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The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine. Latest News in Higher Education, Job openings and Careers in Universities
36
VOLUME 26 NUMBER 3 DECEMBER 14, 2015 WWW.HISPANICOUTLOOK.COM THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE US The Electoral Process
Transcript

VOLUME 26 • NUMBER 3DECEMBER 14, 2015

WWW.HISPANICOUTLOOK.COM

THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

IN THE US

The Electoral

Process

THANKS FOR A GREAT YEARAND WE HOPE TO CONTINUE

OUR MANY SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 3

Written by Carlos D. Conde

LATINO KALEIDOSCOPE

Carlos D. Conde, an award-winning journal-ist, former Washington and foreign correspondent, was an communications aide in the Nixon White House. Write to him at [email protected].

cepted as a missionary and set sail for Mexico.

His earlier history in Mexico pro-duced some postmortem controversy for (along with his ministerial work)temporarily serving the repressive Span-ish inquisition.

It was apparently without conse-quences although this later came to haunt his ministries and credentials and briefly, but publicly, his canonization.

Father Serra wasn’t your ordinary priest. His religious devotions includ-ed self-inflicted physical torture like self-flagellation as repentance and dis-cipline, evident in his long trek on a crippled foot from Mexico to California establishing 21 missions from San Di-ego to San Francisco.

His ministries are deemed genuine although, unfortunately, he is not a re-ligious hero or saint to everyone, partic-ularly California’s Native Americans in the region that largely created his legacy.

Native American groups made a lot of noise over his canonization claim-ing the Vatican failed to sufficiently vet his theological past to grant him the Church’s supreme elevation.

Father Serra would have probably dismissed all this with his favorite chant, “Siempre Adelante” (Always Ahead).

Pope Francis also repeated it at Fa-ther Serra’s canonization, or maybe he was saying, “get over it.” •

There’s a myth about Spanish colo-nialism in the Americas that when

the Spanish conquistadors – Hernan Cortez, Francisco Pizzaro et al – landed on the continent, they first fell on their knees and then on the Indians.

It’s not a myth to some who consid-er it the preamble to the fate of the Na-tive Americans, aka, American Indians, in the name of religion.

There are historians and Native American groups, in particular, who would attribute some truism to this long standing debate about harsh Cath-olic evangelism in the Americas by its pioneering missionaries.

That historical episode was revisit-ed in an ecclesiastical way during Pope Francis’ recent visit to Washington, D.C., when among other papal cere-monies, he canonized the Rev. Junipero Serra, a Franciscan priest noted for his ministries in early California that later extended along the U.S. southwest cor-ridor.

While the Pope, dignitaries and the faithful were celebrating the Rever-end’s sainthood, another element of the original American social fabric, Native Americans, was publicly denouncing the church’s recognition of Father Serra and his saintly ascension.

Prior to his canonization in Wash-ington, the dissidents desecrated his grave in Carmel in retribution for Fa-ther Serra’s role through his ministries, so the legend submits in the harsh sub-jugation of Native American (Indians) in California.

Some Native Americans haven’t for-gotten or forgiven and used this exalt-ed church occasion to have their say by dousing the statue of Serra with paint

and scrawling on the monument, “Saint of Genocide.”

Father Serra is the first Hispanic from the Americans to be canonized although his antecedents are born and bred Spanish from the original mother country, and he came to Mexico from Mallorca as a young missionary.

Pope Francis’ investiture of Father Serra also served to rekindle a sensitive issue on some of the methods employed by the Catholic missionaries in Chris-tianizing the local “heathens.”

It has led to some debate and con-troversy on the recognition and sainting of missionaries like Father Serro who built his reputation on converting the indigenous Native American groups to Catholicism.

Today’s detractors claim Father Ser-ra and other church missionaries may have served their tasks too harshly in-flicting hardship and repression—and countenancing the byproduct of social diseases inflicted on the local indige-nous groups by the Spanish occupation forces in the Americas.

Like many other Latinos, I had never heard of Father Serra until now. For those of us of Mexican heritage, the Indian peasant Juan Diego, beatified by Pope John Paul in 2002, has always been our hero.

The Catholic clergy, particularly those reaching sainthood, like Father Serra, is sacrosanct to the Latino faith-ful. The padres, although there have been a few rascals, are the ultimate au-thority of God whatever the pecking order.

Father Serra was ordained in 1737 and briefly taught philosophy in a local college in Mallorca before he was ac-

~

THE POPE AND JUNIPERO SERRA

4 • December 14, 2015

THE HISPANIC OUTLOOK IN HIGHER EDUCATION MAGAZINEVOLUME 26 • NUMBER 3

PUBLISHERJOSÉ LÓPEZ-ISAEDITOR IN CHIEF

MARY ANN COOPERWASHINGTON DC BUREAU CHIEF

PEGGY SANDS ORCHOWSKICONTRIBUTING EDITORS

CARLOS D. CONDE, MICHELLE ADAMEDITOR EMERITUSMARILYN GILROY

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSGUSTAVO A. MELLANDER

CHIEF OF HUMAN RESOURCES & ADMINISTRATIONTOMÁS CASTELLANOS NÚÑEZ

CHIEF OF ADVERTISING, MARKETING & PRODUCTIONMEREDITH COOPER

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORMARILYN ROCA ENRÍQUEZ

ART & PRODUCTION DIRECTORRICARDO CASTILLO

DIRECTOR OF ACCOUNTING & FINANCEJAVIER SALAZAR CARRIÓN

SALES ASSOCIATESERGIO LUGO

ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORSFRANK DIMARIA, SYLVIA MENDOZA, AND MIQUELA RIVERA

on the coverImage licensed by Ingram Image

PUBLISHED BY “THE HISPANIC OUTLOOK IN HIGHER EDUCATION PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.”

Editorial PolicyThe Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® is a national magazine. Dedicated to exploring issues related to Hispanics in higher education, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Ed-ucation Magazine®is published for the members of the higher education community. Edito-rial decisions are based on the editors’ judgment of the quality of the writing, the timeliness of the article, and the potential interest to the readers of The Hispanic Outlook Magazine®. From time to time, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® will publish articles dealing with controversial issues. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and/or those interviewed and might not reflect the official policy of the magazine. The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine® neither agrees nor disagrees with those ideas ex-pressed, and no endorsement of those views should be inferred unless specifically identified as officially endorsed by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine®.

Letters to the EditorThe Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine ®

email: [email protected]

Editorial Office299 Market St, Ste. 145, Saddle Brook, N.J. 07663

TEL (201) 587-8800 or (800) 549-8280

“‘The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education’ and ’Hispanic Outlook are registered trademarks.’”

Featured Article Free higher education as a mechanism for reducing the enormous and growing social inequality in the country

18

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 5

The University of Central Florida has evolved to become the nation’s second-largest university. We’re adding world-class researchers and scholars — ensuring the success of each faculty member in the classroom, the research lab and beyond.

UCF is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

We’re seeking 100 of the best new minds in research and teaching to foster diversity and innovation in our 13 colleges. Visit ucf.edu/faculty.

We are more than higher ed.We are a whole new category. We build. We innovate. We incubate. We expand access and develop an educated workforce to make an impact. We transform lives. We save lives. We are the University of Central Florida and

We’re Hiring.

6 • December 14, 2015

Located in Houston, the nation’s 4th largest city with a thriving economy and a robust legal market

• Recognized for diversity by preLaw and The National Jurist magazines

• Ranked 18th by Hispanic Outlook for Higher Education among top law schools for Hispanics

• Ranked in the Top 10 by U.S. News & World Report for Intellectual Property and Health Law programs

• Ranked 31th by The National Law Journal among ‘Go to’ law schools for graduates hired by the top 250 law firms

• Named a ‘Best Value’ school by preLaw Magazine

• Offers JD/MBA, JD/MA, JD/MSW, JD/MPH, JD/MD, and JD/Ph.D.

