Franke Honors Presents HSI-Honors Consortium Work at 2024 NCHC Conference

Since 2022, the W.A. Franke Honors College has been involved in continued efforts to establish a consortium whose focus is centered on supporting Hispanic students in honors colleges and programs at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The HSI-Honors Consortium is a cooperative community of honors colleges and programs at HSIs designed to develop a community that engages collectively in supporting the diversity of Hispanic and Latin American student success.

At the beginning of November, Franke Honors leaders Drs Nadia Alvarez Mexia and Karna Walter, along with Dr. Andrew Fleck from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, presented the inaugural HSI-Honors group as an extension of this consortium and its recent successes at the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Conference in Kansas City, MO. The theme of the NCHC conference was Harmonizing Heritage: Elevating Honors Education through Culture, Capital, and Community Engagement.

“It’s incredible to see this national network of honors programs and colleges at HSIs come together to form this consortium, where they can explore what it means to intersect these two institutional identities,” said Dr. Marla Franco, Vice President of Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives at the University of Arizona. "There is limitless potential to center servingness within the Honors experience.” 

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The consortium's priorities have included program development, expanding culturally inclusive pedagogy, strengthening cross-institutional partnerships, and fostering faculty and student engagement and leadership. Data shows that there is a need for more Honors in HSIs (HHSI) research. Of the 600 Hispanic Serving Institutions in the United States and Puerto Rico, 329 (about 55% according to Franke Honors Database, 2024) of these institutions have honors colleges or programs. There is currently a lack of research specifically regarding HHSIs, which is what the consortium aims to improve.

“Hispanic Serving Institutions are among the fastest growing honors groups in America. My hope is that over the next few years we will have programs and presentations at the National Collegiate Honors Council annual conference on topics aimed specifically at HSIs,” said Dr. Eddie Weller, Director of the Honors Program at San Jacinto College and President of the National Collegiate Honors Council. San Jacinto College is approximately two-thirds Hispanic.  

In the spirit of strengthening partnerships among institutions, the W.A. Franke Honors College hosted the first HSI-Honors Webinar in September 2024, inviting honors programs from around the country to come together virtually and discuss what it means to be an ‘Honors in HSI.’ The webinar included a panel and brainstorming session, in which participants got the opportunity to exchange pedagogical practices, grant opportunities, recruitment efforts, networking opportunities, and more.

Outcomes from the panel and brainstorming session were shared at the 2024 NCHC Conference in Kansas City this fall.  

“I am so happy that Honors in HSI is interested in working with NCHC,” continued Dr. Weller. “I know that the officers, board members, and senior staff of NCHC are so pleased to get to work with the University of Arizona and all of the institutions who are making honors education more accessible to a vibrant, important part of our institutions.” 

Following the success of the webinar and NCHC session, Dr. Nadia Alvarez Mexia is leading the research project ‘Honors in HSIs (HHSIs),’ sponsored by the HSI Faculty SEED Grant on campus. The research team had the first working session on mid-November, hosted at the W.A. Franke Honors College, and included participation from students, faculty, and staff. Beyond the grant-funded research, W.A. Franke Honors students have been assisting Dr. Nadia Alvarez Mexia with HSI-Honors initiatives over the last several years, bringing valuable perspectives and their voices to the work that is meant to serve them.