Cristobal Salinas

Promoting Financial Literacy and Latino Males' Success at Community Colleges.

ABSTRACT Latino males across the country enroll in community colleges with the purpose of obtaining an educational degree, which could lead to accomplishing professional and personal aspirations. Even if Latino male students enroll in post-secondary education, they continue to be disenfranchised, vanished, and often rejected through the higher education pipeline. Research regarding access to education shows that money matters to the success of Latino students. Through a metasynthesis, this practice briefly identifies that there is little to no empirical research conducted that explores how Latino male community college students elicit, engage, and explore financial literacy programs. This paper makes recommendations for post-secondary institutions, practitioners, and policymakers to promote Latino males’ success at community colleges.

Transforming academia and theorizing spaces for Latinx in higher education: voces perdidas and voces de poder

Abstract The concepts of voces perdias and voces de poder are used as a symbolic representations and reflections of oppression and power in academia. Seventy-four percent of scholarship across the world is published in English. The author argues the importance of publishing in Spanish as form of liberatory practice to provide a voice for Spanish-speaking communities who currently do not have access (to the power of academia and of information), and whose lived experiences are not acknowledged or captured in this medium, and who have by-and-large been marginalized and forgotten in research. In attempt to help improve our understandings of Latinos/as in society – and provide access, give a voice, and reflect on their lived experiences – we must publish in Spanish and teach about the voces perdidas that have been erased from the educational curriculum, and the voces de poder who have dominated and silenced the voces perdidas.

Challenges and Opportunities for State Systems of Community Colleges: A Document Analysis.

ABSTRACT From their very beginnings, the community colleges have demonstrated a commitment to their founding principles of access, affordability, and quality. However, following February 2009, when President Obama set forth the agenda for U.S. postsecondary education to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020, priority shifted to college completion. This national agenda has posed increased challenges and opportunities for community colleges, the states, and the nation. Through a document analysis we identify the most frequently cited challenges and opportunities of the 50 state systems of community colleges.

A Case Study for a New Peer-Review Journal on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education

In this exploratory case study, the interests, attitudes, and opinions of participants of the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) in American Higher Education are presented. This case study sought to understand how college and university administrators and faculty perceived the need to create a peer-reviewed journal that aimed to support and create opportunities to publish research, policy, practices, and procedures within the context of race and ethnicity in American higher education. The findings of this study reflect that the vast majority of those surveyed (n = 605) and interviewed (n = 5) support, and are interested in, having a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on race and ethnicity in American higher education.

The Grammar of Neoliberalism: What Textbooks Reveal About the Education of Spanish Speakers in Mexico, Colombia, and the United States

Emergent to Advanced Bilingual Students (EABs), also known as English Language Learner Students (ELLs), are both the fastest growing group in the United States and the ones with lower academic performance. Spanish speakers account for around 78–80% of all EABs. All too often, EABs who are fortunate to receive quality bilingual education receive instruction based on mirror texts; that is, texts that are direct translation from its English counterparts (Ramirez et al, 2016). In this chapter, we present a brief analysis of the textbook market in the USA, Colombia and Mexico, complemented with a linguistic analysis of the patterns dominant in three 3rd grade science curricular units written in Spanish on the same topic in the three countries. Two of these units were written for regular educational curriculum programs in Colombia and Mexico. The third one is a text used in dual language English/Spanish bilingual programs in the USA that is directly translated from the English textbook version. The macroanalysis reveals a strong market-based neoliberal influence on the textbook used in the USA. At the micro level, the comparative systemic functional linguistic analysis of these three texts reveals the distinct linguistic organization of the mirror text in relation to the other two. Key implications for teacher’s role in the classroom, for teacher preparation programs, and for the education of Spanish speakers in these three countries with special attention to bilingual students in the USA are addressed.

The Role of Spirituality for Black Male Community College Students

ABSTRACT Through a qualitative study, the authors aim to understand how does spirituality influence Black male community college students’ success. Spirituality has various definitions between races, cultures, and environments, it is important to define spirituality and to understand the context in which it connects with the demographic spirituality is interacting in. The authors define spirituality as an amalgamation of prevailing thought, which consists of individual beliefs that may or may not be associated with a religious institution, but yet provides meaning to an individual’s life. Black male community college students use familial, aspiration, social, and linguistic capitals throughout their daily interactions with society and the world, to understand how spiritually and God, influences their lives, academic accomplishments, and behaviors.

Examining the value of mentoring and men of color staff members of a community college

Abstract As higher education continues to experience a shift in demographics commiserate with the United States population, colleges and universities are making more concerted efforts to recruit men of color as staff, administrators, and faculty to reflect their diversified student bodies. One way to retain men of color staff members is to provide mentoring programs. While there are authors who are examining the benefits of mentoring, there has been little research into how men of color staff members of community college experience mentoring as a mentee and as a mentor. In this study we sought to understand how do men of color experience mentoring, both as mentor to undergraduate men of color and as staff mentees at a community college. The findings of our study include three common themes: investments made by mentors, investing in mentees, and support from administration.

Using the Wisdom Development Theory to Conceptualize Student Professionalism Development in Community Colleges

ABSTRACT Historically, community colleges have played a vital role in career and vocational preparation for students. In today’s complex and ever-changing work environment, professionalism issues are at the forefront of employers’ concerns related to millennials and other young students and recent graduates. This issue is aggravated by the rise of social media and other trends that pose challenges related to, for example, professionalism in communication. The community college community is an excellent site for a movement towards structured professionalism training and research that is process-centered and that emphasizes lifelong learning. Drawn upon the literature review and our own experiences in career counseling, we expand on the perspectives of professionalism at the individual and group levels. And we present on how community colleges’ offices, instructors, and administrators can use the Model of Wisdom Development to understand whether and how are students developing professionalism.

African American Women Leaders in Higher Education

The purpose of this chapter is to present an overview of the status of African American women in academe. The primary context is the Predominately White Institution and the terms African American and Black are used interchangeably. We discuss the silencing of this group of women while privileging others. To date, little has been written on this topic. Much less has been written about the African American females’ struggles in silence, both personally and professionally (Collins, 1986). We end by putting forth strategies that African American women might consider as they soar in leadership roles.