• Offers joint JD program with University of Calgary law school in International Energy Law allowing students to earn both Canadian and American law degrees in 4 years

• Hands-on clinical programs in precedent-setting cases in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court

• Employment rate at 90.6% 10 months after graduation

THE POWER OF LEGAL EDUCATION

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university and an EO/AA institution.

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 7

www.law.miami.edu

SHAPE YOUR FUTURE AT MIAMI LAW

EXTENSIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS HANDS-ON PRACTICAL SKILLS PUBLIC INTEREST FOCUS INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL IMPACT

8 • December 14, 2015

THE HISPANIC OUTLOOK IN HIGHER EDUCATION MAGAZINEDECEMBER 14, 2015

KALEIDOSCOPEThe Pope and Junipero Serraby Carlos D. Conde

HISPANIC GAINS DESPITE LAW SCHOOL ENROLLMENT DROPWith fewer students attending law school than ever before, Hispanics are in a prime position to receive a law degreeby Michelle Adam

THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW SCHOOL LAUNCHES TWO INNOVATIVE LEGAL PROGRAMSOne involves mentoring at-risk middle school students and the other focuses on sealing juvenile offenders’ recordsby Gary M. Stern

THE ELECTORAL PROCESS AND THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USPublic universities have to find and secure the means to meet enormous demand in order to maintain a diverse student bodyby Dr. Priscilla Gac-Artigas

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA CENTER SERVES A VULNERABLE STUDENT POPULATIONUC unveils its Undocumented Legal Services Centerby Kevin R. Johnson

TOP 25 SCHOOLS FOR HISPANIC LAW PROFESSIONALS These schools grant the most law degrees and certificates to Hispanics

SCHOLAR’S CORNERby Edwin Hernandez, Doctoral Candidate Social Science and Comparative Education, University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Graduate Fellow

OWN IT!The Latino Entrepreneur Must Choose Wiselyby Marvin F. Lozano, Ed.D. and Miquela Rivera, Ph.D.

TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATIONThe Law: A Career Opportunity for Hispanics? by Gustavo A. Mellander

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Table of

CONTENTS3

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TOP 25LAW

SCHOOLS

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 9

A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES.

tenley.wcl.american.edu #buildwhatmatters

TENLEY CAMPUSopening January 2016

WE’RE BUILDING

New York Law School Diversity in Action

www.nyls.edu

Founded in 1891, New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. NYLS is located near the centers of law, government, finance, and a thriving cultural and artistic community in Manhattan’s TriBeCa district. In 2015, 38% of the incoming class identified as students of color.

As New Yorkers and legal educators, we understand diversity is our greatest strength and is fundamental to our identity as New York’s law school.

185 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013-2921 T 212.431.2888Toll-Free 877.937.NYLS E [email protected]

WE ARE NEW YORK’S LAW SCHOOL

10 • December 14, 2015

HISPANIC GAINS DESPITE LAW SCHOOL ENROLLMENT DROP

~Written by

Michelle Adam

Law School enrollment has seen a consistent decline since 2010 when the nation experienced an all time high in the number of

students attending. According to the American Bar Association, enroll-ment has dropped for four consec-utive years since 2010 with a seven percent drop from 2013 to 2014 and an 18.5 percent decrease in en-rollment from 2010 to today.

Most experts attribute the drop in enrollment to student concerns for the high cost of legal education coupled with fewer job market re-turns than those earlier experienced. After all, the amount of work for lawyers has decreased in the past five years, as has, in most cases, the earn-ings that a law degree used to offer.

In an effort to remedy this situ-ation, law schools have become cre-ative. They have begun to offer con-densed programs—degrees achieved in two years instead of four—and are providing clinic-rotation and re-al-world experience in their educa-tion, according to a U.S. News and World Report. In addition, median LSAT scores at many law schools have dropped 3-5 points, making it

an ideal time for Hispanic students (who have historically scored lower on LSATs) to apply to law school.

Hispanics Benefit from DownturnWhile Hispanic applications to

law school have dropped along with

Hispanic applications decreased by 3.9 percent, yet the number of ac-ceptances increased by 2.9 percent, according to the National Law Jour-nal).

In addition, in Hispanic Outlook interviews with top law schools for Hispanic students, we discovered that the trend in Hispanic enroll-ment has at times defied the nation-al average. Some Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) have actually had an increase in Hispanic student enrollment and are finding that His-panics with bilingual skills are doing better in the job market than others.

Florida International University“While our enrollment went

down four percent in the past year—in this market, that is flat, as far as I’m concerned—our diversity went up, quality increased and our aver-age GPA has increased,” Alexander Acosta, dean of Florida Internation-al University College of Law, said. “We’ve had a slight increase in the number of Hispanics this fall. We have 55 percent Hispanics [up from 43.8 percent in 2010] and 65 per-cent minority overall, and we are

With fewer students attending law

school than ever before, Hispanics

are in a prime position to receive

a law degree…and find jobs that

require their diverse language and cultural skills.

those from the overall population in the past few years, the number of ac-ceptances they’ve received has gone up (for example, for the fall of 2012,

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 11

HISPANIC GAINS DESPITE LAW SCHOOL ENROLLMENT DROP

bucking the trend in that our His-panic students are doing incredibly well in the job market.”

At FIU, many of their Hispan-ic law students come with a “hun-ger” to do well, Acosta explained, especially those who emigrated from Cuba and have experienced severe hardships. Also, given a high de-mand for bilingual lawyers in the Miami area, a majority of students land a job shortly upon obtaining a degree.

“Our nine-month full-time em-ployment rate [after graduation] is 80 percent,” Acosta said.

Student success can also be at-tributed to FIU’s efforts: It has of-fered students scholarships provided by local firms, has actively recruited students and has created programs that help students do well in school and beyond. Every law student is offered an academic enrichment program upon entering law school and is taught the basics of how to be successful in school as well as the ins and outs of the legal world. Mento-ring programs and classes on legal reading and writing in Spanish are also provided.

Rutgers School of LawRutgers School of Law in New

Jersey has also worked hard to draw and maintain a diverse student body despite experiencing a similar de-crease in overall applications. Like FIU, it has also seen an increase in the number of Latino students and students of color enrolling.

“Minority students are apply-ing to us in larger numbers,” Yvette Bravo-Weber, assistant dean of the Minority Student Program and Ex-ternships at Rutgers, said. Rutgers School of Law

12 • December 14, 2015

Their mission, she said, has been to support diversity on campus. As part of that mission, Rutgers has been offering incoming students a Minority Student Program (MSP) for multiple decades. Incoming students—35 percent of which are Hispanic—are invited to be a part of this three-week program, which begins in early summer with a three-day orientation followed by classes providing skills on how to be suc-cessful in law school (how to read, take notes, prepare for exams, etc.). Successful alumni and lawyers from earlier programs speak with incom-ing students, mentor them and offer opportunities to shadow their work.

Rutgers provides first-year stu-dents paid internships, in addition to study groups, robust academic support and, at times, financial sup-

port. As a result, the school’s reten-tion rate is almost 100 percent, and many alumni are now part of the Hispanic Bar Association.

Whittier Law SchoolLike Rutgers, Whittier Law

School, which was ranked as hav-ing the most diverse student body in California, has also seen a drop in applications in the past year. None-theless, it has also been able to main-tain a diverse student population with 54 percent minority students today compared to 50 percent in 2000. The school has attracted large percentages of minorities because of its Southern California location, and with a long tradition of diversity, it has provided helpful information to students on how to apply, select and attend a law school. Yvette Bravo-Weber

Whittier Law School

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 13

In the past few years, Whitti-er Law School has hosted weekend conferences to help minority and low-income students apply to and get into law school and has aggres-sively reached out to potential mi-nority students. In addition, the col-lege reaches out to employers for job and fellowship opportunities for its graduates.

