Several universities across the United States are collaborating on a new program aimed at increasing Hispanic faculty.
With an undergraduate enrollment of at least 25 percent Hispanic, Caifornia State University, Northridge; the University of Texas at El Paso; and Florida International University are the three Hispanic-serving colleges and universities participating in the Pathways to the Professoriate program. The goal is to prepare 90 students from the three universities “to enter doctoral programs at one of five predominantly white universities within five years,” reports Inside Higher Ed.
In addition to these three institutions, several research universities are involved in the initiative, including New York University; University of California, Berkeley; University of Pennsylvania; Northwestern University; and University of California, Davis.
The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education’s Center for Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) is launching the initiative with the support of a $5.1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Latinos make up just 4.1 percent of the professoriate in the United States, according to UPenn’s press release announcing the effort.
Cal State, Northridge, was one of a dozen higher education institutions to pilot ACUE’s Course in Effective Teaching Practices last fall, to great effect. Last year, the Los Angeles university also received a Pedagogy of Confidence grant for students in remediation classes.
Florida International University is the top university in the nation for awarding bachelor’s and master’s degrees to Hispanic students and is among ACUE’s Winter 2016 pilot participants.
