Understanding "Serving" at a Dual-Designated Minority-Serving Institution Through University Stakeholders' Sense-Making

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Five
  In Roundtable Session: Sense-Making of Organizational Identities and Institutional Agents (Table 6)

Abstract

Some U.S. postsecondary institutions are meeting multiple racially/ethnically minoritized enrollment thresholds of specific Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) types. In this study, we explore how stakeholders involved in one institution’s MSI efforts make meaning of “serving” at a dual Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution and Hispanic-Serving Institution (AANAPISI-HSI). Drawing on critical sensemaking (Mills et al., 2010) and servingness (Garcia et al., 2019), we consider how stakeholders define servingness as related to an institution’s specific MSI types, if at all, and how stakeholders’ interpretations influence MSI efforts (e.g., practices, programs, policies). Our findings raise the complexity of meeting multiple MSI types, including ascribing to a generalized MSI label and race evasive support for “all students.”

Authors

• Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza, California Lutheran University
  Presenting Author

• Bailey Brown
  Presenting Author

• Blanca E. Rincón, University of Nevada - Las Vegas
  Presenting Author