June 17, 2021

Norma Jean Revilla-Garcia

HACU and Hispanic-Serving Institutions meet to develop a national vision on strengthening STEM graduate degree attainment for Hispanic students

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities along with the University of California, Santa Barbara and The University of Arizona and the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) STEM community will convene virtually for a two-day planning workshop session on “Strengthening Latinx Pathways to Graduate Degrees in STEM,” June 17-18, 2021. The goal of the project is to lay the groundwork for a network of regional alliances anchored by research-intensive HSIs across the country. 

More than 70 participants, including presidents, deans, faculty members and other STEM staff and administrative leaders will collaborate on this session. HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores welcomed the participants for the meeting, which includes group sessions and grant presenters as part of the agenda.

A keynote address by Douglas M. Haynes, Ph.D., vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion at the University of California, Irvine and a STEM Industry Panel will also be among the presentations. Panelists include: Brittiney Jones, diversity & Inclusion consultant, human resources at Oracle; Stephane Lunan, tax technology partner at Deloitte Tax LLP; Lindsey Silva, Ph.D., senior manager, microbiology global QC technology at Genentech and Luke Visconti, founder and chairman of DiversityInc. 



A second HSI workshop group will meet for a two-day session on June 29-30, 2021. Overall, more than 135 participants will collaborate as part of this project designed to strengthen pathways for more Hispanic students to pursue graduate education in STEM at HSIs. 

The project is funded by a National Science Foundation INCLUDES Planning Grant. The principal investigator of the grant is John Moder, Ph.D., senior consultant for STEM programming at HACU. The coprincipal investigators are: Marla A. Franco, Ph.D., The University of Arizona, and Barbara Endemaño Walker, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Faculty staff from the following institutions are among confirmed participants on the June 17-18 workshops. 

Arizona State University
Cabrillo College
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
California State University, Bakersfield
California State University, Chico
California State University, East Bay
California State University, Fresno
California State University, Fullerton
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Santa Barbara
Cerro Coso Community College
Chandler-Gilbert Community College
Concordia University Texas
Dalton State College
Heritage University
Inter American University of Puerto Rico
Keiser University
Laredo College
Long Beach City College
Los Angeles Mission College
Loyola Marymount University
Metropolitan State University Denver
MiraCosta College
Moorpark College
Mount Saint Mary's University
New Jersey City University
New Mexico Tech
Norco College
Northern Arizona University
Pima Community College
Queens College, CUNY
Rutgers University-Newark
Rutgers University-Newark/Graduate School
Saint Elizabeth University
Sam Houston State University
San Bernardino Community College District
San Francisco State University
San Jose City College
San Jose State University
St. Augustine College
St. Francis College
Sul Ross State University
Texas A&M International University
Texas Lutheran University
Texas Woman's University
The City University of New York
The University of Arizona
The University of Texas at El Paso
Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Carolina Campus
Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Gurabo Campus
Universidad del Sagrado Corazón
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Riverside
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Central Florida
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
University of La Verne
University of Nevada Las Vegas
University of New Mexico, El Centro de la Raza
University of New Mexico, Valencia Campus
Western New Mexico University