Research-Intensive Hispanic-Serving Institutions as Resources for Families and Communities’ Access to Higher Education and Beyond

• In Event: Bridging Multiple Worlds: Innovative Cultural Partnerships Among Students, Families, Schools, Communities, and Universities From Preschool Through College

Abstract

Objectives
This conceptual paper examines the emergence of research-intensive Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in California as a resource for Latino population development connecting families and communities to higher education access. Attention is given to efforts by the Latino community to have the wellbeing of their communities and families integrated into the mission and research activities of the University of California.

Theoretical Perspectives
Bridging Multiple Worlds Theory (Cooper, 2011) provides a powerful perspective on how underserved families and communities can collaborate with each other and with institutions to promote formal education as a tool for human development. Research from a Latino education advocacy perspective (e.g., Moll, in press; Murillo et al., 2010; Valencia, 2010) amply traces how asset-based approaches to human development, teaching, and learning, coupled with collective political, legal, and social action bridging multiple worlds, can promote transformational institutional change. How might these concerns bear on our understanding of the emergence of research-intensive HSI’s in the University of California (UC) system and their potential to align their missions better to the educational and needs of Latinos?

Research Methods
We selectively documented the historical rise of the Chicano/Latino movement and its role in advocating Latino participation in the UC system. We also examined archival information from the California Legislature, UC Regents, and UC Office of the President on higher education access and research programs directed at California Latinos. We then examined research mission characteristics of HSI and emerging HSI institutions, focusing on California, and discuss implications from a Bridging Multiple Worlds perspective on population development. IRB approval was not applicable to this study.

Results
Key Chicano/Latino movement activities that foregrounded the importance of community and family involvement in education emerged decades ago. These included the Plan de Santa Barbara (1969) and the MEChA and Latino student civic engagement movements, followed by the establishment of Chicano/Latino Studies Programs, also in the late 1960’s onward. In 1987, the California Legislature passed SCR-43, requesting the UC system to enact a Task Force on UC and Latino population development concerns.

This led to creation of the UC MEXUS Research Center, other campus-specific Latino research units, and the UC-wide Latino Eligibility Task Force, concerned with improving Latino community and student access to UC. UC Faculty and students and Latino community members worked collaboratively in these efforts. Additional P-20 outreach initiatives by UC have contributed a complementary frame for understanding how UC can contribute to the fuller range of diverse populations served under a land-grant model of higher education.

Significance and Implications
There is a need for UC campuses to move from increased Hispanic-enrolling to become more Hispanic-serving. A Bridging Multiple Worlds vision of how research, teaching and service draws on the assets of community members and families. One important starting point is listening to the advice, voices, and needs of Latino students (Cooper et al., 2013).

The issues raised apply to diverse populations underrepresented in higher education. They are at the cutting edge of educational policies and concern understanding educational access as development of complex ecological systems.

Authors

• Henry L. Covarrubias, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Richard P. Duran, University of California - Santa Barbara