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Anne-Marie Nuñez

Executive Director, Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success, and Distinguished Centennial Professor, University of Texas at El Paso

About Anne-Marie

Núñez's research focuses on expanding higher education opportunities for minoritized students. Overarching themes in Núñez's writings include the educational trajectories of Latinx, English Learner, and migrant students; the role of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in raising minoritized groups' educational and science attainment, and the development of inclusive organizational cultures in science. Núñez has served on National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and National Science Foundation committees to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in science.

In the News

Interviewed in "Beyond Demographics, UTEP Aims To Redefine What It Means To Be a Hispanic-Serving Institution," Texas Standard: The National Daily News Show of Texas, June 23, 2022.
Quoted by in "Honoring Dr. Anne-Marie Nuñez," White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics U.S. Department of Education
Opinion: "Let’s Teach Computer Science Majors to Be Good Citizens. The Whole World Depends on It.," Anne-Marie Nuñez (with Matthew J. Mayhew, Musbah Shaheen, and Laura S. Dahl), Opinion, Ed Surge, March 15, 2021.
Opinion: "Being a Steward of Intersectionality in Teaching," Anne-Marie Nuñez (with Antonio Duran), Equity Alliance Blog, April 3, 2018.
Interviewed in "N.J. University Works To Improve Graduation Rates For Latinos," NPR Morning Edition, April 2, 2018.
Opinion: "Immigrants Bolster Academic and Civic Engagement in the U.S.," Anne-Marie Nuñez, New York Times, September 3, 2015.
Opinion: "What Does Hispanic-Serving Mean, Anyway?," Anne-Marie Nuñez, Excelencia, June 1, 2015.
Quoted by Catherine Morris in "ASHE: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Could Face Rough Road Ahead," Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, November 24, 2014.
Quoted by Howard Mann in "Group Discusses Solutions for Raising the Number of Hispanic Teachers," Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, March 28, 2013.
Opinion: "The Demographic Dividend: Why the Success of Latino Faculty and Students is Critical," Anne-Marie Nuñez (with Elizabeth Murakami-Ramalho), Academe, 2012.

Publications

"Examining Organizational Behavior of Hispanic-Serving Institution Computer Science Departments: Toward Servingness and Equity in the Field" Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering 29, no. 2 (2023): 75-96.

Examines the organizational behavior of departments in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) with sustained success in graduating Latinx computer science bachelor's degree recipients. Offers organizational strategies to create more inclusive environments and promote equitable outcomes for minoritized students in science.

"Creating Cultures of Student Success: Insights From Hispanic-Serving Institution Computer Science Departments" Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 54, no. 5 (2022): 44-51.

Demonstrates how studying organizational behavior in Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) computing departments—including computer science, computer engineering, information science, and computer information systems can offer important lessons for all departments about creating race-conscious and equity-centered cultures of student success

"Staff at Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Debugging Challenges in Navigating Computer Science " (with Jessica Rivera). About Campus: Enriching the Student Learning Experience 27, no. 1 (2022): 38-47.

Considers the strategies and successes of Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) for cultivating talent development in STEM fields.

"EL Policy and Immigrant Politics: State and Federal Policy and Ever-EL Students’ Postsecondary Pathways" (with Rebecca M. Callahan and Lei Jiang). Postsecondary Pathways. Educational Policy (2022).

Considers how EL education policy is largely defined at the federal level but interpreted and implemented by state and local actors (i.e., the Lau and Castañeda cases). In addition, largely of immigrant origin, ever-EL students are directly affected by federal immigration policy as well as state immigrant policies. Suggests that the unique status of EL education in K-12 schools and the framing of immigrant-origin communities in federal and state policies make it necessary to consider both federal and state policy contexts in ever-EL college-going research.

"The Organization of Learning in Geoscience Fieldwork and Implications for Inclusion" (with Tyler Hallmark, Julie R. Posselt, Jessica Rivera, and Deborah Southern). Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering 27, no. 3 (2021).

Examines the organization of learning in geoscience fieldwork with implications for inclusion and exclusion of diverse learners. Involves 275 hours of observations and 32 interviews of participants at two separate undergraduate and graduate fieldwork courses in the western United States.

"Centering Hispanic-Serving Institutions’ Strategies To Develop Talent in Computing Fields" (with Jessica Rivera, Jennifer Valdez, and Victoria Barbosa Olivo). Tapuya: An International Journal of Latin American Science, Technology and Society. 4, no. 1 (2021).

Examines how Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), federally designated institutions in the US that enroll at least 25% Hispanics, develop strategies to raise Hispanic attainment in computing fields. Explores the activities of HSIs in the Computing Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), a network of over 60 HSIs and other stakeholders that are committed to raising Hispanic attainment in postsecondary computing.

"Food and Housing Insecurity for Latinx/a/o College Students: Advancing an Intersectional Research Agenda" (with Antonio Duran). Journal of Hispanic Higher Education (2020).

Reviews how literature has examined food/housing insecurity for Latinx/a/o students before employing an intersectional lens to develop a research agenda to investigate food/housing insecurity for Latinx/a/o students. Emphasizes interrogating how interrelated systems of power and oppression affect Latinx/a/o students’ access to basic needs.

