Latino/a Scholar's Corner

Latino/a Scholar’s Corner

Buenos Dias Colegas!

The Latino/a Knowledge Community strives to support the research and share the stories of colleagues who are completing scholastic work, especially focusing on Latino/a educational issues. If you want to have your research or story shared, please contact Sarah Rodriguez ([email protected]) or Marissa Vasquez Urias ([email protected]).

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During this Latino/a Scholars Corner, we will be highlighting the scholastic work that our colleagues are doing across the world. This post comes from José Del Real Viramontes.

José is a second year doctoral student in the Cultural Studies in Education program at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Research Assistant with Project Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success (MALES) and an Assistant Instructor for the College of Education. To contact him email: [email protected]

What initially interested you in studying Latinos in higher education?

My interest in studying Latinos in higher education was sparked in one of my undergraduate Chican@ courses I took at UCLA. I read the Latino policy and issues brief by Dr. Tara Yosso and Dr. Daniel Solórzano entitled, “Leaks in the Chicana and Chicano Educational Pipeline.” One of the things that impacted me as a community college transfer student, was becoming aware of the disproportionate numbers of Chican@s and Latin@s who begin their post-secondary education at a community college and those who eventually transfer to a four-year college or university. It was then when I became aware of the schooling conditions and the educational experiences of Chican@s and Latin@s and I began reflecting on my own educational trajectory. As a former community college transfer student, it took me eight years, on and off, to eventually transfer to a four-year university. Although it was a combination of academic, social, and institutional factors, the one that I can attribute to having the greatest impact on my educational trajectory was the institutional factors. From that day my research agenda has focused on Chican@ and Latin@ community college students and finding ways to increase both their transfer to, and completion rates at, four-year colleges and universities.

How has your research evolved over time? What is a finding you did not expect?

As an undergraduate McNair scholar at UCLA, I became interested in looking at the experiences of Generation 1.5 male students who were enrolled in remedial English courses at the community college. This was mainly due to my own educational trajectory as a community college transfer student and because, unfortunately for Latin@s community college students, starting their community college enrolled in remedial English courses is detrimental for them transferring into a four-year college or university. My study highlighted how these students used their community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) to navigate the community college system to increase their transferability into a four-year university.

Since then my research has evolved into looking at the Transfer Receptive Culture (TRC) for Latin@ community college students at four-year colleges and universities. A TRC is the institutional commitment by a four-year college or university to provide the support needed for students to transfer successfully, including supporting students in navigating community college, making sure students take the appropriate coursework, supporting them through the application and enrollment process, and making sure student’s successfully earn a baccalaureate degree (Jain, Herrera, Bernal, Solórzano, 2012). One of the challenges I found is that the transfer process has been examined primarily by looking at what the community colleges are doing to increase the transfer rates of students of color, but they fail to look at the role the four-year institution play or should play in this process. I am currently working on incorporating my experiences as a community college transfer student combined with my background in Cultural Studies in Education, to evaluate the TRC for Latin@ community college students in Texas public four-year universities. In general, what I have found is that while the universities have transfer policies and transfer programming in place to support community college students, public four-year institutions are not offering the necessary transfer policy or transfer student programing to have an impact on increasing the access, retention, and graduation rates for Latin@ community college students in Texas.

What motivates you to continue writing and pursuing this line of work?

My motivation to continue writing and pursuing this line of work is the desire to improve the access, retention, and graduation rates for Latin@ students who begin their post-secondary education at a community college and aspire to transfer to a four-year college or university. I believe Latin@ students who use community college as a pathway into higher education are as capable as those who go straight into a four-year college or university, they just need people to believe in them and support them in navigating and negotiating the transfer process and this may look different for each student-- I know it was different for me.

How can your research influence the work of student affairs professionals?

I think my research can influence the work of student affairs professionals in two important ways. First, my research can provide student affairs professionals with the information they may need to develop transfer policies that would eliminate some of the structural barriers Latin@ community college students may face during the transfer process. Additionally, my research can support the development of culturally responsive programming focusing on the specific needs of Latin@ community college students. Together my contributions have the opportunity to impact the access, retention, and graduation rates of Latin@ community college students in Texas.

Do you have final words of advice?

My final words of advice are that for those of us who have used the community college as a pathway into higher education we need to continue to actively look for ways to femtor/mentor and advocate for Chican@ and Latin@ community college students, especially for those that aspire   transferring to a four-year college or university. We have to be part of the spaces at our own four-year institutions as students, faculty, and student affairs practitioners where conversations about Chican@ and Latin@ transfer students are taking place, to ensure that the transfer policies and transfer programming on behalf of Chican@ and Latin@ community college students are being created and enforced.