'Anti-racism, anti-oppression work, equity, and social justice' commitment required for 'Latinx' cluster hire
The job application is a part of a larger initiative by UCSD to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution, which requires that 25% of Latinx undergrad students must be enrolled at a minimum.
The initiative has been ongoing since April 2016, when UCSD created an HSI task force to determine the best way to increase 'Latinx enrollment and student success.'
A recent University of California San Diego (UCSD) job posting seeks to hire an Assistant Professor of Education to help the university grow its “Latinx Cluster Hire Initiative,” which “aims to increase faculty diversity.”
The university calls for a candidate with “Expertise in Quantitative Methodologies in Service of Latina/o/x Communities.” In the list of application requirements, applicants must submit a cover letter explaining how their “research applies to Latinx populations.”
The applicant must also include a “[s]tatement of contributions to Diversity” in which the individual lists their work surrounding diversity.
In the position description, a strong candidate “directly advances educational forms of anti-racism, anti-oppression work, equity, and social justice with a focus on the Latinx/Chicanx community.“
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The job application is a part of a larger initiative by UCSD to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).
To be considered an HSI by the Department of Education, 25% of Latinx undergrad students must be enrolled at a minimum, according to the requirements.
Universities that qualify as HSI will be eligible for more grant funding for Latinx students and research.
“Once designated as an HSI, UC San Diego will be eligible for grants to expand educational opportunities for Latinx students,” the requirements state. ”These grants enable HSI campuses to expand and enhance academic offerings and strengthen student services and programs that increase retention and graduation.”
The initiative has been ongoing since April 2016, when UCSD created an HSI task force to determine the best way to increase “Latinx enrollment and student success.”
Another significant piece of this process is hiring more diverse faculty.
In July, UCSD announced that it would be hiring 14 new faculty for Latinx Studies after the university received $500,000 from the University of California’s Advancing Faculty Diversity Program.
“The Latinx Cluster Hire Initiative aims to increase faculty diversity, spur innovative research and infuse culture into the curriculum,” the announcement read.
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UCSD’s push to increase student and faculty diversity comes in light of a nation-wide trend in higher education.
In 2019, the University of Pittsburgh launched a Latinx cluster hiring program and made its first hire in October 2021.
In September 2021, UC Berkeley began a search for a group of interdisciplinary faculty members as part of its sixth cluster hire. Some of the focuses were “Native American and Indigenous People, Anti-Black Racism and Social Inclusion, Latinx and Democracy.”
Then in October 2021, James Madison University (JMU) announced another initiative to hire “six tenure-track faculty working broadly across Latinx studies in several interconnected areas.”
The JMU applicants should bring “Latinx focus to writing and media, intersectionality, racial and social justice, citizenship and civic engagement, transnationalism, border studies, social inequality, technical rhetorics, diaspora/migration, health, gender/sexuality, indigeneity, Latinidades, and policy-inflected research.”
Campus Reform contacted every university mentioned in this article and will update accordingly.
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