Hispanic Heritage Month: Researchers Reflect

September 15th marks the beginning of National Hispanic* Heritage Month. This month, reserved for the recognition and celebration of those with ancestry from Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain, and Central and South America comes at a particularly poignant and precarious sociopolitical time. While the continuation of inhumane border detentions and unlawful detainments and arrests readily expose existing prejudice and racism, general hostility and even violent and murderous acts targeting Hispanic/Latinx people represent the growth and insidious spread of Hispanophobia.

Within the academic world, Latino/as continue to be largely underrepresented at higher-learning institutions. For example, although the college enrollment of Latino/a students has drastically increased since 2000, they still have the lowest college enrollment compared to White and Black students, and their rate of bachelor-degree attainment is comparatively far behind these groups as well (Ponjuan, 2012; Snyder, de Brey, & Dillow, 2017). With the same high SAT/ACT scores, only 63% of Latino students will go on to complete a degree versus 78% of White students (Carnevale & Fasules, 2017).

Yet, the faces of the faculty that represent an institution can have a profound effect on students. We know that students of color attending predominantly white institutions (PWIs) are more likely to persist toward degree completion when they have faculty members of color who can act as role models (McClain, 2017). Furthermore, researchers have found that Latino/a faculty members improve Latino/a students' higher education retention and degree completion rates while also contributing to campus pluralism (Hurtado, 2001; Umbach, 2006). And from a personal perspective as an aspiring Latina scholar, I cannot overstate the power of Hispanic/Latinx representation within the academy and the way it can both embolden and inspire students.

Therefore, in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, SPSP asked a few of our members how being Hispanic/Latinx has influenced their path as researchers.

Yolanda Flores Niemann

Dr. Yolanda Flores Niemann is Professor of Psychology at the University of North Texas (UNT). She is nationally known for her research that includes the effects and social-ecological contexts of stereotypes and tokenism, especially in academia. Dr. Niemann also has extensive administrative experience, having served as Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of North Texas, as Vice Provost and Dean at Utah State University, and in numerous administrative positions at Washington State University, including Chair of the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies.

The early experience also led me to serve in formal administrative positions for 15 years.  As an administrator, in addition to traditional responsibilities, I paid particular attention to ways in which I could improve the representation of Faculty of Color and workplace climate for members of historically underrepresented groups, including women in the STEM fields, members of the LGBTQ community, and religious minorities. Now that I am enjoying being back in the faculty ranks, I make a point of providing graduate opportunities for Students of Color, and helping the 20 undergraduates on my diverse research team prepare for entry into graduate school. My identity has also fueled my mentoring interests and engagement, as reflected in the mentoring awards I have been awarded. My interest in facilitating success for students who come from poverty also comes from my own experience as a Mexican American who grew up in these circumstances. The over forty million dollars I have been awarded in federal outreach grants have targeted low SES K-12 school communities, across race/ethnicity.

A colleague once asked me why I could not be a scholar without thinking of myself as Mexican American identity. I asked him if he could forget that he was a man as he lived his life. Of course, the answer was no. We are holistic beings. All in all, it has been virtually impossible to separate my identity as a Mexican American woman from my professional role. I think that my experiences related to my racial/ethnic identity have made me a more compassionate human being, psychologist, professor, scholar, teacher, administrator, and advocate for improving the lives of all persons."

Jamie Franco-Zamudio

Dr. Jamie Franco-Zamudio is a Professor at Spring Hill College. She received her Bachelor's in Psychology from Ohio State University and her Master's and Doctorate in Social Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Franco-Zamudio's research has been funded by the Ford Foundation and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Franco-Zamudio currently serves on two community non-profit boards: Lifelines Counseling Services Board and Prism United.

