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Office of Hispanic-Serving Initiatives (OHSI)

GCC campus

What is a "Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI)?

HSIs are institutions of higher education that have enrollments of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that are at least 25% Hispanic.

As a Hispanic-Serving Institution, GCC is committed to redesigning the infrastructure of the college to be a space of racial justice, healing, joy, and liberation for all students, especially Latino/a students, while creating equitable academic outcomes that include increased course completion, semester-to-semester persistence, graduation rates, associate degree attainment, successful transfer from two-year to four-year institutions, and STEM degree completion.

Adelante GCC Title V Grant
BIEN in STEM TITLE III Grant
Project Connect Title V Grant

The mission of the Office of Hispanic-Serving Initiatives (OHSI) is to advance GCC’s identity as a Hispanic-Serving Institution through research and advocacy focused on:

  1. promoting the visibility and inclusion of Latino/a students and other minority cultural identities within the campus community to ensure that GCC’s organizational culture reflects its student body,

  2. enhancing the impact of existing structures dedicated to addressing student needs and facilitating degree completion among Latino/a students,

  3. expanding institutional measures of effectiveness to include not only traditional measures of academic success but also non-academic indicators relating to students’ identity, agency, and sense of belonging within the campus community, and

  4. collaborating with Latino/a organizations in Glendale and surrounding communities to expand educational and career opportunities for Latino/a students.

 

Within GCC, the OHSI’s purpose is to:

  • conduct research about Latino/a students’ experiences and outcomes at GCC, disseminate research results, and propose changes to instruction and services based on data  

  • collaborate with and expand the reach and impact of other campus programs that serve Latino/a students  

  • advocate for institutional changes necessary to cultivate a campus environment in which Latino/a students find:

  • clear paths to achieving their academic goals

  • friendship, community, and a sense of belonging

  • respect for their cultures, perspectives, and values  

  • recognition of their academic potential  

  • appreciation for their contributions to campus life, and

  • opportunities and resources to help them learn and thrive

  • improve GCC’s campus culture not only to uplift Latino/a students but also to attract Latino/a professionals to pursue employment at GCC as faculty or staff

Within Glendale and the greater Los Angeles region, the OHSI’s purpose is to:

  • promote GCC’s identity as a Hispanic-Serving Institution

  • network with community organizations to identify and promote additional scholarship, mentoring, and internship opportunities for Latino/a students,

  • inform community partners about all GCC has to offer Latino/a students  

  • attract Latino/a students to pathways, programs, and learning communities at GCC that are designed to promote success in college and in life 

San Rafael, 2nd Floor

Room 244

Office Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am to 5 pm

Current Staff of the Office of Hispanic-Serving Initiatives

Silvana Carrion-Palomares, Interim Project Director   

Gevork Demirchyan, Activity Director, BIEN in STEM