St. Thomas University School of Law

At St. Thomas University School of Law in Florida where 67 percent of students are Hispanic, applica-tions dropped 10 percent from the previous year. But rather than accept students with low LSAT scores, the school decided to decrease enroll-ment instead.

St. Thomas has taken a lot of initiatives, though, to address the

needs of the students who are en-rolling. Two years ago, the school opened up its Summer Condition-al Program to all students admitted to the JD program although it was originally designed for those who may not have been admitted into the JD program without proper preparation. This three-week pro-gram exposes many new first gen-eration students and beyond to the law school experience since “many first-generation students don’t know what law school is going to be like,” Jessica Fonseca-Nader, assistant dean of the law school, said.

Students also receive an ac-tive-learning instructor program where upper-level students serve as mentors to students. Second-year students are given workshops on ex-am-taking, essay-skills building and review first-year material. Third-year

students take a pre-Bar test and are taught to prepare for the Bar, and after they graduate, the dean of ac-ademic support runs workshops on topics relative to the Bar.

“We have a good graduation rate,” Fonseca-Nader said.

Graduating a strong group of Hispanic students who are ready for a successful career in law—and offer a new breed of bilingual law-yer needed in today’s society—is something that all schools HO in-terviewed are doing. With fewer students attending law school than ever before, Hispanics are in a prime position to receive a law degree—schools are competing harder for their attendance—and find jobs that require their diverse language and cultural skills. •

St. Thomas University School of Law

14 • December 14, 2015

Written byGary M. Stern

The University of Houston Law School Launches

TWO INNOVATIVE LEGAL PROGRAMS

David Dow, a distinguished professor at the University of Houston Law Center and founder of the Texas Inno-

cence Network, which represents death-sentenced inmates, is spear-heading two new programs: one involving mentoring at-risk middle school students and the other fo-cuses on sealing juvenile offend-ers’ records. Though each of these programs is run separately, Dow, a Houston, Texas, native and Yale Law School graduate, said “At some point we intend to fold the three different programs into one corporate um-brella.”

Dow explains that the three pro-grams are interconnected. Each pro-gram represents mostly poor and dis-advantaged youths or offenders who often don’t receive a fair shake from the justice system or are unaware of opportunities available for them.

Over the last 25 years, Dow has been fighting for the rights of death row inmates. “In the course of do-ing this work, I’ve concluded that if my client had a legal and social support network when he had been

much younger or in middle school, he wouldn‘t have ended up as my cli-ent,” he said.

That triggered the formation of the Juvenile & Capital Advo-cacy Project (JCAP) in fall 2014, an offshoot of the Texas Innocence Network. When presenting a TED

(Technology, Entertainment and Design) Talk, Dow proposed men-toring middle-school students to enlighten them about their many opportunities, including higher ed-ucation.

Providing them with options and alternatives would steer them in the

Katya Dow

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 15

“Many Latino and African American students come to

law school with the hope of being able to help their

communities, and this program

allows them to do that.”

Katya Dow, University of Houston Law Center

David Dow, University of Houston Law-Center

juvenile and commit what are just youthful missteps can be haunted by them for the rest of their lives. What we’re doing is fishing in the pond,” Dow said. Hence, JCAP is sending a message that college and careers are possible and so is success.

Many mentors are doctors, at-torneys and professionals who live outside of the more insulated inner city neighborhoods. Dow envisions tripling the program so that 200 stu-dents could be mentored in the fu-ture.

Seeing how the release of juve-nile records can damage a teenager for extended periods contributed to Dow’s introducing a clinical course at the University of Houston Law Center in sealing juvenile records. It is taught by Katya Dow, his wife, an adjunct professor at UH Law Cen-ter.

Many youthful offenders aren’t even aware that their juvenile records are exerting damaging impact on their lives. For example, when the youthful offender applies for a job at a fast-food eatery, and a background check is executed, the applicant will be rejected without any explanation. “They don’t know why they’re not hired or why their loan for college has been denied,” Dow explained.

While the juvenile offenders gain from ensuring that their youth-ful crimes are sealed, so do the Uni-versity of Houston law students re-searching their cases. “They get to learn how to practice law in a way that is valuable. They can help a kid get a job, gain financial aid and go to college,” Dow pointed out.

Katya Dow who teaches the Ju-venile Record Sealing class says law students are trained how to meet

with their clients, sign an affida-vit and obtain the sealed records in court. Then they’re taught to file the proper paperwork for the judge and obtain a hearing date and then transmit the information to relevant agencies. By law after two years, all juvenile records must be sealed.

“It gives them the opportuni-ty to experience what it means to practice law in the real world. It’s something you don’t often do in law school,” Katya Dow noted. Some of these law students will use these skills if they specialize in juve-nile law or handle criminal cases.

However, law students can’t ar-gue at hearings because they haven’t passed the bar exam, so Katya Dow represents the juveniles at every hearing, keeping her busy. All the legal work executed for the juveniles is done pro bono, so they don’t have to pay attorneys or law students.

right direction and deter them from choosing any kind of criminal activ-ity and, over the long haul, prevent them committing any capital crimes. He received a modest stipend from the University of Houston Law Cen-ter to springboard the project.

JCAP mentors 70 middle school-ers from the William A. Lawson In-stitute for Peace and Prosperity in Houston. It focuses on disadvan-taged youth who live in high crime or low-income neighborhoods. “Are all of them going to do something horrible? Of course not,” Dow said. Mentoring teenagers, however, is a way to deter criminal activity and nip it in the bud.

“Kids in Texas particularly who get arrested or charged with nickel and dime felonies when they’re a Ph

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16 • December 14, 2015

These three programs concern-ing death penalty grievances, men-toring of poor teenagers and sealing of juvenile crimes are interrelated because they all deal with “poverty issues and criminal justice issues. It doesn’t matter if you’re liberal or conservative, but if a kid makes a mistake when they’re 13 or 14, it shouldn’t haunt them for the rest of their life,” Dow exclaimed.

In the future, David Dow in-tends to expand the mentoring program to include sixth and sev-enth graders not just eighth graders. He’d also like to extend the juvenile seals record program to assist a great-er number of youthful offenders. “I’d like to see more technological changes to make it less tedious to seal juvenile records,” he added. •

Of the 11 students enrolled in the record sealing class, four were minorities including three Latinos and one African-American. “Many Latino and African American stu-dents come to law school with the hope of being able to help their communities, and this program al-lows them to do that,” she said.

Third-year Houston Law Cen-ter student Ruben Ramirez, slated to graduate in May 2016, took the juvenile record sealing class. Raised in Edinburg, Texas, he wants to give back to the community when he be-comes a trial lawyer. He notes that most of the juvenile infractions com-mitted are minor and yet, if released, could have devastating impact on their life.

Ramirez says the three main

skills he learned in the class were: 1) client management and juggling multiple classes simultaneously, 2) drafting the petition and court or-der for sealing juvenile records and 3) coaxing clients to overcome their fears of the judicial system.

Having taken the class, Ramirez can now “assist eligible juveniles from our community in sealing their records. I have screened clients for eligibility, walked them through the process, drafted their petition and order for record sealing, filed their petition and served notice of the hearing to relevant agencies.”

Ramirez compares what Profes-sor Dow has done in the class to an old maxim: Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for the rest of his life.

Katya Dow (left) and members of the Juvenile & Capital Advocacy Project

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 17

POST A JOB TODAY!

CALL (201) 587 8800

OR VISITWWW.HISPANICOUTLOOKJOBS.COM

18 • December 14, 2015

THE ELECTORAL PROCESS

and the Future of Higher Education in the US

Written byDr. Priscilla Gac-Artigas

Recently in the White House Rose Garden--a place tradi-tionally used by presidents to meet the press, receive distin-

guished visitors and make public policy announcements--Vice Pres-ident Joe Biden announced to the Nation that he would not run for president.

