literature from multiple disciplines to develop a model, the author examines Latinos’ experiences and outcomes in higher education as a special case to illustrate how the model can be applied to higher education research that seeks to address power dynamics that reproduce inequality or enhance educational equity.

Latin@ advocacy in the hyphen: Faculty identity and commitment in a hispanic-serving institution

This study examines our experiences as female junior scholars with multicultural backgrounds teaching at the same Hispanic‐serving institution. As education scholars with mixed‐heritage families, we identify with the commitment to serving Latinos and the number of mixed‐heritage people in the USA. The election of Barack Obama, whose racial background is both black and white, to the US presidency signifies the emergence of mixed‐heritage people as a demographic presence in this country. Our research suggests that more understanding is needed about the experiences of mixed‐heritage faculty in academia, as well as the ways in which faculty from any background may develop multiple affiliations with cultural communities and pursue professional agendas related to communities that they do not neatly fit into. Despite this variation in backgrounds and research agendas, we share our efforts in advancing Latin@ educational attainment.

Mapping Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A Typology of Institutional Diversity

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), institutions that enroll at least 25% Hispanic students, are institutionally diverse, including a much wider array of institutional types than other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Furthermore, they have distinctive institutional characteristics from those typically emphasized in institutional typologies such as the Carnegie classification system. To understand better the heterogeneity among HSIs based on their unique institutional qualities, we constructed a conceptual model based on existing theoretical frameworks and empirical research to describe and differentiate among HSIs. Using cluster analysis to examine a population of U.S. mainland and Puerto Rican 2-year and 4-year HSIs in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we identified six types of HSIs. This typology helps to place HSIs within the broader landscape of U.S. higher education institutions, provides a foundation for understanding institutional diversity among HSIs, and offers insights about classifying other MSIs and broad access institutions. In an era of increasing accountability, it also provides a tool to identify peer institutions for HSIs, to inform decisions about the extent to which practices at certain HSIs might be applicable to other institutions, and to compare the performance across institutions in more contextually appropriate ways.

Chapter 8 Advocacy in the Hyphen: Perspectives from Latina Junior Faculty at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

In this chapter, we explore how our backgrounds as mixed-heritage Latinas influence our work as junior faculty members at a four-year public Hispanic-serving institution (HSI). Drawing on the conceptual lens of intersectionality, we address the question: how do our multiple social identities affect our identity development and socialization as faculty members? As part of a critical mass of junior Latina scholars studying educational issues pertinent to the Latina community, we build a sense of community in what can be an isolated environment for women faculty of color. Using our own examples, we examine how two faculty members who might be considered “outsiders within” the Latina/o community draw on their Latinidad as a source of strength to employ their academic work in advancing social justice for Latina/os. Our identities have influenced us to take into account multiple social categories and social contexts in the study of educational phenomena. Serving as faculty within the institutional context of an HSI has distinctively influenced our socialization as new faculty. We believe that this examination has implications for understanding how people can build cross-cultural collaborations and identify productively with communities that may not necessarily recognize them as “authentic.” Our exploration also offers insights for building a more inclusive academy, particularly for junior scholars from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Based on the themes identified in this research, we draw recommendations for university personnel interested in the recruitment and retention of Latina junior faculty. More broadly, this research has implications for developing support systems for faculty members who have been historically underrepresented in their fields and those who study marginalized populations.