Exploring the Factors that Inform Pacific Island AANAPISI’s Approach to Serving AA&NHPI Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Access and Success in Higher Education: Advising, Belonging, and Participation

Abstract

Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs) have served as critical sites to promote Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA&NHPI) student success. While much of our understanding of how AANAPISIs serve AA&NHPI students is based primarily on research on institutions within the continental United States, there is much to learn from AANAPISIs in the Pacific. The purpose of this study is to explore the institutional and geocultural factors that inform how AANAPISI institutional agents in the Pacific serve their AA&NHPI students. Using a phenomenological approach, our study highlights the unique contexts of AANAPISIs in the Pacific and their heightened sensitivity to the needs of their AA&NHPI students given their large enrollment.

Authors

• Demeturie Toso-Lafaele Gogue, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza, California Lutheran University

• Odorico San Nicolas, University of California, Los Angeles

• Kaelani Babauta Demapan, Northern Marianas College

• Mike Hoa Nguyen, University of California - Los Angeles