Nevertheless, his speech was a presidential speech with substan-tive content. One of the issues he addressed that struck us the most was his proposal for free higher ed-ucation as a mechanism for reducing the enormous and growing social in-equality in the country while ensur-ing economic growth. Vice President Biden thus highlighted the need to reform an unfair educational system, a system that deepens inequities by denying the students from disadvan-taged sectors the opportunity to pur-sue a college degree.

He reminded us that 100 years ago the U.S. established by law 12 years of free public education. He went on to add that nowadays 12 years was not enough and that it is time to offer 16 years of free public education, that is to make the first four years of college at public insti-tutions tuition free. By doing so, he

joined voices with two other Dem-ocratic candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Sanders includ-ed in his program free education as a universal right while Hillary Clinton presented an affordable higher edu-cation plan that includes grants to states that guarantee public univer-sity students can graduate without loans, tuition assistance in exchange for national service, income-based repayment plans and refinancing at current rates for recent graduates.

What are the implications of this situation?

A change has occurred in Amer-ican politics, and the right to free public higher education is now a part of the public debate.

After returning from my experi-ence as a Fulbright Scholar in Chile a year ago (where I worked with pro-fessors and students on strategies to develop critical thinking through the improvement of writing skills), Congress was in the thick of dis-cussions about free access to higher education. I couldn’t help but think about the similarities and differenc-es between what happened in Chile and the challenges that free educa-tion would impose on public and

private institutions in the United States.

In Chile, the idea of education as a right and, therefore, an obliga-tion of the State to secure its gratu-ity was imposed by the masses--the students--who occupied the streets, schools and universities to advance this proposal. Therefore, what at first seemed a dream, a utopia for the few, finally reached hundreds of thousands of students, parents and teachers who marched through the streets of Chile and progressively dominated the political debate.

Little by little politicians of all currents adhered to the idea, and the debate moved on to planning the steps needed to implement and finance it. This led to the approval of tax reform to secure funding and im-plement a law that gradually reached total tuition-free higher education. Today, no one in Chile questions the universal right to free quality ed-ucation, and starting next year, the most vulnerable students will study tuition free at Chilean public uni-versities as well as private non-profit institutions that meet accreditation criteria.

In the United States, the pro-cess begins backward, from the top

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 19

Public universities will have to confront the challenge of adapting and expanding to continue providing a quality education to a growing student population. They have to find and secure the means to meet enormous demand in order to maintain a diverse student body.

down. Considering recent history, it is clear that the debate does not emerge from the student body or in the classrooms or the streets; the discussion has been broached by a handful of politicians as part of an electoral process that has proved to be anything but conventional.

The first one to bring up the is-sue was Bernie Sanders, Democrat candidate, who as a self-described “democratic socialist” presents a campaign program that mirrors policies in social-democratic Euro-pean countries. Among other sub-jects, these policies concern issues of income and social inequality, universal education and healthcare, parental leave and LGBTQ popula-tion rights. Sander’s perspective was echoed by Vice President Biden with some nuances by Hillary Clinton. We are convinced that thanks to the electoral process, the discussion will

continue and eventually lead us in the same direction as in Chile. The timeframe of the process is unpre-dictable, though, but so it also was in that southern country years ago.

Therefore, both public and pri-vate institutions in the U.S. have to prepare for this challenge in order to handle an imminent change in the composition of their student bodies in order to define or redefine their institutional missions and to deal with the inevitable competition that will arise between the public tui-tion-free institutions and the private tuition-paid ones to attract and re-tain the finest students.

What would it imply for public universities to be tuition-free?

Public universities will have to confront the challenge of adapting and expanding to continue provid-ing a quality education to a growing

Image licensed by Ingram Image

20 • December 14, 2015

student population. They have to find and secure the means to meet enormous demand in order to main-tain a diverse student body. With existing space constraints, public universities run the risk of over-rep-resenting high-performers from wealthy school districts who would have otherwise attended private in-stitutions. Public universities have to secure the means to offer underpre-pared students from underprivileged neighborhoods the tools and infra-structure to be successful in college so to avoid the kind of deception and exodus of low-income freshmen that we have seen in other coun-tries, Argentina among them where higher education is not only tuition free; there is no admission selection process in place. In brief, universi-ties have to be ready to guarantee a quality education by providing fac-ulty the time and the means to do research and innovate within their fields and to bring these findings

into the classrooms and eventually, through their students, share them with society as a whole.

Private universities will have to ponder about their future as well.

The most prestigious ones, na-tional and international, will be less affected. Their competitiveness will continue residing in the exceptional quality of their education and in the other advantages conferred by their degrees: prestige, networking, access to money and power, etc. Most of these elite universities have the fi-nancial means to maintain through outreach and scholarships a diverse population of top-performing stu-dents thus guaranteeing a rewarding and transformative college experi-ence for all members of the college community.

The other private universities will have to strive to establish or maintain a reputation that allows them to convince parents and stu-

dents of the advantages of choosing them over comparable public tui-tion-free institutions. And those ad-vantages will have to rely on offering an education of quality that prepares students for a successful and fulfill-ing life after college in a globalized world; on the distinctiveness and applicability of their programs; on the quality, leadership and recogni-tion of their faculty beyond regional borders; on the affordability and the scholarships that may be offered to ensure diversity as well as retention of students to avoid the exodus to-wards public universities of similar prestige; on the research produced; on the relationship of tuition cost and salary compensation and on its relationship to its surrounding com-munity.

Thus, their future will depend on how effective they will be in trans-forming the lives of their students by making college an enriching expe-rience pedagogically, culturally and

Image licensed by Ingram ImageHarvard Law School

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 21

We believe that quality, univer-sal and free education is a right. The road to college must depend on per-sonal effort; quality early education; support of parents and family and awareness that those excluded also have a place in the construction of the future: theirs, ours and that of the country.

Are we – students, parents, ad-ministrators, scholars, teachers, poli-ticians, 99 and 1% alike – ALL of us willing to push for change, and are we prepared to face the challenges that come with it?

Perhaps that is another of the questions that should enter into the discussion, in classrooms, in schol-ar meetings. Otherwise, the direc-tion of the process can change, and maybe, as in Chile, the street will be full of people marching, so the new ideas and revitalizing winds enter the classroom.

Written in collaboration with

Gustavo Gac-Artigas, writer, Con-tributing Member of the ANLE and co-author of E-GPS Essay-Ensayo, a mobile app for writing essays in En-glish and Spanish. •

Dr. Priscilla Gac-Artigas is a Professor of For-eign Languages and Latin American Literature in the department of World Languages and Cultures at Monmouth University, NJ. She is a Fulbright Scholar and a Contributing Member of the Aca-demia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE). Among her latest publications —in con-junction with Gustavo Gac-Artigas, writer and Contributing Member of the ANLE— E-GPS Es-say / Ensayo , mobile app for structuring logical and coherent essays either in English or Spanish. www.linkedin.com/pub/priscilla-gac-artigas/52/612/a10

socially that also leads to competitive salaries after graduation.

Private universities’ future will depend on overcoming the fear of disappearing, the fear of competition and the fear of change. As stated by Dr. Paul Brown, President of Mon-mouth University (a private regional institution in New Jersey): “A multi-tude of factors are putting higher ed-ucation at a critical crossroads, and how the university chooses to har-ness our collective resources, acumen and foresight to move ahead will be a defining moment. With change ines-capably before us, we must articulate a new vision for Monmouth and cre-ate nothing short of a transformative learning experience for Monmouth students.”

Private universities’ survival will depend, in our view, on accepting honestly and responsibly the chal-lenges ahead, and exploring openly and creatively a myriad of options that ensure a better future for our students and a better future for our society.

