This study aimed to identify factors that contributed to adaptive coping young people of color engage and rely on to navigate racial stressors in the public education system and to persist into college. The study included 20 undergraduate college students between 18 and 22 years who participated in retrospective interviews documenting critical…

How might cisgender teachers of color who identify as male problematize social norms connected to race and gender? What privileges, limitations, and possibilities may emerge from such a social location? This essay explores these questions by looking at a number of micro-decisions that I make in an introductory-level undergraduate class. By…

In 1776, Adam Smith wrote, "the expense of the institutions for education… is… beneficial to the whole society, and may, therefore, without injustice, be defrayed by the general contribution of the whole society," in the "Wealth of Nations." Since then, economists and policymakers have argued that the social returns to higher…

The COVID-19 pandemic has been painful, and its long-term negative impacts on equitable educational outcomes will unfurl for years to come. However, in spite of the disruption of the pandemic, education leaders have an opportunity to re-imagine and rebuild systems to be equity-centered in ways they have never been before. Dual enrollment holds…

For 35 years, the mission of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) has been to Champion Hispanic Success in Higher Education. HACU fulfills its mission by: promoting the development of member colleges and universities; improving access to and the quality of postsecondary educational opportunities for Hispanic students; and…

Internships are a widely promoted high-impact practice (HIP) across the postsecondary landscape, particularly among minority-serving institutions (MSIs), where internships are seen as potentially transformative vehicles for students' career success and social mobility. However, little research exists on how the design, implementation, and ultimate…

Occupational segregation and structural labor market discrimination contribute to significant socioeconomic disparities afflicting Latinas; these inequalities were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, approximately one in five Latinas were unemployed, registering the highest unemployment rate among all workers. Overall, the Latino…

We examine how increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities impacted newborn health and prenatal care utilization in North Carolina around the time Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was first being implemented within the state. Focusing on administrative data between 2004 and 2006, we conduct…

Using creative autoethnographic "testimonio" (CAT), a story is told about the injustices within the learning environment and work environment of higher education toward a person with disabilities: sleep apnea, learning disabilities, negative mental health. The author explores the health difficulties of addressing sleep deprivation while…

Past research extensively documents inequalities in educational opportunity and achievement by students' race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status (SES). Less scholarship focuses on how race/ethnicity and SES interact and jointly contribute to educational inequalities. We advance this burgeoning line of scholarship by charting math achievement…

The fastest-growing demographic in the United States is also the one with the biggest struggle with academic success, particularly in STEM-related subjects. Pre-study research observed that one of the most significant factors facing Hispanics is their set of psycho-social behaviors influenced by cultural heritage. In a response to this challenge a…

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) are traumas experienced from birth to an individuals' eighteenth birthday. These traumas may involve various physical and psychological stressors that cause elevated levels of toxic stress throughout the body. These traumas tend to impact children and their progress in learning and possibly interfere with…

MVC is at a tipping point in understanding how to serve students through their students of concern process. Seventy percent of the college population are students of color, and Hispanic/Latino/a students represent 50.9% of the total undergraduate body. The designation of Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) does not take into consideration how…

Notions of citizenship, as taught through the official state curriculum, are narrow and fail to consider the importance of histories that reveal a composite of diverse races/ethnicities, multiple languages, and complex patterns of immigration and transnationalism. The richness of such histories embodies the experiences and contributions of…

Drawing from Cervantes-Soon's (2012) framework of "testimonios" as confessions, counter-narratives, and "consejos," we explore how writing letters to our children serves as a process of historical documentation, healing, and a passing down of social justice principles and family history. Additionally, we expand on…