Date of Degree
2025
Degree Name
Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
Department
Department of Counseling and Higher Education (CAHE)
Director
Hutchings, Quortne
Committee Members
Jaekel, Katy; Mac, Jacqueline
Keywords
Latino higher education, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, HSI research, Community Cultural Wealth, Servingness framework, equity in higher education, Latino staff voices, Critical Race Theory in education, mentorship in higher education, educational justice
Abstract
APOYANDO A NUESTRA GENTE: LATINO/A/É STAFF TESTIMONIOS OF MENTORSHIP, CULTURAL WEALTH, AND RESISTANCE AT HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS
Alex Torres, Ed.D. Department of Counseling and Higher Education Northern Illinois University, 2025 Quortne R. Hutchings, Director
Latino/a/é students are one of the fastest-growing student populations across universities and colleges in the United States. Understanding the experiences of the Latino/a/é support staff who work with these students, as well as the challenges they face at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), can be beneficial in finding where they can best be supported to fully serve students. This study explored the testimonios of Latino/a/é staff at HSIs in the Chicagoland area, focusing on how they mentor and support students with limited resources and limited institutional support. It also looked at how Latino/a/é staff drew on their Community Cultural Wealth to fill gaps in servingness, challenge systemic limitations, and provide mentorship to Latino/a/é students. Dr. Gina Garcia’s Servingness framework and Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth model guided this narrative inquiry study. Four findings emerged from this research: (1) serving beyond the role: burnout among staff; (2) serving without support; (3) representation as resistance; and (4) cultivating cultural wealth through mentorship. Implications for both future research and practice are offered.
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses and dissertations are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors, unless otherwise indicated.
Recommended Citation
Torres, Alex, "Apoyando a Nuestra Gente: Latino/a/é Staff Testimonios of Mentorship, Cultural Wealth, and Resistance at Hispanic-Serving Institutions" (2025). Dissertations of Practice. 97.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-disspractice/97
