As Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) continue to grow in number across the United States, their impact on higher education is becoming increasingly significant. HSIs play a critical role in providing equitable access to higher education for Hispanic and Latinx students, promoting diversity, and driving institutional innovation. This presentation explores the unique opportunities HSIs offer to enhance university success, focusing on strategies to improve academic achievement, student support services, and community engagement. Key areas of discussion will include data-driven initiatives for improving retention and graduation rates among Hispanic students, fostering a campus culture that embraces multiculturalism, and building partnerships with local communities. We will also examine how universities can secure funding and resources available to HSIs to strengthen institutional infrastructure, enhance faculty development, and promote research initiatives that serve the needs of diverse student populations. By leveraging the unique strengths of HSIs, universities can not only meet the needs of Hispanic students but also foster an environment of inclusion and excellence that benefits the entire campus community. This presentation will provide actionable insights for university leaders, administrators, and educators seeking to enhance their institutions through the values and opportunities offered by HSI designation.

Deliberative dialogue is a High Impact Practice (HIP) that engages students from diverse backgrounds to dialogue, not debate, about different kinds of wicked problems, many of which involve controversial viewpoints. Attendees will learn the research behind deliberation as a HIP, best practices for embedding deliberation on campus, and experience a mini-deliberation.

We have developed an interactive virtual session that supports community college leaders in assessing their institution's readiness for equity-oriented change. Amid increased resistance and pushback to DEI efforts, we share insight from our research and practice on specific strategies to advancing racial equity efforts across community colleges. Specifically, we offer a model focused on two dimensions: (1) the level of organizational support and (2) shared responsibility to enact racial equity. From these dimensions, we describe four quadrants (Convergence, Performative, Collective, and Burdened) with distinct organizational conditions that shape how community college leaders design, build, and sustain equity efforts. The ability to identify organizational conditions that either cultivate or abate equity efforts is critical to disrupt, innovate, and transform our institutions. Our model is one way for equity advocates to decipher their own organizational archetype and leverage that information to mobilize their racial equity efforts.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 1 in 5 Black women are survivors of sexual assault. However, their numbers are lower as it pertains to prosecuted cases. Why is this? It is because Black women and girls have historically been dehumanized, considered unrapeable, and left without legal recourse, therefore they become easier targets for sexual violence and are more reluctant to come forward. In addition negative stereotypes and structural biases have had devastating consequences for Black women. Their trauma and victimization are often misunderstood, mislabeled or dismissed by systems (i.e. criminal justice, healthcare etc..) and even by their own culture.

How do you get students to care about ending sexual violence and increase your program reach and impact? Learn creative tools for connecting your students to the issue of sexual violence and motivating them to take action.

Through this interactive workshop, we will put on our “UndocuLens,” a conceptual framework that will provide action steps, grounded in evidence-based best practices of educational institutions across the country, that members can implement to bolster support for undocumented students. Additionally, we will demonstrate how different forms of advocacy can collectively help bring institutional and state-level change for undocumented students.

The qualitative case study explored the factors that foster an atmosphere of belonging for men of color (MOC) attending a two-year Predominantly White Institution (PWI). The pressing issue is that PWI colleges erroneously assume that an extension or invitation of welcome is the same as fostering a sense of belonging for men of color (MOC). This led colleges to construct policies and practices that do not intentionally and deliberately create an atmosphere where MOC feel valued, validated, and visible.

“Neurodiversity” is both a biological and a cultural phenomenon. Learning about the culture of neurodiversity will widen your perspective for those whose brains function in ways different from the neurotypical mainstream. This strengths-based, positive approach will alter your view of "outside-the-box" thinkers. Learn how proper niche construction can mold the future for neurodivergent students and how you can provide a community of acceptance for your campus.

In this NASPA live briefing, the presenter shares new thinking around the Leadership for Liberation framework—notably, embedding theories of madness and ideas around speculative practices. The presenter also extends the Leadership for Liberation framework for higher education/student affairs professionals in an effort to better prepare them for collective action toward liberation and all the meanings and feelings that come with it.

This program focuses on spiritual wellbeing--an often forgotten, yet extraordinarily important, area for college students.