In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we discuss the road to healing following the defunding of Title V grants that support HSIs. Our guests Dra. Melissa Menendez and Nathalie Quintero share their personal stories working at a Title V-funded HSI, Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), and the aftermath of the September 10, 2025 announcement to reprogram enrollment-based MSI funding. They describe how the Title V grants were used to create programs and initiatives that cultivated a sense of community, celebrated Latine/x culture, and provided academic and student support services. Funding was also used to create the Raíces Faculty Institute which supported the training and professional development of faculty at SBCC. The sudden loss of this funding has created uncertainty and grief, and our guests grapple with the loss of jobs, services, and programs. Despite the challenges, Melissa and Nathalie express hope in finding joy through their communities of fellow HSI practitioners and a shared commitment to continuing this important work.

Guests:

Melissa Menendez (she, her, ella)

Title V HSI Grant Director & Professor, Santa Barbara City College

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/melissa-menendez-ph-d-880220336

Nathalie Quintero (she, her)

Raíces Program Advisor, Raíces First Year and Beyond, Santa Barbara City College

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nathalie-quintero

Attachments / Show notes:

• https://sbcc.edu/raices/

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2026, February 1). Balancing Hope and Loss Amidst Title V Defunding (No.702) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

We kick off season 7 of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? discussing the $507.9 million loss to HSIs following the Department of Education’s announcement to defund enrollment-based MSIs on September 10, 2025. This conversation explores the current state of HSIs under the 47th president of the United States as well as the complex ways HSIs have leveraged Title V funds over the last 25 years. Our guest Dr. Rebecca Perdomo provides key insights into policy research including the ways HSIs have taken an "opportunistic" approach to grant-seeking amidst chronic underfunding compared to predominantly white institutions, with lower expenditures per student and significant deferred maintenance backlogs. We also explore the research on how HSIs promote upward social and economic mobility for their students showing that HSI outperform non-HSIs in promoting mobility. Dr. Perdomo’s stance is clear: racialized funding streams like Title III and Title V are critical to supporting HSIs and the students they serve. Despite the grief and anger over HSI funding losses, the HSI community must fight back and remain resolute in continuing their mission-driven work to support Latine/x students and communities. In this episode we call on HSI advocates to elevate the stories of resilience, hope, and success and to make the case for continued investment in HSIs.

Guest:

Rebecca Perdomo (she, her)

Senior Research Associate & Independent Consultant, Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Justice

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-perdomo-phd

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/rebeccaperdomophd

Show Notes:

• Generational Jumps? How HSIs Promote Upward Mobility
• Caring vs. Capitalizing: How HSIs Leverage Title V Funds
• The Impact of Trump Administration Funding Cuts on Hispanic-Serving Institutions
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/marybethgasman/2026/01/08/experts-chime-in-on-ed-depts-assessment-of-race-based-minority-serving-institutions/

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2026, January 11). The $507.9 Million Loss: HSIs Under Attack and Fighting Back. (No.701) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

For the final episode of season 6 we bring in a “new to the show” conversation on advising. And the whole episode is about advising and servingness. Dr. Gabe Bermea, a visiting scholar at the The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions, is a scholar and expert on advising practices with a keen focus on HSIs. He describes different types of advising models and dives deep into humanistic advising and the ways to use this approach in serving Latine students.  He challenges us to think about the conceptual natures and structures of advising as intertwined with servingness. Gabe reminds us that if 63% of Latines are enrolled in HSIs, that means HSIs are responsible for advising 63% of them, not just enrolling them. Advising is a vital structure for serving that must be intentional and can, in itself, be servingness. Listen and learn

Guest:

Gabe Bermea

Visiting Scholar, The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbermea/

https://www.gabebermea.com/

Show Notes - all links are are open access:

• Bermea, G. O. (2025). Compañeros en el Camino: Preparing Academic Advisors to Serve at Hispanic Serving Institutions. The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
• Bermea, G.O. (2024). Construir el Camino: How Hispanic-Serving Institutions Design and Deliver Academic Advising. The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
• Bermea, G.O. (2024). Advising Latino students at hispanic-serving institutions: A strategy rooted in servingness and intentionality. Academic Advising Today, 47(4).
• Bermea, G.O. (2023). Advising With Intention: Exploring Academic Advising at Minority-Serving Institutions. The Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.
• Bermea, G.O. (2022). Humanistic advising: Applying humanistic theory to the practice of academic advising. NACADA Review, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.12930/NACR-20-07

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2025, June 1). Advising as Servingness. (No.610) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/

With over 400 campuses emerging toward 25% enrollment of Latine students and 600 institutions already meeting the threshold, we must talk about what it means to emerge as a campus that truly serves Latine students. Emergingness is the intentionality that goes into embracing servingness, and it is happening across the U.S. In this episode we welcome Kansas to the mic to learn about HSI work going on at Wichita State University. Dra. Sara Mata, Executive Director of Hispanic Serving Initiatives at WSU, is joined by two students, Valeria Paunetto and Dimas Gonzalez, who talk about the HSI movement on their campus, an emerging HSI. They share information about their signature offering, Herencia, a summer bridge program that centers Spanish, and their Somos Shockers campaign, which is the umbrella for all their HSI initiatives. Listening to students make sense of servingness is one of the most important things HSIs and eHSIs can do while they emerge.

