U of R Awarded HSI Grant

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

I am pleased to announce that the University’s Hispanic-Serving Institution Working Group’s Title V “Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program” grant application was selected for grant funding. The University will receive $2.9 million over the next five years to support the work necessary to further transform our institution into a truly Hispanic Serving Institution.

In 2021, the University received its designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Our HSI status signifies the University’s commitment to recruit, engage, and support our Latinx students and our desire to better serve the students who are already enrolling at the University.

This designation also makes additional federal and state grants available to us and aids us as we apply for other grant opportunities. This grant is our first Title V grant awarded due to our HSI status.

While we have made progress since receiving our HSI designation, this grant will bolster several University programs, including Summer Bridge, First-Year Journey, Students Together Empowering Peers (STEP), First-Year Seminar, and Transfer Student Success.

The grant will also fund the development of a leadership academy to cultivate and strengthen vital skills; and a program fund to initiate student-led cultural, education, political programming, and intercultural competence training. We expect much of this work to begin in the fall of 2023.

I look forward to collaborating with our Race in Education Analytics Learning (REAL) Lab and the entire University community to ensure we make the most of this opportunity to support our Latinx students to ensure they thrive at Redlands.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in pursuing this funding, highlighting the incredible work of our HSI Working Group:

Adriana Alvarado, Assistant Professor, Leadership and Higher Education; Co-Director of the REAL Lab
Barbara Conboy, Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Director, Latin American Studies
Anuradha Diekmann, Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations
Javier Garcia, Graduate Student, School of Education
Larry Gross, Professor, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Endowed Chair of Native American Studies, Race & Ethnic Studies
Martin Hoecker-Martinez, Associate Professor, Physics
Steven Moore, Director, Center for Spatial Studies; Director, Sponsored Programs
Belinda Sandoval, Associate Vice President, Admissions
James Spee, Professor, School of Business & Society
Peter Tupou, Associate Director, Campus Diversity and Inclusion

Please stay tuned for further developments as we begin to work on this incredible opportunity.

Sincerely,

Krista Newkirk
President