Research project

Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions, colleges and universities where 15–24% of students identify as Latine, are a growing and dynamic segment of U.S. higher education. Building on my earlier research on HSIs, this work asks how institutions that may become federally designated develop a vision for serving Latine students, and how state politics and organizational history shape that vision.

Funded by the Race and Ethnic Studies Institute, Texas A&M University.

Ishara Casellas Connors presenting emerging HSI research at the ASHE annual conference
Presenting emerging HSI research at the Association for the Study of Higher Education annual conference.

Publications

* Student co-author

Selected presentations

  • Ecologies of emergingness: A grounded theory of organizational changeASHE, Denver, 2025
  • Ecologies of emergingness: Emerging HSI administrators navigating a changing landscapeASHE, Minneapolis, 2024
  • Emerging HSIs: A systematic literature review of a decade of researchASHE, Minneapolis, 2024
  • State systems and advancement of servingness at emerging HSIsAERA, Philadelphia, 2024