We are witnessing a singular po-litical moment that can become rich, vibrant, life-changing not only for the future of higher education but also for the future of the country. As it happened in Chile, the road can open quickly, and it is our respon-sibility as administrators, scholars and faculty at higher education in-stitutions to ask ourselves about the prospects of a change like this and to start preparing to confront the chal-lenges.

On my first day as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Santi-ago, students were absent from the classroom not because they were on vacation but because they were in

the streets demanding educational reform. That day, I closed my office and went out to the streets to learn. Today in 2015, Chile has taken the necessary steps to offer tuition-free higher education.

This experience leads me to be-lieve that perhaps the relevance of the proposals made by visionary pol-iticians like Joe Biden, Bernie Sand-ers and Hillary Clinton has been to elevate the student debt crisis to the electoral process. This can help make the need for educational reform a paramount issue that must be ad-dressed by every presidential candi-date regardless of political party.

The question remains how to move forward.

We concur with Dr. Drew G. Faust, president of Harvard, who addressed the members of the “U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Community Development and Housing Com-mittee” in October of this year and declared that universities cannot only help to answer that question but are an intrinsic part of the solution.

We believe the solution is rooted in an education that teaches our stu-dents to think critically rather than regurgitate information. An educa-tion that teaches students to apply knowledge in creative ways and to propose innovative solutions even if these responses raise more ques-tions than answers. An education that gives students the opportuni-ties--and the tools--to engage deeply in learning without the burden of suffocating debt that deters many from pursuing college, affects aca-demic performance during college and mortgages students’ lives and happiness after college.

22 • December 14, 2015

NOW RECRUITING FOUNDING DIRECTORAT CLAREMONT COLLEGES

The five undergraduate colleges in Claremont—Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd and Pitzer Colleges—seek to recruit a Founding Director for the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for

Collaborative Creativity, which opened its doors in September 2015. The purpose of the Sontag Center is to accelerate the creative development of students across the five colleges. Work with the leaders of the five

colleges, faculty and students to foster and animate a space dedicated to creative and collaborative activity among students, faculty and the broader community. Oversee all activities and programs as well as the

development of the space, participate in advancement initiatives, and develop internal and external awareness, engagement, and partnerships.

Additional information about the Sontag Center can be found at the Center websitehttp://creativity.claremont.edu/

Applications should be submitted electronically [email protected]

QUALIFICATIONS

Significant experience working on projects that exemplify collaborative and creative approaches to prolem-solving

Expertise in design thinking, creativity and innovation

Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in a complex environment and across multiple constituencies

—The Hispanic Outlook In Higher Education Magazine

...each issue presents constructive observations on policies, procedures and the meaning of diversity in

the field of education...

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 23

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24 • December 14, 2015

New UC Center Serves a Most Vulnerable Student Population:

A NEW TREND IN HIGHER EDUCATION? Written by

Kevin R. Johnson

Over the last year, the Univer-sity of California has been constructing a form of stu-

dent services never before seen in higher education. In building the University of California Undocu-mented Legal Services Center, UC is demonstrating how it truly can be on the cutting edge in serving stu-dents and the greater community.

Announced last November by the UC President Janet Napolitano, the new center has already begun

serving the unique legal needs of undocumented students. Housed at the UC Davis School of Law, home of a well-established Immigration Law Clinic and leading immigra-tion law scholars, the center serves undocumented students and their families on UC campuses without a law school. The campuses – Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz – are spread throughout the Golden State.

The student need is clear. Many

of them are eligible for deferred ac-tion or other types of immigration relief that stabilizes their daily lives and, as a result, helps to improve their academic success. The idea be-hind extending services to the fami-lies of undocumented UC students involves a well-researched phenome-non: students are in a better position to excel in their studies if their fami-lies are not at risk of removal.

Launching the center was a tre-mendous undertaking. Any project

Undocumented Legal Services Center staff members meet to discuss cases: Legal Fellow David Gomez, Legal Fellow Desiree Fairly, and Executive Director María Blanco

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 25

spanning across UC campuses raises many questions and logistical and re-lated concerns. The largest unknown was of critical importance: how many undocumented students were attending the various UC campuses? The Office of the President made ef-forts to estimate the undocumented population on each UC campus, but it remained uncertain what the size of the population needing legal ser-vices would be.

We now know the answer: sever-al hundred undocumented students are enrolled at each of the campuses of the University of California, de-spite many financial and other bar-riers. While many of them are from Mexico or Central America, there are

“Many students want to regularize their immigration

status, so they might be able to leave and return

to the U.S. as required by study abroad programs

just like many other college students are

encouraged to do (and, in fact, do).”

undocumented UC students literally from around the world, including Asia, Africa and Europe.

UC Davis served as an import-ant model for the new endeavor. Pre-viously, the UC Davis Immigration Law Clinic had worked with the UC Davis AB 540 Center – named after the legislative bill allowing undoc-umented students to pay the same tuition and fees as other California residents – to provide legal assis-tance to undocumented UC Davis students. This single-campus experi-ence offered helpful lessons in creat-ing the new center to serve multiple campuses.

Another question was who would lead the center. Who had the

credibility and skill set to establish a legal services center like none oth-er ever seen in a university system? María Blanco, a noted civil rights and immigrant rights advocate, was willing to bring a wealth of experi-ence, as well as a sterling reputation in the immigrant rights community, as the inaugural director.

Blanco proceeded to hire several immigration attorneys, including a number of recent law graduates with experience working with immigrant communities and conversant in lan-guages other than English. In short order, she pulled together a highly qualified team to work with diverse populations spread out on campuses throughout California.

María Blanco, Executive Director of the Undocumented Legal Services Center

26 • December 14, 2015

But before they could serve stu-dents, the attorneys had to deal with a characteristic of the University of California campuses that many of those who have worked with UC have experienced. The campuses in the UC system are diverse with very different institutions, struc-tures, student needs and concerns and cultures and cultural traditions. The attorneys had to navigate the different campus cultures, finding out the people and institutional structures that allow them to most effectively access the undocumented student population on that campus and build the trust necessary to ef-fectively represent the students. The navigating of various campuses and their specific cultures continues to be a challenging and time consum-ing but necessary exercise.

The attorneys are reaching out to students and leadership on the various campuses to build relation-

ships and trust. The collaboration is helping to create support and rec-ognition for the very specific needs of a growing portion of the under-graduate and graduate UC student body. In fact, a summit held in April brought UC students, staff and fac-ulty together in Oakland to discuss the issues facing undocumented stu-dents: financial, legal, educational and cultural, among others.

The nature of the work has been a surprise. Attorneys initially ex-pected to focus on assisting students with applications for relief under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals pro-gram, which was originally created in 2012. The expanded deferred ac-tion program, announced in 2014 but delayed by litigation, also was thought to be likely work for the center and its attorneys.

As it turns out, the legal work has been far more varied than an-ticipated. Some students and their family members are eligible for a variety of immigrant visas as well as citizenship. Many students want to regularize their immigration status, so they might be able to leave and re-turn to the U.S. as required by study abroad programs just like many oth-er college students are encouraged to do (and, in fact, do). Some students are eligible not to be deported but need legal assistance to identify and collect the information necessary to make their case.

These students have demonstrat-ed a widespread and profound hun-ger for legal immigration assistance. The cost of seeking quality legal help was preventing them and their fam-ilies from obtaining services to help them integrate. As of today, the cen-

ter has served more than a hundred students. This number will grow as the program grows in reputation and word of its services spreads.

Some students and funders have expressed concern that the university may not maintain funding and that the center could be short-lived. In recognition of those concerns, Presi-dent Napolitano extended the fund-ing for a total of three years.

The UC Undocumented Legal Services Center remains a work in progress, but its efforts are paying off in immeasurable ways for undoc-umented students. The University of California should be proud of this innovative program that promotes inclusion and helps to protect some of its most vulnerable students. •

Kevin R. Johnson is the Dean of the University of California, Davis, School of Law and Mabie-Apal-las Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies.

