Concordia University Texas, a small, liberal arts and sciences institution in Austin, is the latest school to be designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) by the U.S. Department of Education.
The university’s new designation makes it one of only 50 faith-based institutions nationally that holds an HSI designation. The new status as a minority-serving institution also demonstrates Concordia’s campus-wide commitment to strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion and support of cultural competency in faculty, staff and students, according to leaders.
“Above everything else, [the HSI designation] is an affirmation of our work as an institution of access and our commitment to diversity and inclusion,” said Jennielle Strother, associate vice president and chief enrollment officer at Concordia. “For us at Concordia, it has been an intentional decision and strategic initiative to think about this and how we marry our identity as a private, faith-based Lutheran institution, but also as an HSI.”
A college or university is considered an HSI under Title V of the Higher Education Act, when Latino students account for 25 percent or more of its undergraduate full-time equivalent enrollment.
Last June, Excelencia in Education – an organization committed to accelerating Latino student success in higher education – documented 492 HSIs and 333 emerging HSIs.
Concordia officially became an HSI in May 2018, making it one of only 14 private, four-year institutions in Texas to earn the status. Currently, 33 percent of undergraduates and 30 percent of graduate students at the university identify as Hispanic or Latino.
Concordia’s intentional efforts towards becoming an HSI moved forward a year ago when Strother pulled together a task force to inform the campus about what the designation actually meant, she said. The task force had three goals: 1) create a grassroots awareness internally about what it means for Concordia to be an HSI, 2) receive the HSI designation and 3) celebrate the designation with the campus community.
