Over the weekend, Salem State University in Massachusetts hosted the first New England Hispanic and Minority Serving Institution (HSI/MSI) Conference.
More than 50 institutions were represented at the Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, where educational administrators, policy experts, leaders, and other professionals from two- and four-year institutions across the region gathered for the conference, themed “From Enrolling to Thriving: Transforming Hispanic and Minority Serving Institutions, Best Practices for Student Success.”
“We are so grateful to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) for recognizing the importance of this work and for the funding to make this conference possible,” Salem State President John D. Keenan, JD, said in a welcome address. “As the Hispanic and Latino student population grows throughout New England, it behooves us to prepare to meet the needs of this community and remove any barriers to college access and completion.”
In partnership with Bunker Hill Community College, Holyoke Community College, and MassBay Community College, among others, and supported by DHE’s Higher Education Innovation Fund, the event provided a space for dialogue and strategy-sharing among scholars, students, and practitioners in current and emerging HSIs and MSIs.
Keynote speakers included Gina Ann Garcia — an equity and justice scholar, professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Education, and author of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education’s 2020 Book of the Year — and Deborah Santiago, chief executive officer and co-founder of Excelencia in Education — a nonprofit that promotes student success for Latinos in higher education.
Plenary and breakout sessions focused on best practices for recruiting and serving students of color, including anti-racist civic engagement, inclusive pedagogy, language and translation practices, transfer practices, prior learning credit, and grant opportunities, to name a few.
Over the course of the weekend, attendees participated in nearly two dozen breakout sessions and workshops, with discussions centered on enhancing student success, closing educational gaps, and bolstering support systems for Hispanic and Latino students in higher education.
