HSI Impact
Becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution
In 2012, UCSC enrolled more than 25% Latiné undergraduate students, turning it into the third UC to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU) definition. UCSC appointed an HSI Task Force of dedicated faculty, staff, and students to examine nationwide research and best practices while crafting a plan to increase educational equity and achievement among Latiné students.
Servingness
UCSC aims to create institutional transformation by centering servingness for Latiné students. We focus on cultivating relationships and collaborations with multiple campus stakeholders; sustaining and institutionalizing efforts that prove impactful for Latiné student success; and highlighting recognitions resulting from these efforts.
HSI ecosystem
An ecosystem optimizes the interconnected participants and programs rely on each other to meet shared goals, while centering our students. A functioning educational ecosystem promotes campus-wide servingness efforts, joint learning, increases our ability to tap into new resources, and evolves proactively for systemic change.
Current partners and collaborators
The HSI team continues cultivating campus connections to further optimize the HSI Ecosystem for the benefit of all students. Check out a list of our partners across campus that make our work possible and help us expand our reach of impact.
Milestones
Below you will find a timeline of our major institutional accomplishments, which outline our campus history as an HSI. Please let us know if there’s any information we might be missing or a milestone you would like us to highlight by emailing hispserv@ucsc.edu.
2025
- Winter 2025 – UCSC hosts its second HSI Showcase with the theme, Cultivando un Ecosistema de Apoyo: Elevating and Strengthening Partnerships. Campus partners and collaborators presented on their servingness work embodying what we define as our HSI Ecosystem.
2024
- Fall 2024 – UCSC ranks #7 in Study Abroad Aide’s Best Hispanic-Serving Institutions For International Students. This remarkable achievement reflects our university’s commitment to providing an exceptional educational experience for international students while serving the Hispanic community.
- Fall 2024 – UCSC is awarded a $3 million HSI Title V grant, the Centering Undergraduate Latiné Thriving with University Racial-Equity Action (CULTURA)
- Fall 2024 – UCSC is named a Fullbright Leader for the fourth consecutive year.
- Summer 2024 – Chancellor Larive appointed Chair of the Hispanic-Serving Research Universities Alliance.
- Spring 2024 – UCSC LALS Faculty Professor Pinho, was awarded a UCOP Doctoral Diversity HSI Initiatives grant, Diversifying the Social Science Future Faculty program. This $350,000 5-year grant builds on the success of the LALS Future Faculty Program, funded by a 2022-2023 UC-HSI DDI small grant.
- Winter 2024 – UCSC Chancellor appoints the inaugural Hispanic-Serving Research University (HSRU) Initiatives Director for UCSC, Professor Rodrigo Lazo.
2023
- Fall 2023 – Envisioning the Future of HSI at UCSC Fall 2023
- Fall 2023 – Chancellor Larive elected to the 2023-24 HACU Governing Board
- Fall 2023 – K-16 Regional Collaborative Grant, HSI Initiatives is partnering with the Educational Partnership Center, which is leading the change-making efforts.
- Fall 2023 – UCSC is named a Fulbright Leader for the third time.
- Fall 2023 – First Year Experience course, a GANAS Graduate activity, is institutionalized.
- Summer 2023 – UCSC was awarded, From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals, led by Professor Philpott with partnerships from Student Success and Equity units, including HSI Initiatives.
2022
- Fall 2022 – The Departmental Equity Dashboard (via UCSC internal dashboards) & the Equity Playbook were released.
- Fall 2022 – UCSC is named a Fulbright HSI Leader for the second year in a row.
- Fall 2022 – UCSC is awarded a $3 million HSI Title V grant, Cultivamos Excelencia aimed to support transfer pathways for students to UCSC and into research and graduate pathways.
- Fall 2022 – UCSC earns the prestigious Seal of Excelencia certification for work as a Hispanic-Serving Institution.
- Summer 2022 – The EOP STEM holistic advising and program initiatives from the SEMILLA grant dedicated to building on students’ STEM identity and dismantling equity barriers are sustained.
- Spring 2022 – UCSC Arts Division was awarded a UCOP Doctoral Diversity HSI Initiatives grant, Pathways to the Professoriate in the Arts and Humanities. HSI Initiatives was an invited collaborator.
