by Monika Sziron, Ph.D.
Beyond graduation rates, how can institutions ensure they are serving their students? The answer, servingness.
In Episode 8 of The HigherEdJobs Podcast, Kelly and Andy interview Dr. Gina Ann Garcia about ‘servingness’ at Hispanic-serving institutions and Minority-serving institutions.
Measuring ‘S’
For years, researchers have been trying to measure and identify the ‘S’ in HSI and MSI. The ‘S’ can take a variety of forms, like ensuring diverse representation on campus, offering multi- and bi-lingual language courses, and encouraging progressive and inclusive curriculum, to name a few.
When it comes to measuring how well an institution is serving students, Dr. Garcia says, “…graduation rates are an important measure…But for me, that couldn’t be the only indicator because there are so many other things…there’s all these different types of students and they need more than to graduate, or to transfer, or to get a certificate or whatever it is that they came for.”
Dr. Garcia wants to make servingness easier to measure and with her colleagues has “proposed a model or a framework that said what you do matters. And that’s a part of servingness. Curriculum matters. Having faculty who can connect with students and validate their lived experiences matters, serving students in multiple ways beyond what we have traditionally done in higher ed matters. Students not experiencing racism matters. Students not experiencing discrimination matters. All of that goes into the model.”
Dr. Garcia’s proposed model can be used, and has already been used, in quantitative and qualitative research studies.
Change Agents
Dr. Garcia recognizes that change in higher education is slow and higher education likes to tinker with smaller ideas and issues before diving into the deeps of massive issues. It can also be difficult to maintain change momentum when leaders leave, other projects take priority, or not everyone is on board.
A large catalyst for change relies on your leadership and governing structures. Dr. Garcia notes, “…you can’t just diversify your governing board. You actually have to train them to be equity minded. I see the same thing about hiring faculty. You need to diversify your faculty and your staff, your governing board. And they need to be able to do equity work. They need to want to do equity work…”
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For more insights from “What Does ‘Servingness’ Mean for Higher Ed?” check out Episode 8 of The HigherEdJobs Podcast with guest Dr. Gina Ann Garcia.
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