Sara Mata (she/ella)

Executive Director of Hispanic Serving Initiatives, Wichita State University

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-mata-ph-d/

Instagram: @sara.mataphd | Facebook: sara.mata

Valeria Paunetto (she/her)

Somos Shockers Coordinator, Wichita State University

Instagram: @paunettovaleria

Dimas Gonzalez (he/him/él)

Outreach Specialist, Wichita State University

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimas-gonzalez-bb3440303/

Show Notes:

• https://www.wichita.edu/about/designations/hsi/index.php
• https://www.al.com/sports/2015/03/what_the_heck_is_a_shocker_and.html
• https://www.wichita.edu/about/wushock.php

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2025, May 18). Emergingness in Kansas (No.609) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/

In this episode we get in (racial) formation with Dra. Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza, an assistant professor of Counseling and College Student Personnel at California Lutheran University. Dra. Espinoza’s research revolves around racial and organizational classifications, focusing on MSIs; particularly dual and multiple designated MSIs. She lays out the landscape of these institutions drawing on her dissertation titled, “Let’s get in (racial) formation: A three-paper exploration of dual- and multiple-designated Minority-Serving Institutions.” We talk about the complications, but also call on educators in these institutions to work in relation and solidarity across racialized lines. The call to action is to acknowledge that the number of dual and multiple designations is on the rise and we must do servingness work in relation and with responsibility. We also invent new words like, “AANAPI-Rizzies,” nodding to the University of California and other research institutions that are embracing multiple designations while remaining focused on their historic mission. This episode is a must listen for all HSI, AANAPISI, HBCU, and Black Serving Institution (BSI) educators and leaders. Let’s work in solidarity!

Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza (she/her/siya)

Assistant Professor of Counseling and College Student Personnel, California Lutheran University

X/Instagram: @kageceratops

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinejan

https://linktr.ee/kristinejan

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2025, May 4). Racialized Solidarity Across Multiple MSI Designations. (No.508) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/

Show Notes:

• Espinoza, K.J.C. (2024). Overview of Minority-Serving Institutions in the United States. State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. https://sheeo.org/project/sheeo-publications/
• Espinoza, K. J. C. & Watson, R. T. (2022) In the hands of students: The charge of a Minority-Serving Institution student council at a dual-designated Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution and Hispanic-Serving Institution. AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community, 19(1-2), 35-56. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1pk403dm
• Nguyen, M. H., Espinoza, K. L., Gogue, D. T.-L., & Dinh, D. M. (2020). Looking to the next decade: Strengthening Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions through policy and practice. National Council of Asian Pacific Americans. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED608022.pdf
• Alcantar, C. M., Rincón, B. E., & Espinoza, K. J. (2020). In a state of becoming: How institutions communicate Asian American and Pacific Islander- and Latinx-servingness through campus artifacts. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 14(3), 104-119. https://doi.org/10.24974/amae.14.3.405
• Espinoza, K. J. C., Rincón, B. E., Drake, B. M., Harbin, J. J., & Ethelbah, K. K. (2024). Oceania in the desert: A QuantCrit analysis of the (under)counting of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students at an AANAPISI-HSI. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2024.2349671
• Ngo, F. J., Espinoza, K. J. C., Lee, D. E., & Teranishi, R. T. (2024), “We will come to you”: Serving newcomer immigrants and English learners at an AANAPISI community college. Innovative Higher Education. Online first https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-024-09763-z

What does it mean to be an historic HSI? Since few HSIs were founded with the mission to serve Latine students, the definition of an “historic HSI” is to have enrolled 25% Latine students since 1992 when the Higher Education Act was reauthorized to include HSIs. The historic HSIs are important because they have provided access to Latine students for over 30 years. In this episode we elevate these HSIs that I affectionately call “tia HSIs.” We also touch on the “historic spaces of servingness” which includes cultural centers, ethnic studies, and Trio programs. This plática includes Rosa Isela Cervantes, the Director for El Centro de la Raza at the University of New Mexico, and Julián G. Ángel, an undergraduate student and Program Assistant for HSI Initiatives, who talk critically about their progression from being set in their “tia HSI ways” to embracing servingness. We also interrogate what it means to be a Hispanic Serving Research Institution. This episode allows us to love and honor historic HSIs while also talking about holding them accountable to servingness.

