The Impact of Student Leadership at Hispanic Serving Institutions: Reconceptualizing Students as Institutional Agents

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Applications of Social and Cultural Capital Frameworks in Education Research (Table 9)

Abstract

Scholars have documented the instrumental ways institutional agents advocate for the success of Latine/x students at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) (Bensimon et al., 2019; Garcia & Ramirez, 2018; Zeledón Pérez, 2018). However, while the contributions of these staff, faculty, and administrators have been acknowledged, research has fallen short of examining how students may also be considered institutional agents. The historical impact that students have had on higher education demonstrates that they too occupy high-status positions, exercise powerful influence, manage resources, and have significant capital, thus fulfilling the criteria that define institutional agents (Desai & Abeita, 2017; Kovats Sánchez, 2021; Marin & Pereschica, 2017). Situated within the Social Capital Framework for Institutional Agents (Stanton-Salazar, 2011), this paper explores how the actions of HSI student leaders align with the roles of institutional agents.

Author

• Griselda Paredes, San Diego State University