Dominican University: Serving Latine Students in the Midwest

By: Verónica Gutiérrez, MBA’22, Dominican College, River Forest IL and Marcela Reales Visbal, Activity Director for Title V, Element B – Marketing Article-Baccalaureate Chances for Hispanic People, Dominican College, River Forest IL

“I experienced by no means read of the phrase HSI until I arrived to Dominican University”, stated Verónica Gutiérrez, a first-era Latina who grew up in a single of Chicago’s northwestern suburbs and not too long ago graduated with her Master’s in Business enterprise Administration from Dominican.

Dominican University is just one of 30 Hispanic Serving Establishments in Illinois, and 1 of 15 that gives graduate programs.¹ While most HSIs are concentrated in the U.S. Southwest, Puerto Rico, and New York, Dominican proudly serves the midwestern Latine group. The faculty is deemed Chicago’s Leading Catholic HSI.

Like Verónica, a lot of college students at Dominican are first-technology school college students and from traditionally marginalized communities in the Chicago metropolitan space. With Latine learners accounting for 20% of university undergraduates in the United States, it’s vital to be intentional about serving this subset of the populace.²

How? By making on students’ belongings and supplying them instruments and means that will enable them triumph.

Since the tumble of 2017 Dominican University has been awarded Title V and Title III grants aimed at rising Latine and small-revenue pupil good results. These assets extend and enhance academic offerings, educational aid services for undergraduate and graduate college students, job and qualified preparedness, and co-curricular offerings these types of as a Economical Wellness system. They also assist faculty and staff across campus to grow to be extra culturally inclusive as a result of their function and teaching techniques.

“When I came to Dominican there was an all round concentration on the nicely-currently being of the learners,” stated Verónica. “It felt like a large amount of the college, such as Professor of Management Molly Burke, had been frequently very fascinated and anxious about how the learners were being executing, presenting tutorial guidance and connecting us with men and women and assets.”

While pursuing her MBA, Verónica was a graduate assistant for the Monetary Wellness program. The application, led by Ramiro Atristaín Carrión presents students money literacy workshops, economical steering, undergraduate internships, and volunteering chances in the local community. The assistantship gave Verónica an opportunity to grow her awareness of Fiscal Literacy, mentor undergraduate students, and gain project management expertise.

This working experience led her to go after her present-day profession as a expert for increased instruction: “As a first-gen pupil I always find it helpful when institutions offer you applications and resources that empower the learners, no matter if it is via experiential opportunities like internships or graduate assistantships, that will offer activities necessary for a great deal of our students,” she said.

Verónica has normally been fully commited to mentorship and advocating for her neighborhood.

“Growing up I experienced extremely supportive teachers that always believed in my potential, so I thought that I could attain regardless of what was in my mind,” she reported. “I would also say that representation does issue. Ramiro was in investment decision banking, and I had in no way met any person from Latin America that was in expenditure banking, so it was the very first time that I entered the place and imagined that everything was probable!”

“We are unable to be what we cannot see,” writes actor and social justice advocate Michael K. Williams in his posthumous memoir.³

Offering a wide range of instruments and chances for our learners to see past what they know and be successful on their endeavors, is critical to encouraging them be the finest-attainable version of themselves.

¹Excelencia in Instruction: Hispanic-Serving Establishments (HSIs): 2020-2021

²National Centre for Training Statistics and The White Household: A Proclamation on Hispanic Heritage Establishments 7 days, 2022

³Williams, Michael Kenneth, and Jon Sternfeld. Scenes from My Lifetime: A Memoir. Crown, 2022.

Verónica Gutiérrez at the moment is effective for a consulting organization in Chicago. She graduated personal debt cost-free by implementing the personalized finance ideas taught by Ramiro J. Atristaín-Carrión in the program. Verónica thinks in empowering folks by equipping them with the information, equipment, and competencies they will need to be profitable. Her long run intention is to start out a monetary literacy program to empower ladies and other 1st-technology higher education students.