The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley: Reframing HSIs through a Multi-Sited Ethnography

Abstract

This article contributes to the study of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) through a narrative grounded on two points of innovation. It offers frameworks to decenter the conversation on HSIs from normative practices in higher education to focus on pedagogical, cultural, and political relational processes that find greater congruence between nominal HSIs and the Latina/o students, families, and the communities that populate those universities. It looks at points of innovation that emerged in two different parts of the country at different places, spaces, and time. One was initiated at the University of North Florida (UNF) in the early-to-mid-1970s, and the second is taking place at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in South Texas (UTRGV). The UNF experience placed race relations front and center of its innovation, and offers an appropriate historical lens through which to understand the social and institutional change taking place in South Texas. The UTRGV work provides an example of how an HSI can align its curricular and core identity to reflect the population and region it serves. This study employs a methodology and theoretical framework that aligns the inquiry, pedagogy, and meaning-making process in a generative and relational discourse.