Each year, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) celebrates HSI Week to acknowledge Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) across the nation.
The observance takes place during National Latinx Heritage Month, annually celebrated September 15-October 15. This year’s HSI Week will be celebrated September 9-15, 2024.
HSIs are defined as colleges and universities enrolling 25% or more undergraduate Latinx students. In 2022-23, there were 600 institutions across 30 states and Puerto Rico that met the definition of an HSI and they enrolled 66% of all Hispanic/Latinx undergraduates. HSI Week is an opportunity to elevate the vital role that these institutions play in educating one of the fastest growing demographics in the United States and postsecondary institutions. Hispanic/Latinx enrollment in higher education is expected to exceed 4.3 million students by 2026, far surpassing the growth rate of any other racial-ethnic group by over 10%.
California is home to 172 HSIs, with the number increasing each year as more Latinx students graduate from high schools in California. Through the UC HSI Initiative, the University of California system is moving toward becoming a Hispanic-Serving Research Institution (HSRI), with the goal of all nine undergraduate-enrolling campuses achieving HSI designation by 2030. Some UCs are currently HSIs while others are working on meeting this goal. While UC Berkeley is not an HSI yet, strides are being made to achieve HSI designation by 2028 and to become a university that serves Latinx students, staff, faculty and alumni so that they can thrive. This includes the appointing of the LTI Advisory Board and HSI Strategy Team. Read more about UC Berkeley’s Latinx Thriving Initiatives and check out the Latinx Heritage Month calendar of events.
Learn more about the HSI eligibility process by visiting the Department of Education’s HSI page.
There are several organizations that support HSIs across the country:
To learn more about HSIs and servingness, download these open access articles:
- Cuellar, M., Segundo, V., & Muñoz, Y. (2017). Assessing empowerment at HSIs: An adapted inputs-environments-outcomes model. Association of Mexican American Educators Journal, 11(3), 84-108. http://dx.doi.org/10.24974/amae.11.3.362
- Garcia, G. A. (2019, December). Defining “servingness” at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): Practical implications for HSI leaders. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
- Garcia, G. A. (2021). A love letter to HSI grant seekers/implementers and the federal agencies that fund them: Defining servingness in research, practice, & policy. Journal of the Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institution Educators, 1(1), 1-14.
- Garcia, G. A., & Cuellar, M. G. (2023). Advancing “intersectional servingness” in research, practice, and policy with Hispanic-Serving Institutions. AERA Open, 9. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221148421
- Kovats Sánchez, G. (2021). “If we don’t do it, nobody is going to talk about it”: Indigenous students disrupting Latinidad at Hispanic-serving institutions. AERA Open, 7(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211059194
- Vega, B. E., Liera, R., & Boveda, M. (2022). Hispanic-Serving Institutions as racialized organizations: Elevating intersectional consciousness to reframe the “H” in HSI. AERA Open, 8(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221095074
- Villarreal, C. D. (2022). Servingness in the Borderlands: A study of faculty hiring at a Hispanic-Serving Institution on the border. AERA Open, 8(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221099597
- You can also follow along with the HSI conversation on the popular podcast Qué Pasa, HSI? hosted by Berkeley’s Faculty Director of Latinx Thriving Initiatives Dr. Gina Ann Garcia