“Some students are eligible not to be deported but need legal

assistance to identify and

collect the information

necessary to make their case.”

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 27

2013 Legal Degrees and Certificates Granted

1. St Thomas University2. University of San Diego3. American University4. University of Miami5. Nova Southeastern University6. St Mary’s University7. University of Central Florida8. University of California-Berkeley9. Arizona State University-Tempe Fordham University10. Florida International University

Keiser University-Ft Lauderdale11. Florida Coastal School of Law12. George Washington University13. Downey Adult School14. The University of Texas at Austin15. St John’s University-New York16. Loyola University Chicago

Thomas M Cooley Law School New York Law School17. Georgetown University

University of Florida Kaplan University-Davenport Campus South Texas College of Law18. Texas Southern University

University of Houston19. Harvard University20. U of California-Hastings College of Law

Miami Dade College21. Charter College-Canyon Country 22. New York University23. Loyola Marymount University

Everest University-South Orlando24. Stetson University25. El Paso Community College

State

FLCADCFLFLTXFLCAAZNYFLFLFLDCCATXNYILMINYDCFLIATXTXTXMACAFLCANYCAFLFLTX

Total

275628652547379289327639419655168221566892136422456627

1200595

1099494

10773901613377663986083

107441535934745

Hispanic

106105948784817775717170706964616055545454505050504949464545444341414039

Latino

44273443354917353739359

37273

2821191724282813192016192267

22143

196

Latinas

6278604449326040343235613237583234353730222237312933272339372127382133

% Hispanics

39%17%14%16%22%28%24%12%17%11%42%32%12%7%

45%14%12%9%5%9%5%

10%5%

13%30%15%6%

11%75%53%4%

10%11%12%87%

TOP 25 LAW SCHOOLS FOR HISPANICS

~

28 • December 14, 2015

SCHOLARS CORNER

~Being part of the American Asso-

ciation of Hispanics in Higher Education 2015 cohort of graduate fellows validated and empowered my identity as a Latino scholar. As a doctoral student at the University of California, Los Angeles, my pas-sion for research and mentorship is rooted in my own lived experiences growing up in South Central Los An-geles. The education and social ineq-uities I witnessed in my community motivated me to engage in meaning-ful work to create opportunities for low-income and underserved stu-dents and communities. As a former school counselor and current men-tor, I work closely with students of color in alternative schools, many of whom have encountered similar ob-stacles that I faced as an adolescent. Together these experiences have in-fluenced my goal to become a ten-ured faculty member to research issues around access and equity for young men of color, especially Lati-no males.

What led me to participate in the fellows programs was the en-couragement I received from AAH-HE alumni when I first attended the AAHHE national conference in 2014. I was inspired by the confer-ence presentations, my interactions with fellow graduate students and

learning about the fellows’ research interests. I was also impressed by the dedication and commitment of for-mer AAHHE fellows who continued to attend the conference and their willingness to share their knowledge and provide support, demonstrating what a supportive academic commu-nity looks like. I just couldn’t pass up the exceptional opportunity to be part of a family that aims to support the next generation of Latina/o lead-ers. The AAHHE Graduate Fellows Program provided me mentoring relationships with administrators, faculty and graduate peers, which have helped me further develop my professional, research and academic skills to reach my goals.

One of the most powerful ex-periences of an AAHHE graduate fellow is the opportunity to be sur-rounded by a community of talent-ed and driven administrators, facul-ty and graduate students who share their own personal triumphs and challenges navigating the academy. I was paired with a faculty mentor, Dr. Genevieve Negrón-Gonzales, who provided me with valuable advice on navigating the academy as a student of color and how to achieve work-life balance. In addition to receiving individual mentorship, it was an honor to be part of a collective space

Written by Edwin Hernandez,

Doctoral Candidate Social Science and Comparative Education, University of California, Los Angeles,

2015 Graduate Fellow

that cultivated platicas to share sto-ries, consejos and dichos. One that stuck with me was, “quien no sabe de dónde viene, no sabe a dónde va,” a dicho shared by an AAHHE facul-ty fellow that serves as reminder that as Latina/o scholars, it is our civic duty to reflect on our roots and give back to our communities. As a result of this experience, I feel more confi-dent about pursuing a tenure-track position and being able to continue to serve my community. I am thank-ful to be a part of this supportive community in higher education that has contributed to my personal and professional development, which will continue with me a donde ire. Mil Gracias! •

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 29

Written by Marvin F. Lozano, Ed.D. & Miquela Rivera, Ph.D

OWN IT

Marvin Lozano, EdD is a faculty member in the School of Business & Information Technology at Central New Mexico Community College in Albu-querque. He is an experienced small business con-sultant, commercial banker and entrepreneur. He has been honored as a USDA National Hispanic Fellow and as a Sam Walton Fellow.

Miquela Rivera, PhD is a licensed psychologist in Albuquerque with years of clinical, early childhood and consultative experience. Dr. Rivera’s column, “Priming the Pump” appears in each issue of His-panic Outlook in Higher Education. She lives in Albuquerque.

The entrepreneurial mindset is fun-damentally problem-solving, but it

is not done alone. A support network of experts, friends, advisors, mentors – and even critics – helps any entre-preneur piece together solutions to a chosen problem and encourages the problem-solver to persist in the face of challenges. Each entrepreneur must build her own support network. Tradi-tional Latinos are born into and raised valuing a cooperative group – the fam-ily. Once in sports or in school, the fo-cus is typically competitive and focused on the individual. The Latino, though, often enjoys groups and seeks them out because they know how to get along and are comfortable fitting into a larger array of people. To succeed as an en-trepreneur, the Latino must choose or form his support group – and that takes a strategic eye, diligent planning and consistent follow-through, so it will gel. Unlike the family, which any person is born into providentially, the entrepre-neurial support network is developed intentionally. The Latino entrepreneur must choose wisely.

The entrepreneur’s team must span four areas: knowledge, network, ac-countability and support. Peers typi-cally share beliefs, ambitions, interests and habits. They are the homies at any stage, on any level and in any setting who can help each other solve problems together. Partners provide technical knowledge and additional resources to the entrepreneurial effort, but they also encourage, support and hold the prob-lem-solver accountable. Peers can be partners (like Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft, though their relationship was often at odds), but partners are not always peers. Professionals outside of the technical area of the problem being

solved are also important members of the team – lawyers, accountants, pub-lishers, editors and bankers – can round out the entrepreneurial effort by cov-ering bases that are important but not already addressed. Mentors are often more removed from the daily activities of an entrepreneur, but they keep their finger on the pulse of thing, challeng-ing and sometimes criticizing, posing thoughtful farther-reaching questions to be considered. A mentor is sometimes a coach, sometimes a muse and occa-sionally a caretaker. Latinos are often accustomed to the mentorship provided by padrinos or madrinas – the spiritual adult guides chosen by one’s parents to assure the development of good char-acter. An entrepreneurial mentor is the sage relied upon for insight, advice, caution and inspiration. The meetings between mentor and entrepreneur may not be often, but they are meaningful and long-lasting.

How does a Latino entrepreneur who is focused on getting the work done manage to intentionally develop a support team? Look to natural net-works and groups that already exist.

