ASU named Hispanic Serving Institution by Department of Education

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Arizona State University was recently named a Hispanic Serving Institution, or HSI, by the U.S. Department of Education. The Department defines an HSI as an institution of higher education that has an enrollment of full time Hispanic undergraduate students of at least 25% of the students body. Maria Anguiano has been named executive vice president of Arizona State University’s Learning Enterprise, which focuses on breaking down barriers and making sure educational opportunities are available to all. She joins us now with more about what the HSI designation means for ASU.

What does the HSI designation mean for ASU?

What it allows us to do is tell our Hispanic community that this is a place where their students belong. 

“When I went to college and a first generation student, I never felt like I belonged. When I looked around the campus, I didn’t see students like me. I didn’t see students from my background. I think this designation allows our Hispanic community to know that ASU is a place for them.”

How do you ensure the university is serving those who aren’t necessarily your traditional students?

Anguiano noted that the university is serving a large student population, with 31,00 Hispanic students among the university student body. “That is like a Harvard and a half,” she said.

“My job is to make that number even bigger, and we’re doing that by reaching down to the high school pipeline. We know that almost 50% of our students in Arizona are Hispanic, and so getting that percentage higher is really important for us to get them into ASU and what that means is making sure that students see themselves as college-goers, even starting in elementary school. The job of my team is to provide resources, learning content, everything that ASU has to offer, to every community member.”

Such resources include a program to get parents involved in the college prep process, a YouTube channel created by ASU faculty dedicated to explaining college basics and even a new ASU campus in Yuma built so students can go to school while staying with their families.  

“The more of those types of opportunities we create, I think, the more we will be able to represent the full population,” Anguiano said.  

You can access the YouTube channel “ASU study hall” here: https://www.youtube.com/c/studyhall

Maria Anguiano- executive vice president, Arizona State University Learning Enterprise

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