CULTURA
The Centering Undergraduate Latiné Thriving with University Racial-Equity Action (CULTURA) Title V HSI Project will support UCSC’s commitment to student success and equity with structural and cultural changes, data-driven decisions, and students’ voices to reverse post-pandemic declines in Latiné enrollment (transfer), retention, and graduation rates.
| Grant goals | Anticipated impact |
|---|---|
| Goal 1: Increase retention and graduation rates for Latiné students. | Increase Latiné students’ retention rates by 5% and the number of graduation Latiné students who graduate by 10%. |
| Goal 2: Improve campus climate and sense of belonging for Latiné students. | Improve campus climate and sense of belonging by 5% for Latiné students. |
| Goal 3: Increase Latiné transfer student enrollment from partner community colleges. | Increase Latiné transfer student enrollment in Health Pathway majors by 421%. |
| Goal 4: Improve institutional capacity by increasing coordination and integration among campus supports, use of data systems, and visibility of UCSC HSI identity. | Increase integration among campus partners by 10%. |
*Denotes revised objective as of June 2024
Grant initiatives
The CULTURA Project aims to integrate and build capacity across student success initiatives by implementing the Ecological Validation Model, integrating student voices in the work of institutional agents across campus ecologies, and cycles of research, practice, and policies (Hallett et al., 2023; Kitchen et al., 2021) via four components:
Strengthening El Centro
Expanding programs and internships at the Latiné Student Servingness Campus Hub (El Centro), including bilingual service offerings for families and prospective students.
Latiné student success
Coordinating holistic coaching and advising services, warm handoff processes, and increasing validating experiences.
Health professions pathways
Holding articulation summits with community college faculty, using UCSC student ambassadors for outreach to community college students and providing peer mentoring for new transfer students interested in health care careers.
HSI servingness research internships
Offering robust research training opportunities for undergraduates and informing new research on student success within HSIs.
Meet the CULTURA team
The CULTURA Team members work on the day-to-day implementation of our grant-funded programs and services.
- Project Director and Principal Investigator, Charis Herzon, charish@ucsc.edu
- Co-Principal Investigator and HSI Servingness Lead, Rebecca Covarrubias, rebeccac@ucsc.edu
- Co-Principal Investigator and Health Professions Pathways Lead, Grant Hartzog, hartzog@ucsc.edu
- Strengthening El Centro and Latiné Student Success Lead, Xiomara Lopez, xielopez@ucsc.edu