Abstract
The impetus for this book and the study mentioned was the author's intention to try to close a gap in scholarship related to Hispanic women's experiences and their positions of leadership in higher education. The existing literature did not offer ample information about Hispanic women who have achieved professional success in leadership roles. This chapter contains the preliminary findings that have already been shared in diversity conferences, recommendations, reflections from colleagues who are administrators, professors, and students as a way to address this subject. The author believes information must continue to be shared in order for more voices to arise and whom we can encourage while empowering other Hispanic women/Latinas. It is important to promote support for future strategic efforts among college students, faculty, and diversity fellows from different organizations and community partners across the nation.
TopCall To Action
- 1.
Offer more studies that include the perspectives and voices of Latinas, and are not only about them.
- 2.
Focus on genuine recruitment, retention, and promotion of Hispanics/Latinas throughout all the colleges, not only the college of education.
- 3.
Establish mentoring programs to ensure Latinas understand how to navigate higher education, including the various protocols, in order to receive tenure.
- 4.
Promote Latinas to key positions where they will serve as role models for future generations.
- 5.
Provide a Latino(a) center for Hispanic women/Latinas to do peer mentoring.
- 6.
Create venues throughout the educational pipelines by providing data and information back to those universities about how better to support the development of Hispanic women leaders.
- 7.
Research and provide resources that Hispanic-serving institutions have been utilizing to empower Latinos.
- 8.
Build trust between Latino/a communities by engaging stakeholders to become more active by providing support that may include mentoring programs.
- 9.
Identify Hispanic women/Latinas who are leaders at faith-based organizations to empower those who have spirituality as a priority in their lives.
- 10.
Allow dialogue, at the university level, among Hispanic/Latino communities to tailor learning opportunities and mentoring for early career faculty.
TopDiscussion Of Recommendations
The recommendations resulting from this research have implications for the five universities in particular. Quite clearly, the political, structural, and human resource frameworks will have to change to ensure a more transformational institution (Bolman & Deal, 2013; Cavazos Vela et al., 2015; Mezirow, 1991; Mezirow, 2012; Northouse, 2019; Nieto & Bode 2020; Núñez et al., 2010; Núñez & Murakami-Ramalho, 2011). Because of the rapidly increasing population of Latinos across the United States, the applications for this research are many.
First, colleges and university systems would do well to place Hispanic women in key positions or administrative positions where they can serve as role models and provide leadership to early-career members of the faculty and to students. Wilcox et al. (2005) reported that social support is composed of “compatible friends [who] are essential to retention” (p. 707).
Colleagues, mentors, and friends in higher education provide direct emotional support, equivalent to family relationships, as well as provide essential buffering support in stressful situations. Hispanic women are also increasing in numbers within the region. Thus it will be important to provide more role models from those communities in upper-level administrative positions in order to recruit, retain, and promote greater diversity among students and faculty at universities.
Secondly, this study will explained how to create venues along the educational pipelines by providing data and information back to those universities that informed them how better to support the development of Hispanic women leaders. This will empower women to pursue tenure or full-time positions in institutions of higher education.
Lastly, this study uncovered various resources that Hispanic women leaders depend upon, both interpersonally and as part of the individual’s internal resources. Such information can be shared back to those universities, to become part of an analysis. This effort could be enriched if it considered the dynamics of race in other institutions in which more ethnic groups are represented or that serve specifically Hispanic institutions. In this way, the institutions may develop a better pipeline of information for future generations. Additionally, Rodríguez (1999) noted that, among the Hispanic women in his study, there was a connection between faith and leadership, which strongly suggests that faith may have helped some leaders to support others to develop a sense of belonging. This study offers many perspectives that will enable women to clarify their own ideas about their ethnic identity and their personal values and strengths. From that position women can better assess their rights and opportunities.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Promotion and Tenure: Based on excellence in teacher and research (Register & King, 2018).
Emotional Support: Involves showing empathy, compassion, and genuine concern for others. It is one of the basic needs of a person. Studies have proved that individuals with healthy relationships and friendships have greater emotional well-being (Quora, 2019).
Human Resource Frameworks: Places emphasis on giving employees the power and opportunity to perform their jobs well while addressing their needs for human contact, personal growth, and job satisfaction (Bolman & Deal, 2013).
Retention: Student attrition rates have been one of the most critical issues in higher education for decades. As students fail to persist at higher education institutions, there are impacts on both the academic and social environments. Student persistence also plays a major role in institutions’ financial planning and job opportunities (Burke, 2019).
Recruitment: Is more than simply matching a student or professional profile with a corresponding institution. There are numerous factors that influence both students’ choices and their potential for success. Good student recruitment strategies address all of these factors so that students have everything they need to make informed choices (Keystone, 2020).
Symbolic Framework: Focuses on creating a sense of purpose and meaning in their work by inspiring people to make the organization distinctive by including a motivational vision (Bolman & Deal, 2013).
Structural Framework: Focuses on how to change; task-orientated; concentrates on strategy by setting measurable goals, clarifying tasks, responsibilities and reporting lines, setting deadlines developing systems and procedures (Bolman & Deal, 2013).
Political Framework: Addresses the problem of individuals and interest groups having conflicting goals or agendas, see coalition-building, conflict resolution work, and power-base building to support the leader's initiatives (Bolman & Deal, 2013).