The Albuquerque Hispano Cham-ber of Commerce, founded in 1975, is one of the nation’s oldest. It developed a convention and tourism department to help develop the state’s second largest private sector industry. A major focus is on education and youth development, raising scholarships and working with the local schools to promote leadership among Latino students. The AHCC helps Hispanic entrepreneurs forge vi-tal links between people and resources. Through the Barelas Economic Oppor-tunity Center (BEOC), the AHCC’s state-of-the-art workforce and business development training center, members

can access seminars and training on a broad-range of problem-solving topics (leadership, communication, marketing and finances), computers and meet-ing space. AHCC serves as the go-to place for entrepreneurs with a myri-ad of needs. And more recent efforts have connected the AHCC with Cen-tral New Mexico Community College (CNM) to promote entrepreneurship in the Spanish-speaking community. This fall, Marvin Lozano completed a pilot of five evening sessions where he taught 60 monolingual Spanish-speak-ers how to think like entrepreneurs and use an abbreviated business plan to describe, market, manage and use financial projections in starting and/or developing their small businesses. Due to the overwhelming success of the fall training, CNM will partner with AHCC and loan Dr. Lozano during the spring and summer to train more aspiring Spanish-speaking monolingual entrepreneurs. He will also develop more advanced bilingual entrepreneur-ial training with the Spanish-speaking monolingual cohorts and offer the en-trepreneurial mindset training to the AHCC general membership. •

“We all have weaknesses and deficiencies… We are not all weak in the same spots, and so we supplement and complete one another, each one making up in himself for the lack in another.”

– Thomas Merton, “No Man Is an Island”

30 • December 14, 2015

TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATION

I’ll answer the question posed. It is a resounding yes!

Yes, because it can be a noble satisfying experience for individuals, and we need more Hispanic lawyers.

Lawyers have not always been revered in the Hispanic community whether they were Hispanic or not. But that experience is not unique to Hispanics. In one of Shakespeare’s plays, he wrote after the revolution “the first thing we’ll do is kill all the lawyers.”

Jokes and snide remarks abound about lawyers.

Four examples:What do you have when you

have ten lawyers buried up to their necks in sand? . . . Not enough sand!

What do you call 100 lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean? . . . A good start.

How do you know when a law-yer is lying? . . . His lips are moving.

What do you get when you run an “honest lawyer” contest? . . . No winners.

Obviously that’s not fair, but it reflects widely held perceptions. Young lawyers can change that.

Hispanic lawyers: The Past Lawyers were usually feared as

Hispanics grew up. Most were An-glos; not at all sympathetic and they represented the law, the landlord or some other powerful figure that wanted to “take advantage” of His-panics.

But there were exceptions – usu-ally Hispanic lawyers who helped them through the maze.

The present and the futureHispanic lawyers in the past

had some difficulty being accepted. Some suggest it was a classic discon-nect; the establishment versus the newcomers.

Today, Hispanics (54 million strong) comprise 18 percent of the population but only four percent of its lawyers. That’s a real disconnect.

It’s bad for Hispanics as a group, but it provides significant raging op-portunities for a new wave of His-panic lawyers. Their unique attri-butes are needed by millions.

In her book “Everyday Injustice: Latino Professionals and Racism” Maria Chávez, a lawyer, highlights negative stereotypes and examples of discrimination that she culled from over 100 Hispanic/Latino lawyer in-terviews. A few poignant insights:

Stereotypes are common in the

legal profession. Many people mis-take Hispanic lawyers to be “a clerk or bailiff or interpreter.”

It is “difficult to do jury trials because majority of jurors are retired white people.”

“Anglo clients rarely contact me, but Latino clients constantly do.”

“I was not considered a good ‘mix’ for certain firms; looked upon as unqualified.”

A compelling theme that emerged from the survey was that Latino lawyers needed to be “10 times better” than their non-Latino counterparts.

Maria Chávez has contributed to our knowledge by highlighting these facts. Although accurate, they repre-sent a different generation. Further, Hispanic lawyers were not the only profession who had to face preju-dice. Women have from time imme-morial.

Future Hispanic lawyers, thanks to the successes of previous ones, will face less discrimination and far more acceptance. Today, many firms seek them out for they bring unique as-sets to the firm.

Where to start?I suggest more Hispanics consid-

THE LAW: A Career Opportunity for Hispanics?

Written byGustavo A. Mellander

~

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 31

TARGETING HIGHER EDUCATION

er law, which prompts the real ques-tion: where and when to start?

First, start early, in high school, if not earlier. Study as many facets as possible. For example, what do law-yers really do? Which baccalaureate programs are recommended? Which law schools have the highest number of graduates passing the Bar exam and the best placement record? And which law schools provide the most financial aid?

I repeat, most of all acquire a clear detailed understanding of the profession itself. What do lawyers do day in and day out?

Forget Perry Mason. Interview many lawyers. Try to intern with them even while you’re in high school. Explore several specialties which might interest you.

Reliable sourcesResearch extensively. Luckily

reliable information exists. I recom-mend three sources that can provide important answers.

HNBA The first is the Hispanic Nation-

al Bar Association or the HNBA. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. and founded in 1972, it helps those in the legal professions and fa-cilitates education for all - includ-ing law students.

The HNBA supports ongoing middle school and high school pro-grams to encourage students to at-tend college and law school. They also host Summer Law Camps for high school students.

They sponsor several law school scholarships and the nation’s largest

legal Career Fair serving Hispanic law students.

They also host an Annual Youth Symposium to introduce high school students to legal careers and law stu-dents to mentoring and internship opportunities.

Further, their Latina Commis-sion, created in 2008, is the only na-tional group focused exclusively on removing barriers for Latinas in the legal profession.

In short, the HNBA is by far the very best source for information for any Hispanic considering law as a career. Further information is avail-able at www.hnba.com or by con-tacting the HNBA at 202-223-4777 or [email protected].

Show me the Money!!Attending Law School is expen-

sive. Tuition is very high, and the cost of textbooks is obscene. Three years going full time with homework that must be completed every day makes it difficult to work as well.

Students can attend part-time; it’ll take four years. And you best work for a sympathetic law firm be-cause others won’t understand the pressures you are under.

So try to secure a scholarship. Where? First, study HNBA op-portunities listed above. Then in-vestigate my second suggestion: A Scholarship Website – http://www.fastweb.com. It is a lodestone of de-tailed information with numerous scholarship sites and opportunities.

Setting the BarThird, I refer you to the Grand

Daddy of them all: The American

Bar Association, www.americanbar.org It has far more information than you’ll ever need. But study their website carefully and connect with them. They too have scholarships, useful data on how to prepare and survive, law school attrition rates and employment placement records. Good information to have up front!

Bottom lineThe Law can be a noble, satisfy-

ing profession, if you are compatible and motivated. So research the pro-fession for yourself carefully before you decide. There are numerous and diverse opportunities that might in-terest you. Talk to lawyers and intern in their offices.

Again, the Hispanic pool is enor-mous, 54 million. There are another 300 million plus in the nation who need quality assistance.

More opportunities and organi-zations exist to help Hispanics suc-ceed than ever before. Learn about them and take the next step! •

Dr. Mellander was a university dean for 15 years and a college president for 20.

25 YEARSserving the unique needs of the Hispanic community in higher education

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education [email protected](201) 587 8800Image licensed by Ingram Image

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 33

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Oakton Community College employs individuals who respect, are eager to learn about, and have a willingness to accept the many ways of viewing the world.Oakton serves the near northern suburbs of Chicago with campuses in Des Plaines and Skokie.Individuals with a commitment to working in a culturally competent environment and who reflect the increasing diversity of Oakton’s student body and community are sought to fill the following faculty openings:

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www.oakton.eduClick on “employment”

College of Public HealthAssistant, Associate, Full Professor (Health Policy Management) Assistant/Associate Professor (Global Health) (2)

College of Arts & SciencesOpen Rank Faculty (Cryptography)AP of Graphic Design (Verbal & Visual Arts) (USF St. Petersburg)Professor/Associate Professor (Health Eco-nomics)Associate Professor Assistant Professor (Classics)Assistant Professor (Digital Science)

College of Behavioral Community SciencesAssistant/Associate Professor (Speech-Language Pathology)Postdoctoral Research Fellow

College of EducationInstructor (Elementary Education) (2)

College of BusinessAssistant Professor (Marketing)

