HSI Fellows Program

PURPOSE

The Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Fellows Program serves to strategically further the scope and depth of work around our HSI designation and provide a venue for community-building and career development for faculty and staff through a project-based leadership experience, mentoring and coaching, and a series of targeted workshops. As we seek to serve students from diverse backgrounds, particularly Hispanic/Latinx undergraduate and graduate students, the HSI Fellows Program serves as one of many strategies towards strengthening our institutional capacity as a Hispanic Serving Institution.

To learn more, click here to view HSI Fellows presenting at the 2020 annual conference of the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU). 

AUDIENCE

To optimize the UA’s organizational identity as an HSI and enhance and diversify the University’s leadership capacity, the HSI Fellows Program will provide a project-based leadership opportunity for up to 10 thought and action leaders, including early-and mid-career faculty, academic and administrative heads, program directors, and individuals identified as emerging leaders. Faculty and staff from all backgrounds are invited to apply. Cohort size may vary depending on available resources. 

COMMITMENT

The aim and scope of the HSI Fellows’ involvement warrants a time commitment of 4-5 hours on average per week to fulfill project obligations and attend the entire meeting schedule. The Office of the Provost, which sponsors this program, with the College Deans and Vice Presidents will work to ensure a cost-sharing arrangement for course release/buyout and workload reassignments, as needed.

ACTIVITIES

The core activities of the program include: (1) participating in all pre-scheduled sessions; and (2) developing and implementing a team-based HSI-related project.

PROJECT-BASED LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 

Fellows will work in small teams to lead a project from conception to launch to expand institutional capacity for supporting the HSI designation.

Project teams will tackle one of the three broadly defined HSI-related opportunities listed below. Based on applicants’ expressed preferences, participants will be assigned to one team and will assume varying leadership roles to ensure effective project management and implementation.

• Develop and facilitate capacity building activities to establish and/or strengthen equity-minded collaborations that yield grant development efforts centered on servingness¹
• Develop and facilitate a collaborative effort of research and creative expressions centered on servingness¹
• Advance a collective vision of pathways aimed at diversifying the professoriate
• Pitch a compelling case for a project of your own choosing that would significantly further our institutional capacity to actualize our HSI designation

MEETING SCHEDULE

Participants must attend all scheduled sessions in their entirety.

Team Meetings:   Weekly/Bi-weekly Team Meetings

¹Garcia, G. A., Núñez, A. M., & Sansone, V. A. (2019). Toward a multidimensional conceptual framework for understanding “servingness” in Hispanic-serving institutions: A synthesis of the research. Review of Educational Research, 89(5), 745-784.

APPLICATION PROCESS

DUE: March 1, 2022

Please submit all three required documents in one email to UA-HSI@email.arizona.edu  

1. PERSONAL STATEMENT (2 pages maximum)

Please prepare a statement that addresses the following questions:

   a. Why are you applying to the HSI Fellows Program?

   b. What specific experiences, strengths, areas of expertise, and/or achievements make you a promising leader for advancing HSI Initiatives at the UA?

   c. Clearly indicate your preferred HSI project and explain some of your preliminary thoughts and ideas to advance work in this area. The foci of the projects are loosely described to allow the teams to shape the work together. Please indicate your second preference for a project should we need to compose work groups more evenly.

2. SHORT RESUME or CV (3 pages maximum)

3. LETTER(S) OF RECOMMENDATION (1-2 letters)

Primary Letter (required): Your primary letter of recommendation must come from your direct supervisor and speak to your leadership and project management potential and commitment towards advancing institutional efforts related to diversity, inclusion, and equity. Supervisors must also address in their letter whether a course buy out or reassignment of duties is needed to offset the required time commitment of one academic year for their faculty or staff.

Secondary Letter (optional): If you would like to submit a letter of support from someone other than your direct supervisor who could further speak to the requested components of the letter please feel free to include a secondary letter. This letter is in addition to the letter from your supervisor.

Please direct questions to Marla A. Franco, Assistant Vice Provost, HSI Initiatives at marlafranco@email.arizona.edu