Past, Current, and an Agenda for Future Research on Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander–Serving Institutions

• In Event: Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander–Serving Institutions: Honoring the Past, Examining the Present, and Imaging the Future

Abstract

Many postsecondary institutions continue to enroll students from minority communities and as certain Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) programs including AANAPISIs are based on institutions’ large enrollment of low-income and minority student population, it is critical to have a conversation around what it means to be a Minority-Serving Institution (CARE, 2014; Cunningham et al., 2014).

A short biography of Presenters:

The three presenters have been involved with various research on MSIs including AANAPISIs. The first presenter has recently conducted a case study on institutional agents’ perceived impacts of the AANAPISI grant on understanding and serving students at a federally designated and funded AANAPISI. In addition to extensive research on MSIs including AANAPISIs, the second presenter is currently leading a multi-site study that examines the civic engagement of racially and ethnically minoritized students at MSIs and to what extent the MSI designation/grant can shape both students’ and educators’ understandings/practices around civic engagement. The third presenter is a leading scholar in the works on MSIs including AANAPISIs, who has recently testified in congress on the significance of AANAPISIs and other MSIs and the need for continuous efforts to disaggregate data for AAPI student population. Recently, these three presenters have published work together that examined the impacts of the federal AANAPISI designation and grant on racially and ethnically minoritized students and institutions (e.g., change in institutional programs/practices as a result of the grant, etc.) that serve them.

Overview of the Presentation:

We will review past research on AANAPISIs with a particular focus on the impacts of the grant on racially and ethnically minoritized students. For instance, a salient them that emerged from our past study is how students developed a sense of belonging in the grant-funded spaces and opportunities. Furthermore, we will discuss how the AANAPISI designation and/or grant has shaped the change in understanding of institutional agents that work with minority student population. Here, we will elaborate on institutional agents’ understanding around students’ unique educational needs and challenges and ways in which institutions can better support this student population.

In discussing future directions for AANAPISI research, we will highlight some of the areas that can be considered for future research on AANAPISIs. We plan to further elaborate our discussions in three areas: 1) Sustaining and expanding best practices (e.g., what happens after the grant ends?), 2) Seeking dual-designation (e.g., institutions seeking two MSI programs such as HSI and AANAPISI ), 3) How can AANAPISI be understood and discussed within the broader discussions of MSIs? (e.g., what are the study implications from the overall MSI research that scholars can consider when doing work around AANAPISIs?). These conversations can contribute to advancing research on MSIs and shed light on institutions that continue to serve minority students from diverse backgrounds (e.g., racial/ethnic, low-income, first-generation college-going student, etc.).

Authors

• Victoria Kim, University of Texas - San Antonio
  Presenting Author

• Cynthia M. Alcantar, Loyola Marymount University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robert T. Teranishi, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author