Dr. Anne-Marie Núñez

Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022 @ 12:00PM
UTEP’s Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success: Advancing what it means to be a Hispanic-Serving Institution

UTEP holds a unique identity as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). What does the “serving” in “Hispanic-Serving Institution” mean? In considering this critical question, I will first reflect on the evolution of HSIs in U.S. postsecondary education since they were first federally designated in 1992. Then I will discuss how the newly launched Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success will advance opportunities for Hispanic and other minoritized students that historically have not been well-served in higher education. Finally, I will invite UTEP stakeholders to contribute to building the Institute into a national resource that centers the assets of Hispanic and minoritized communities in shaping educational research, policy, and practice across many disciplines and societal arenas.

Bio
Anne-Marie Núñez is the inaugural Executive Director of the Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success and Distinguished Centennial Professor in Educational Leadership and Foundations at the University of Texas at El Paso. She has collaborated on several NSF grants with budgets totaling over $10 million, including with the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), to build inclusive environments in geoscience and computer science disciplines. Her work employs sociological approaches to explore how multiple social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, class, linguistic) shape educational opportunities. She has published several studies on the higher education experiences and trajectories of Latinx, first-generation, English Learner, working, and migrant students. Her book Latinos in higher education and Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Creating conditions for success has provided a framework for serving Latinx students in higher education. In addition, she co-edited Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Advancing Research and Transformative Practice, an International Latino Book Award winner and the first book to focus on HSIs as organizations. She also has served as a National Academy of Sciences Committee member to co-author and disseminate a report about how Minority-Serving Institutions contribute to the science workforce. In 2022, she was identified in the Stanford Elsevier Scholar Index as being among the most-cited 2% of researchers in the world. The American Educational Research Association (AERA) also recognized her as a 2022 AERA Fellow, an honor give to top scholars in educational research with sustained exceptional research contributions.

Jacob Fraire

Friday, Aug. 12, 2022 @ 12:00PM
Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success: Advancing Policy for Equity at Scale

From a perch at the foothills of the Franklin Mountains, the Diana Natalicio Institute intends to forge a bold strategy for advancing state and federal policy needed to achieve equity in educational and economic outcomes for Hispanic Americans. The Natalicio Institute further intends to inform the modernization of federal policy on, and public support for, Hispanic-serving Institutions. To do so at scale, the strategy must both be designed for the long-view and intentionally collaborative across the spectrum of education and business sectors, research interests, and the body politic.

Bio
Jacob Fraire serves as director of policy and strategy for the Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a leading Hispanic-serving research university. Grounded in research, the Institute is designed to advance institutional practice and public policy aimed at accelerating educational outcomes among Hispanic students. Fraire has more than three decades of experience in higher education policy, advocacy, philanthropy, and business & education partnerships. His areas of expertise include public policy development at the state and federal levels, philanthropic strategy, coalition building, nonprofit management, and governmental relations.

Prior to joining UTEP, Fraire served as president and chief executive officer of the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC), where he led public policy, student success advocacy, and institutional reform for the 50 community college districts in Texas. He further provided leadership to the Community College Association of Texas Trustees. Prior to his leadership role at TACC, Fraire served as vice president of philanthropy at Texas Guaranteed Student Loans (now Trellis Company), where he authored the company’s philanthropic strategy.

Fraire serves as chair of the board of directors for the Institute for Higher Education Policy and is a member of the Student Success Advisory Workgroup of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. He has served on the board of directors of Grantmakers for Education, and on the Committee on Measures of Student Success – a federal advisory committee authorized by Congress to study effective measurements of community college success. He has served as a policy advocate for the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, National Association for Migrant Education, and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.

A son of migrant farmworkers, Fraire earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from St. Edwards University and a master’s degree in public affairs from The University of Texas at Austin. In May 2013, he was awarded an honorary associates degree of applied arts from El Paso Community College.