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

What happens when a group of 15 change agents from across campus come together to build an HSI movement? That was the guiding question for a small grant project funded by the Student Experience Research Network (SERN). With the grant we launched “HSI Transformation Teams” at two community college campuses–Santa Rosa Junior College and Fullerton College. In this episode we talk about how the teams came together to transform HSIs in practice, in community, and with the purpose of fostering collaborative research-practice-policy partnerships. Members of the transformation teams learned about HSI scholarship and engaged in participatory action research to develop action-based solutions to address the most pressing concerns on their campus. Our guests on this episode co-led the transformation teams, offering knowledge on the process, the challenges faced, and the wins experienced over the year. Dr. Robert Holcomb, Vice President of Academic Affairs/Assistant Superintendent at Santa Rosa Junior College, and Dr. Julio Flores, Dean of Counseling & Support Services at Santa Rosa Junior College provide insight into their process and are joined by Dr. Flor Huerta, Dean of Counseling & Student Development at Fullerton College. Listen and learn about what happens when a group of dedicated practitioner-activists ignite servingness.

Guests:

Flor Huerta (​​she/her/ella)

Dean, Counseling and Student Development, Fullerton College

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/flor-huerta-ed-d-049943173

Instagram: @dra.florhuerta

Robert "Bobby" Holcomb (he/him)

Vice President of Academic Affairs/Assistant Superintendent, Santa Rosa Junior College

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robert-holcomb-ph-d-25608620

Instagram: @robert__holcomb

Julio R. Flores (he/him/él)

Dean, Counseling and Support Programs, Santa Rosa Junior College

Attachments / Show notes:

https://academicaffairs.santarosa.edu/

The new presidential administration took office on January 20th, 2025, launching a new era of federal politics for colleges and universities that many of us are trying to navigate. But how do we move forward when 47’s administration is releasing daily attacks on public education, research, academic freedom, access, and equity? On this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we discuss the current federal climate and offer advice for remaining focused on doing good work in solidarity across racial-ethnic groups. Our guest, Dr. Cristóbal Rodríguez, is a policy expert and scholar activist with a track record of advocating for Latine populations. He was appointed in 2022 by President Biden to serve on the White House Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics and Latinos. He shares his experience and some recommendations made by the commission despite it being dismantled as a direct result of one of many executive orders signed by 47. He also talks about state policy implications and the ways we can leverage local governments, policy intermediaries, associations, and state-wide HSI consortia. We don’t have all the answers, but Dr. Rodríguez offers tips on navigating these tumultuous times.

Guest:

Cristóbal Rodríguez (he/him/él)

Associate Provost for Equity, Western Michigan University

Chair, American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cristóbal-rodríguez-25656453

Instagram: @dktrcrodriguez

Show Notes:

• Reports by White House Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics and Latinos
• https://www.aahhe.org/
• Rodríguez, C. (2019). Achievement, politics, and policy shifts: Expert report on achievement for Martínez/Yazzie v. New Mexico. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 13(3), 116-138. http://dx.doi.org/10.24974/amae.13.3.455
• Rodríguez, C., Martinez, M. A., & Valle, F. (2016). Latino educational leadership across the pipeline: For Latino communities and Latina/o leaders. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 15(2), 136-153. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192715612914

APA Citation for This Episode:

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2025, February 23). Federal Policy and Politics of HSIs (No.603) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/b4693131/federal-politics-of-hsis-under-47