6.23.23

Wichita State rises to Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution status

Cheyla Clawson ’00/06, director of the School of Performing Arts and assistant professor of dance; Ana Lazarín ’08/10, director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for the College of Engineering; and Sara Mata, executive director for Hispanic-serving initiatives, collaborate with higher education colleagues across campus to deliver not only accessible and affordable education to all students, but also to equip them with tools for success.

Last fall, when WSU’s 2022 enrollment numbers showed that 16 percent of Shocker students identified as Hispanic, the university crossed the 15 percent threshold for becoming what’s termed by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) an “emerging” Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). To receive official HSI designation, not-for-profit degree-granting colleges and universities must have at least 25 percent Hispanic or Latinx undergraduate full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment and be DOE certified as such.

Mata, Lazarín and Clawson report that the rise in the number of Hispanic and Latinx students at Wichita State mirrors national increases in college enrollment for this population group. According to findings released this June by the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly one in five college students ages 18 to 24 identify as being of Hispanic or Latinx origin, with origin referring to a person’s heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth or the country that their parents or ancestors left before arriving in the United States.

Once an institution attains HSI status, it is eligible to apply for significant federal funding in the form of scholarships and services through Title V grants, as well as funding for HSI programs from other agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Endowment for the Humanities, for example. The designation, they say, will open up opportunities for WSU that will be passed along to the whole student body.