Compromiso, Pertenencia, and Empoderamiento: How Faculty at a Fronterizx HSI Perceive and Enact Servingness to Become Empowerment Agents for Latinx Student Success

Abstract

Semi-structured interviews with 22 faculty at a fronterizx HSI located at the U.S.-Mexico border revealed the ways faculty perceive, enact, and engage with servingness practice. Findings provide critical insights into the relationship between servingness and faculty as empowerment agents through three culturally relevant themes: compromiso, pertenencia, and empoderamiento. Specifically, participants’ conceptualizations of servingness, based on practice, advanced perspectives and enactments of Latinx student support that helped transform their institution to more aptly serve both the academic and non-academic outcomes of Latinx students. Findings raise implications for research and practice.