My socialization into the academy began at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), where I learned to use an interdisciplinary approach to frame research on the experience of oppression and marginalization. The professors at UCSC taught me the importance of using the appropriate research methods to address my questions; given the types of questions I asked, I gravitated toward methods such as ethnography, Community-Based Participatory Research, interviews, and participant observation. One of my professors, explained that this was because I "wasn't interested in the structure of the building," I was more interested in "what was going on in the third-floor bathroom cupboard." I love the image [this] conjures and share it with my students today. I was also very inspired by an article written by Michelle Fine and Ricardo Barreras, which end[s] in a call to action, highlighting all of the work psychologists could do "to be of use" to marginalized communities. It is because of articles like "To Be of Use" and the rigorous training by UCSC professors, such as Faye Crosby, Heather Bullock, Aida Hurtado, Colin Leach, and Craig Haney that I currently identify as an Engaged Scholar (Boyer, 1996). I have worked to strategically align my teaching, research, and service goals in order to best engage students in understanding and researching issues of inclusion and justice. 

Oscar Ybarra

Oscar Ybarra is Professor of Psychology (LSA) and Management and Organizations (Ross Business School) at the University of Michigan, and Faculty Associate at the Research Center for Group Dynamics (ISR). Dr. Ybarra is interested in the pervasiveness with which the social dimension of life influences people's thinking, feelings, and decisions. He has studied how social interaction, relationships, and social-media connections affect executive function, decision-making, and well-being.

Being Mexican-American is of course part of my identity, and Spanish was my first language. If my upbringing has had any influence on my research, for me it is that I am more interested in how people are similar than different. This is not to deny the wonder and beauty that comes from rich cultural histories, but for me there is a deeper history we all share, one that stretches way back in time. This is why I have cherished my visits to Oldupai Gorge. This is what fascinates me—where we all come from and how being social has always been a driving force in human life, affecting how we think, feel, and what we do.

* A note on taxonomy: As is the plight of many minority groups, Hispanic/Latinx people in the U.S. often find that they are restricted to identifying their race and ethnicity through imperfect labels (often created by majority groups) that do not sufficiently explain or identify the vast diversity of individuals that trace heritage to Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain, and Central and South America. Many nuances are held within the terms Hispanic and Latino/a, and new debates have introduced the term "Latinx" to the conversation. And within the communities these terms are meant to represent, there is little consensus on which is preferred and opinions differ widely (Amado, 2019; Pew Research Center, Hispanic Trends, 2013; Ramirez & Blay, 2017). In the current article, I use both "Hispanic/Latinx" as well as "Latino/a" in effort to include all members of the community.

Amado, B. (2019, March). Is 'Latinx' elitist? Some push back at the word's growing use. NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latinx-elitist-some-push-back-word-s-growing-use-n957036

Carnevale, A., & Fasules, M. (2017). Latino Education and Economic Progress: Running Faster but Still Behind. Retrieved from Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce website: https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/latinosworkforce/

Hurtado, S. (2001). Linking Diversity and Educational Purpose: How Diversity Affects the Classroom Environment and Student Development. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED456199
McClain, K. S. (2017). Where Did They Go: Retention Rates for Students of Color at Predominantly White Institutions. College Student Affairs Leadership, 4(1), 10.

Pew Research Center, Hispanic Trends. (2013). Preference for the Terms "Hispanic" and "Latino." Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2013/10/22/three-fourths-of-hispanics-say-their-community-needs-a-leader/ph-hispanic-leader-10-2013-03-04/

Ponjuan, L. (2012). Recruiting and Retaining Latino Faculty Members: The Missing Piece to Latino Student Success [National Education Association]. Retrieved September 14, 2019, from NEA website: http://www.nea.org//archive/49914.htm

Ramirez, T. L., & Blay, Z. (2017, October). Why People Are Using The Term "Latinx." HuffPost, Latino Voices. Retrieved from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-people-are-using-the-term-latinx_n_57753328e4b0cc0fa136a159

Snyder, T. D., de Brey, C., & Dillow, S. (2017). Digest of Education Statistics, 2017 (No. NCES 2018-070; p. 905). Washington, DC, US: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Umbach, P. D. (2006). The Contribution of Faculty of Color to Undergraduate Education. Research in Higher Education, 47(3), 317–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-005-9391-3