- Spring 2022 – UCSC becomes a member of the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities (HSRU).
- Spring 2022 – Two UCSC Faculty, Ramirez (LALS) and Silva Gruesz, received Crossing Latinidades grants from the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Crossing Latinidades consortium, the forerunner of the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities. These grants support faculty and graduate students doing humanities research in Latiné studies.
- Winter 2022 – UCSC Faculty Juan Poblete and UCLA Faculty Silvia Hurtado present on UC-HSI Initiatives at the Office of the President Regent: Academic and Student Affairs meeting.
2021
- Summer 2021 – CP/EVC Kletzer sustained new practices that improved Math 2 and 3 students outcomes
- Fall 2021 – UCSC is named a Fulbright HSI Leader.
- Fall 2021 – Preparing for Inclusive Teaching is sustained by the Teaching and Learning Center
- Fall 2021 – Equity STEM Coordinator position is sustained by the Teaching and Learning Center
- Fall 2021 – Getting to know your students, consultations and dashboard sustained by the Teaching and Learning Center
- Spring 2021—The Multicultural Advising Conference, an initiative from the MAPA grant, is sustained as an e-course in the UC Learning Center to provide advisers with an opportunity to examine and reflect on student academic advising experiences. This milestone was made possible in collaboration with UCSC Learning & Development and Cal State East Bay’s Online Master of Science in eLearning Program.
2020
- Fall 2020 – UCSC is awarded a $3 million HSI Title V grant, Graduating and Advancing New American Scholars (GANAS) – Career Pathways.
- Fall 2020 – UCSC is awarded a $3 million HSI Title V grant, Graduating and Advancing New American Scholars (GANAS)—Graduate Pathways, becoming the only UC to have received a Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) grant.
- Fall 2020 – UCSC is awarded a supplemental grant (SEMILLA Remote Learning) to adjust and expand three of the SEMILLA grant activities that support students’ remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Summer 2020 – The HSI Leadership Committee builds on the work of the earlier HSI Task Force and HSI Initiatives Team to develop new opportunities and advise UCSC leaders on HSI-related matters and educational equity.*
- Summer 2020 – Chancellor Larive, CP/EVC Kletzer, and Interim VCSAS Baszile commit to sustaining Cultivamos Excelencia Project for 3 years.*
- Winter 2020 – In Dr. Gina Garcia’s book, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Practice – Defining “Servingness” at HSIs, UCSC contributes five chapters highlighting HSI Initiatives and UCSC’s growth as a racially just HSI.
2019
- Fall 2019 – The STEM Hub opens at the Science and Engineering Library.
- Fall 2019 – UCSC is awarded a supplemental HSI Title III grant (SEMILLA Teach) to address the severe shortage of Latiné STEM teachers in K-12 California schools.
- Fall 2019 – UCSC hosts the first UC-wide HSI Showcase, and UCSC HSI Initiatives staff, faculty, and students present our campus progress.
- Fall 2019- ACE receives funding from the EVC for the first Learning Skills Advisor in Computer Science, a position first piloted via the SEMILLA grant
- Summer 2019 – El Centro Program Coordinator position, an initiative from the HSI MAPA grant, is sustained by institutional funding.
2018
- Fall 2018 – UCSC waives fees for Cultivamos Excelencia cross-enrollment students.*
2016
- Fall 2016 – UCSC is awarded a $5.7 million HSI Title III grant, Science Education & Mentorship In Latino Lives in Academia (SEMILLA), to address equity initiatives in STEM persistence and degree completion.
2015
- Fall 2015 – UCSC is awarded two HSI Title V grants: $2.6 million for Maximizing Achievement Through Preparedness and Advising (MAPA) and $3.2 million for Cultivamos Excelencia, in partnership with San Jose City College (SJCC).
2014
- Spring 2014 – UCSC receives its first letter of designation from the U.S. Department of Education, allowing us to apply for federal HSI grants.
2012
- Fall 2012 – UCSC reaches 27% enrollment of Latiné-identified undergraduate students, thus becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution.
- Spring 2012 – Guided by the then-CP/EVC Galloway’s Campus Strategic Plan, VPDUE Hughey charges the HSI Task Force to review research and design UCSC’s plan to support underrepresented students and gain HSI funding.
* Institutional impacts