We return to our discussion of the book, "The HSI Movement: Strategies Driving Change at Hispanic Serving Institutions," with Yesenia Silva Estrada, Vice President of Planning and Chief of Staff at Colorado Mountain College (CMC). Yesenia shares her personal HSI journey, having been born in Chihuahua, Mexico, raised in one of the communities CMC serves, and having attended CMC herself as a first-generation student, to now serving in a role of influence as the campus transitioned to becoming an HSI. We discuss how HSI-mindedness at CMC has been driven by intersectional data analysis, a shared equity leadership model, and a commitment to measuring student thriving well beyond completion rates. We also discuss the VP’s role in the HSI movement, and how some days are challenging. We finish with a focus on Colorado's landmark House Bill 26-1006, which established the Colorado Thriving Institutions designation. As a leader in the HSI movement, she personally drafted the bill's language and worked with legislators and a broad coalition of partners to pass the legislation. The episode concludes with a strong message that HSI identity belongs to the institution and its communities, not to the federal government, and that institutions must continue to claim that identity regardless of what happens at the federal level.

Guest:

Yesenia Silva Estrada (she, her, ella)

Vice President of Planning and Chief of Staff

Colorado Mountain College

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ysilvastrada

Facebook: https://facebook.com/yesilvaestrada

APA Citation:

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2026, October 4). From Student to Change Agent: Building an HSI from Within (No.803) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

Show Notes:

• https://coloradomtn.edu/about-us/hispanic-serving-institution/
• https://coloradomtn.edu/news/cmc-news/colorado-mountain-college-helps-lead-passage-of-landmark-thriving-institutions-legislation/

In this episode we learn with Dr. Katie Christoffersen, Associate Vice Provost for Bilingual Integration and Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), exploring the concept of linguistic servingness at HSIs. Katie shares the story of how UTRGV built bilingualism into its academic core through the B3 initiative, which allows students to take courses across disciplines taught in Spanish or bilingually and graduate with the B3 Scholar Seal as an official honor on their transcripts. The conversation covers the origins of the initiative, how faculty are trained and compensated, and the compelling outcome data showing that students in B3 courses demonstrate higher academic success and satisfaction. Katie also offers four practical recommendations for HSIs looking to implement linguistic servingness on their own campuses, including starting with a baseline inventory, putting money behind the work, institutionalizing systems rather than one-off projects, and building an evidence base. She closes by defining linguistic servingness as "the institutional practice of treating students' full linguistic repertoire as an academic asset with actions and not just with words," and breaks it down into four dimensions: access, recognition, labor, and ideology.

Guest:

Katherine (Katie) Christoffersen (she, her, ella, ela)

Associate Vice Provost, Office for Bilingual Integration

Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Website: https://katherinechristoff.wixsite.com/my-site

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-christoffersen-590339214/

Show Notes:

• https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/post/language-bilingualism-multilingualism-in-hsis-ideas-for-linguistic-servingness
• Bilingualism in Higher Education Summit- Oct 14-16- website: https://bilingualism-higher-ed-summit.netlify.app/
• Christoffersen, K. (2026). “Hablo pocha, ¿no?”: Divergent language ideologies of pocho and mocho in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Applied Linguistics, 47(2). 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amag045
• Mazzaro, N., & Christoffersen, K. (2026). How prestige and socio-economic status shape the linguistic landscape of Brownsville, Texas. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2025.2612562
• Christoffersen, K, Ortín, R., López García, D., Cavazos, D, & Lu, M.T. (2025). Dual language in higher education: Assessing student success and student experiences. Foreign Language Annals, 58(2). 916-940. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.70040
• Christoffersen, K. & Regalado, K. (2021). “Toda lengua es válida aquí en esta clase”: Translanguaging pedagogy and critical language awareness in sociolinguistics courses on the U.S.-Mexico border. Journal of Bilingual Education Research and Instruction, 23(1). 23-71.
• Christoffersen, K. (2019). Linguistic terrorism in the borderlands: Language ideologies in the narratives of young adults in the Rio Grande Valley. International Multilingual Research Journal, 13(3). 137-151.
• UTRGV Office for Bilingual Integration: https://www.utrgv.edu/bilingualintegration/
• B3 Scholarship & Creative Works Collection: scholarworks.utrgv.edu/b3_pub
• Office of Bilingual Integration https://www.utrgv.edu/bilingualintegration/index.htm
• B³ Scholar Seal overview: https://www.utrgv.edu/bilingualintegration/student-resources/b3-scholar-seal/index.htm
• Carvalho, A., Bessett, R. & Christoffersen, K. (2021). CESA and CoBiVa Training Handbook. https://bit.ly/CESA_CoBiVa_Handbook

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2026, September 20). Linguistic Servingness in the Classroom: Learning with UTRGV (No.802) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

We kick off season 8 of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? discussing Dr. Garcia's new book "The HSI Movement: Strategies Driving Change at Hispanic Serving Institutions.” The conversation covers Dr. Lujan's personal journey in the HSI movement, including his role as Texas Tech's inaugural director of HSI initiatives and his leadership of a $3 million Title V grant, before transitioning into his current role in research development. Together, we explore key concepts from the book including processes of servingness, first-order versus second-order change, and leading for change from the middle, with Dr. Lujan drawing direct connections between the book's frameworks and his own lived experiences navigating anti-DEI legislation, institutional barriers, and the push for deeper organizational transformation beyond surface-level programming. The episode also highlights the critical role that professional associations such as TACHE (Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education) and AHSIE (Alliance of HSI Educators) play as the "connective tissue" of the HSI movement, providing community and shared best practices for educators who may feel isolated on their own campuses. Despite the current political pressures, this episode provides optimism and hope about the future of HSIs.

Guest

Jarett Lujan (he, him, el)

Assistant Director for Research Development & Communications

Texas Tech University

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarett-lujan-ph-d-a1043b7b/

Instagram: @drjarettlujan

Show Notes:

• https://www.angelo.edu/live/news/19856-more-than-the-climb
• https://ahsie.org/jarett-lujan-bio
• Lujan, J., & McNaughtan, J. (2024). Moscas en la leche: A critical evaluation of Hispanic-Serving Institution campus spaces through photovoice methodology. The Journal of Higher Education, 96(2), 197–222. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2024.2355077
• Lujan, J., McNaughtan, J., & Williams, B. (2024). “Not simply the act of enrolling”: Defining servingness at Hispanic‐serving community colleges. New Directions for Community Colleges, 2024(205), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.1002/cc.20617
• McNaughtan, J., & Lujan, J. (2023). “A moral, ethical, and fiduciary obligation to serve”: Perceptions of the role of Presidents at Hispanic-serving community colleges. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 48(8), 491–505. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2023.2189179

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2026, September 6). Leading from the Middle: Advancing the HSI Movement Through Resilience and Community. (No.801) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.