Emerging into HSI-ness is a powerful construct that we continue to explore in this episode. Irvine Valley College (IVC) is an emerging HSI community college that has been intentionally transforming its campus to better serve Latine/x students without waiting for federal HSI eligibility or Title V funding. The college is already an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI), having reached 41% API enrollment and receiving federal funding. In this episode our guests describe their commitment to servingness, equity, and attaining dual-eligibility regardless of the federal government’s attacks on funding. The college developed a comprehensive year-long training series based on the Transforming HSIs for Equity and Justice book and workbook that brought together faculty, classified staff, and administrators to examine institutional policies, practices, and power structures through an equity lens. This work emerged from their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Council, which operates under an innovative tri-chair model ensuring shared leadership across all campus constituencies. Through this episode we learn how the college has built and maintained its commitment to equity and servingness, demonstrating that transformational change can occur through internal resources, strong leadership, and a campus-wide culture of caring for students.

Guests:

Martha McDonald (she, her, ella)

Vice President for Student Services, Irvine Valley College

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mcdonaldmartha

Julie Fagundes Scholl (she, her)

Program Coordinator- Adult English as a Second Language (AESL), Irvine Valley College

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/julie-f-scholl

Rebecca Beck (she, her, ella)

ESL Faculty/Academic Senate President, Irvine Valley College

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rebecca-beck-6882232b5

APA Citation:

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2026, March 29). Building HSI Mindsets: Irvine Valley College’s Training Approach. (No. 706) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

We continue down the path of healing while weathering the storm of Title V defunding with colegas from Cal State LA. Our guests include Dra. Jessica Morales-Chicas, Co-PI of DHSI Grant, Reclaiming Pedagogy, Community and Student Success, and Wendy Vaughn, Project Director of the grant. They explain how their five-year grant, focused on faculty professional development to better serve the campus's predominantly Latine/x student population, was defunded and the ways they are sustaining the work. Our guests describe the impact of federal funding cuts to HSI grants, including the fear of job loss, significant stress on staff, and difficult conversations with the campus community. They also outline the ways they are actively working to institutionalize and sustain the program's initiatives beyond the grant period, including positioning some efforts within the provost's office. However, they face challenges in securing ongoing funding for all the program components. Despite the challenges, the team is finding hope and optimism in the transformative impacts they have seen so far and their determination to find ways to sustain the program's initiatives. They emphasize that HSIs will not die, but will rise to meet the challenge.

Jessica Morales-Chicas (she, her)

Professor and Co-PI of DHSI Grant, Reclaiming Pedagogy, Community and Student Success, CSULA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-morales-chicas/

Instagram: dr.morales_chicas

Wendi Vaughn (she, her)

Assistant Director, Pathway Programs and Project Director of the DHSI Reclaiming Grant, CSULA

LinkedIn: WendiLVaughn

Instagram: @iamwendiwithani | @wendilvaughn

APA Citation:

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2026, March 15). Weathering the Storm to Sustain & Institutionalize HSI Work (No.705) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

Show Notes:

• Dhillon Brar, M. Morales-Chicas, J., Morris, S., Rivera, I.*, Cannara, R. (2025). Intergroup dialogue empowering action for transforming equity in higher education. Education Sciences, 15(1), 1-38. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010038
• Morales-Chicas, J., Ortiz, J., Tanimura, D. M., & Kouyoumdjian, C. (2023). Understanding Latino boys’motivation to pursue STEM while navigating school inequalities. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2021.1944864
• Graham, S., Kogachi, K., & Morales-Chicas, J. (2022). Do I fit in: Race/ethnicity and feelings of belonging in school. Educational Psychology Review, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09709-x
• Morales-Chicas, J., Gomez, M., Gussman, M., & Kouyoumdjian, C. (2022). A cultural wealth approach to understanding Latin@ s’ STEM mentee and mentor experiences. Equity & Excellence in Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2022.204741

In her book All About Love: New Visions bell hooks reminds us that “the search for love continues even in the face of great odds.” As the HSI community faces great odds amidst defunding and confusion, we must also create joy, love, and hope. Dra. Marla Lopez, inaugural director of the HSI Research Center at the University of Arizona, joins us for a vulnerable conversation about navigating loss and creating hope after federal funding cuts. We delve into the profound impact of HSI funding reprogramming, with Lopez sharing her personal experience of losing grants and highlighting how the loss extends beyond money—it affects lives, futures, and intellectual aspirations. Lopez describes how she's working through grief by naming it explicitly and resisting the urge to immediately fix everything, instead allowing time to sit with disappointment. We also highlight the importance of grieving in community and connecting with colleagues who share similar experiences. Despite the challenges, HSI work continues beyond federal funding, rooted in a critical understanding of what serving students means across different institutional contexts.

Guest:

Mara Nohemi Lopez (she, her, ella)

Director, HSI Research Center, University of Arizona

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmaralopez/

Instagram: @doctora.lopez

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2026, March 1). Creating Joy, Love, and Hope After HSI Defunding (No.704) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.

Show Notes:

• https://hsi.arizona.edu/person/mara-lopez-edd-ma
• https://ahsie.org/dr-mara-lopez
• The Power of Movement es Medicina: Defining Resilience with Dra. Mara Nohemi Lopez