Honors CollegeInstructor I

College of MedicineAdvanced Registered Nurse PracClinical DirectorAssistant Professor (Pediatric Pulmonology)Human Services PractitionerNurse/Researcher – Cardiovascular Sciences

Information TechnologiesAssistant Professor (Information Technology) (USF Sarasota-Manatee)

College of EngineeringAssociate/Assistant/Full Professor (Cybersecu-rity CoE)

College of PharmacyPostdoctoral Scholar Research (Pharm Sciences)

Assistant Dean (Teaching Innovation & Quality Enhancement)Assistant Professor (Community & Family Health)

Assistant Professor (Psychology) (USF St. Petersburg)Assistant Professor (Psychology)Assistant Professor (Graphic Design)Assistant Professor (Functional Materials Chemistry)Instructor (Spanish/Language Pedagogy (French))Assistant Professor (Forensic Anthropology)

Associate Professor (Rehabilitation Counseling)

Instructor of Statistics/Math (Biological Sci) (USF St. Petersburg)

Assistant Professor (General Academic Pediatrics)Medical DirectorAssistant Professor (Physician Assistant)Registered Dietician

Sr. Systems Administrator

Director (Advancement) (College of Business)Sr. Director of Development (Byrd Alzhei-mer’s Institute) Communications & Marketing OfficerAlumni Officer Assistant Director (Multicultural Affairs) Clinical Informatics Specialist

Director of Web Video Content (Intercolle-giate Athletics) Director of Student Outreach and Support (Student Affairs)HR DirectorResearch Compliance AdministratorDevelopment Officer (Diversity Initiatives)

The University of South Florida System is a high-impact, global research system dedicated to student success. The USF System includes three institutions: USF; USF St. Petersburg; and USF Sarasota-Manatee. The institutions are separately accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. All institutions have distinct missions and their own detailed strategic plans. Serving more than 47,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion and an annual economic impact of $4.4 billion. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference.

For a job description on the above listed positions including department, disciple and deadline dates: (1) visit our Careers@USF Web site at

https://employment.usf.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/Welcome_css.jsp; or (2) contact The Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, (813) 974-4373; or (3) call USF

job line at 813.974.2879. USF is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action institution, committed to excellence

through diversity in education and employment.

Faculty Positions:

Administrative and Executive Positions:

25 YEARSserving the unique needs of the Hispanic community in higher education

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education [email protected](201) 587 8800Image licensed by Ingram Image

34 • October 26, 2015

FACULTY SEARCHRutgers University–Camden is the southern campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It is located in a dynamic urban area, just across the Delaware River from downtown Philadelphia. The campus includes undergraduate and graduate Arts and Sciences programs, a School of Business, a School of Law, and a School of Nursing.

English/Creative Writing Assistant Professor of Poetry and Creative Non-Fiction

(full-time, tenure track)

For specific information about the position, including qualifications and deadlines, see our website at:

http://fas.camden.rutgers.edu/faculty-research/fas-job-searches.

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer. Qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexu-al orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, military service or any other category protected by law. As an institution, we value diversity of background and opinion, and prohibit discrimination or harassment on the basis of any legally protected class in the areas of hiring, recruitment, promotion, transfer, demotion, training, compen-sation, pay, fringe benefits, layoff, termination or any other terms and conditions of employment.

DEANCOLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) is conductinga national search for the next Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.The Search Committee invites letters of nomination, applications(letter of interest, full resume/CV, and contact information of at leastfive references), or expressions of interest to be submitted to thesearch firm assisting the University. Review of materials will beginimmediately and continue until the appointment is made. It ispreferred, however, that all nominations and applications besubmitted prior to January 12, 2016. For a complete positiondescription, please visit the Current Opportunities page athttps://www.parkersearch.com/tamucc-deanliberalarts.

Ryan Crawford, PrincipalKassi Lee, Associate

[email protected] || [email protected]: 512-838-6947 || Fax: 770-804-1917

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action / Veterans / Disability Employer.

Five Concourse Parkway | Suite 2900 | Atlanta, GA 30328770.804.1996 | parkersearch.com

Hispanic Outlook1/4 page Issue 12-14-15Deadline 12-7-15

The Board of Trustees of Western Washington University (Western) invites nominations and applications for a visionary and courageous leader as the next President. The Univer-sity is seeking experienced applicants with a passion for promoting Western’s excellence in public higher education for the benefit of the local community, the State of Washington and beyond.

Western provides an active student-centered learning environment with a liberal arts and sciences foundation and robust co-curricular, internship, research, creative, and service learning opportunities. There is a shared vision that Western will be a higher education leader in a culturally responsive 21st century learning environment, applying its critical strengths to societal issues as well as creating a welcoming community for a diversity of people, ideas, and programs.

Western’s main campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a city of 83,580 90 miles from Seattle, Washington and 55 miles from Vancouver, British Columbia, in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. With an enrollment of more than 15,000 students at the Bellingham campus and seven other Puget Sound locations, Western is the third largest university in the state.

For more information about the nature of this opportunity including the full leadership pro-file and application requirements, please visit: www.wwu.edu/presidentialsearch. For best consideration, applications and materials should be received by January 20, 2016.

Greenwood/Asher & Associates, Inc. is assisting Western Washington University in the search. Confidential inquiries, nominations, and application materials should be directed to Jan Greenwood at [email protected] and Christine Channing at [email protected].

PRESIDENT

WWW.K12HISPANICOUTLOOK.COM/SPAIN-PROGRAMsummerinmadrid@hispanicout look.com

STUDY OVERSEAS IN MADRID

Summer Program for Jr. & Sr.

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and more in Madrid, Spain

www.HispanicOutlook.com • 35

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Department of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania seek candi-dates for several Assistant or Associate Professor positions in the non-tenure academic-clinician track. Rank will be commensurate with experience. The successful applicant will have experience in the field of obstetrics & gynecol-ogy and maternal fetal medicine with a focus on prenatal diagnosis and fetal therapy. Responsibilities include clinical work centering on prenatal diagno-sis and counseling, fetal surgical interventions and the management and de-livery of pregnancies complicated by congenital anomalies, with the oppor-tunity for teaching residents, fellows and medical students. Research is not required for AC-track positions. Applicants must have an M.D. or equivalent degree. They must also be certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology or hold equivalent certification.

This position will be housed in the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment, administered by the Department of Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. We are recognized as a world class fetal diagnosis & treatment center and a pioneer in the development of new fetal and therapeutic pro-cedures.

We seek candidates who embrace and reflect diversity in the broadest sense.

The University of Pennsylvania and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are EOEs. Minorities/Women/Individuals with disabilities/Protected Veter-

ans are encouraged to apply.

Apply for this position online at: https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty_ad/index.php/g336/d4127

MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE SPECIALISTThe Department of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania seeks candidates for several Assistant or Associate Professor positions in either the non-tenure clinician-educator track or the non-tenure academic-clinician track. Track and rank will be commensurate with experience. The successful applicant will have experience in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Responsibilities include building a clinical practice in the full spectrum of plastic surgery; teaching of medical students and plastic surgery residents; and, for a CE-track position, pursuing clinical and translational research related to plastic and reconstructive sur-gery. Applicants must have an M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. or equivalent degree. While evidence of scholarship is required in the clinician-educator track, research is not required in the academic clinician track. They must also be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery or eligible for such certification.

The successful candidate will become a member of the Division of Plastic Surgery and will pursue a practice housed both at one of the main hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and at satellite locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Applicants who have completed a fellowship in a plastic surgery subspecialty will be preferred. One of the recruited posi-tions will have an additional teaching role, supported by the medical school, centered on diversity training and outreach; candidates with special skills or training in this area will also be preferred.

We seek candidates who embrace and reflect diversity in the broadest sense.

The University of Pennsylvania is an EOE. Minorities/Women/Individuals with disabilities/Protected Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Apply for this position online at: https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty_ad/index.php/g336/d4150

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