Guests:

Rosa Isela Cervantes (She/Her/Ella)

Director, El Centro de la Raza and Special Advisor to the President on Latina/o Affairs, The University of New Mexico

Instagram: @rosaisela742 | @elcentrounm

Julián G. Ángel, (He/Him/Él)

Program Assistant-HSI Initiatives, El Centro de la Raza, The University of New Mexico

Instagram: @juliangangel

Show Notes

• https://elcentro.unm.edu
• https://eid.nmsu.edu/extra-pages/nsf-hsi-hubs-faculty-fellow/nsf-hsi-hubs-faculty-fellow.html
• Garcia, G. A. & Okhidoi, O. (2015). Culturally relevant practices that “serve” students at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Innovative Higher Education, 40(4), 345-357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-015-9318-7

APA Citation

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2025, April 20). Historic HSIs and Historic Spaces of Servingness (No.607) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/

Developmental mathematics is one of the most pressing educational issues that colleges across the nation are addressing. Many states have passed legislation to address inequities in placement into developmental mathematics while individual colleges are trying innovative approaches to ensure the success of students who enroll in these courses. It’s an issue we may not fully solve, but there are many best practices to learn from. Our guest Dr. Vanessa Hill is a math professor who has spent the last 18 years at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) doing what she loves–teaching mathematics. She has also been involved in efforts to rethink developmental mathematics, both at her college and abroad. She has developed effective models and redesigned curriculum through the lens of servingness, acknowledging that as an HSI, STCC enrolls a large percentage of Black and Latine students who place into developmental mathematics at higher rates than white students. In this episode, we have a lively discussion about developmental mathematics as servingness.

Vanessa Hill (she/her)

Professor, Springfield Technical Community College

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-hill-phd-26718817/

Show Notes:

• https://www.stcc.edu/about-stcc/news/stcc-professor-awarded-fellowship-to-revamp-developmental-math.html
• https://www.escalaeducation.com/about-escala/copy-of-our-team
• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0162373720973727
• California AB705 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB705
• California AB1705 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1705

APA Citation:

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2025, April 6). Rethinking Developmental Mathematics as Servingness. (No. 606) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

In this episode we nerd out on all things governance in higher education, with a focus on governing boards and trustees in HSIs. The role of governing boards in advancing servingness is an understudied topic, despite the importance of gaining support from trustees in order to advance equity and social justice goals. Dr. Demetri L. Morgan joins the conversation, bringing a wealth of knowledge on the topic. He is an associate professor of education at the University of Michigan's Marsal Family School of Education in the Center for the Study of Postsecondary and Higher Education. His research focuses on the critical role that higher education institutions play in fostering a diverse democracy and researches the influence of culturally sustaining governance on institutional transformation. In this episode we discuss the crucial role of governing boards in HSIs, talking about an article we published entitled, “Mission-based vs. enrollment-based institutions: Segmented governance at a Catholic Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).” We discuss the intricacies of developing this study and the ways we combined two theoretical frameworks to make sense of the fiduciary duty of obedience that trustees have and the ways they must uphold an historic (Catholic) mission as well as an emerging (HSI) mission.

Guest:

Demetri L. Morgan (he, him)

Associate Professor of Education, University of Michigan

@DMorganPhD

Download the Article (open access):

• Garcia, G. A. & Morgan, D. L. (2025). Mission-based vs. enrollment-based institutions: Segmented governance at a Catholic Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). The Review of Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.0.a952249

APA Citation for this Episode:

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2025, March 23). Nerding out on Governing Boards at HSIs (No.605) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/

Show Notes:

• https://marsal.umich.edu/directory/faculty-staff/demetri-morgan
• https://www.aaup.org/programs/academic-freedom/center-defense-academic-freedom/fellows
• Trustees’ handling of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ tenure application shows how university boards often fail the accountability test: https://theconversation.com/trustees-handling-of-nikole-hannah-jones-tenure-application-shows-how-university-boards-often-fail-the-accountability-test-161622
• ASHE Presidential Podcast Politics: Governance and Governing Boards
• Morgan, D. L. (2021). Nuancing political identity formation in higher education: A phenomenological examination of precollege socialization, identity, and context. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(1), 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000153
• Rall, R., Morgan, D., & Commodore, F. (2020). Toward culturally sustaining governance in higher education: Best practices of theory research, and practice. Journal of Education Human Resources, 38(1), 139-164. https//doi.org/10.3138/jehr.2019-0006
• Morgan, D. L., Rall, R. M., & Commodore, F. (2023). “Getting to where we need to be”: (Re)envisioning postsecondary education through the Equity X Governance paradigm. In L. W. Perna (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory & Research (38th ed., pp. 1–62). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94844-3_8-1