"Hispanic-Serving Institutions" (with Jessica Rivera), in Sage Encyclopedia of Higher Education, edited by M. J. Amey and M. E. David (SAGE Publications, 2020), 758-761.

Illustrates the institutional diversity of HSIs, the ways that HSIs address Hispanic student success, and the role of various resources in influencing HSIs’ performance. Demonstrates that the HSIs’ contributions must be considered within a broader political, social, and economic context that historically has limited their resources.

"Applying an Intersectionality Lens To Expand Equity in The Geosciences" (with Tyler Hallmark and Jessica Rivera). Journal of Geoscience Education 68, no. 2 (2019).

Examines how intersectionality, a lens from the social sciences, can be employed conceptually and practically to broaden participation in geosciences, particularly among underrepresented groups such as women of color or others with multiple marginalized statuses. Outlines the key concepts constituting a lens of intersectionality and explain a specific model of intersectionality that incorporates multiple individual, cultural, and historical layers.

"Toward a Multidimensional Conceptual Framework for Understanding “Servingness” in Hispanic Serving Institutions" (with Gina A. Garcia and Vanessa A. Sansone). Review of Educational Research 89, no. 5 (2019).

Conducts a systematic review of 148 journal articles and book chapters to better understand how researchers conceptualize the idea of servingness at HSIs. We identified four major themes used by researchers to conceptualize servingness: (1) outcomes, (2) experiences, (3) internal organizational dimensions, and (4) external influences.

"Developing Work-Based Geosciences Learning Opportunities in a Hispanic-Serving Institution" (with Vanessa A. Sansone, J. K. Haschenburger, Alexis Godet, Walter Gray, Marina B. Suarez, Stuart Birnbaum, and David Young). Special Issue:Models and Bridges for Supporting Students at Minority‐Serving Institutions 2019, no. 167 (2019): 85-99.

Provides an overview of a funded National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program that incorporates learning and work in an effort to address racial/ethnic underrepresentation in the field of geosciences. Demonstrates the importance of engaging student affairs with academic affairs in such a program to address the diverse needs of students at HSIs.

"Commentary: Centering the “Marginalized Majority”: How Hispanic-Serving Institutions Advance Postsecondary Attainment" American Educational Research Journal 54, no. 1 (2017): 135S-139S.

Discusses how the past century has seen U.S. higher education shift from providing education to small groups of students in historicallty "elite" institutions, to offering nearly universal postsecondary education to the most demographically diverse group of students ever, in the most diverse range of institutional types in the world.

"Centering the “Marginalized Majority”: How Hispanic-Serving Institutions Advance Postsecondary Attainment" American Educational Research Journal 54, no. 1 (2017): 135-139.

Outlines how in the past centuries the U.S. higher education shift from providing education to a small group of students in historically "elite" institutions, to offering nearly universal postsecondary education, to the most demographically diverse group of students ever, in the most diverse range of institutional types in the world (Thelin, 2013; Trow 1970).

"Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research" (with Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, Yasuko Kanno, and Stella Flores), in English Learners and Their Transition to Postsecondary Education (Springer International Publishing Switzerland , 2016), 41-90.

Findings are that precollege and college academic experiences, financial considerations, sociocultural experiences, and cultural and linguistic assets influence EL students’ transitions from high school to college

"Sociocritical Matters: Migrant Students’ College Access" (with Ryan Evely Gildersleeve). Educational Policy 30 (2016): 501-535.

Draws on quantitative and qualitative research to examine the influence of a residential outreach program at a public university on migrant student participants’ college access. Finds evidence that cultivating sociocritical skills to challenge exclusionary political and economic systems while also cultivating academic skills and knowledge about college can broaden migrant students’ sense of postsecondary possibilities. Expands college access for migrant students, we suggest that outreach programs address the development of these and other skills.

"Earning and Learning: Exploring the Meaning of Work in the Experiences of First-Generation Latino College Students" (with Vanessa A. Sansone). Review of Higher Education 40, no. 1 (2016): 91-116 .

Examines how working influences students' college experiences, extending the predominantly quantitative research in this area. Findings based on interviews with Latino first-generation students who work reveal three themes. First, these students bring a familial orientation that motivates them to increase occupational status. Perceives that working helps them develop a sense of belonging on campus and important academic and social skills.

"Mapping Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A Typology of Institutional Diversity" (with Gloria Crisp and Diane Elizondo). Journal of Higher Education 87, no. 1 (2016): 55-83 .

Examines the distinctive structural, demographic, financial, and community context characteristics of HSIs. Provides a foundation for building a more institutionally relevant way of classifying HSIs and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which can inform future research about HSIs’ organizational identities and effects on student outcomes.

"Closing the Latino/a Transfer Gap: Creating Pathways to the Baccalaureate," (with Diane Elizondo), The Center for Research and Policy Education and University of Texas at San Antonio, 2013.
Provides an overview of the academic, financial, cultural, and social target areas, as well as broader policy issues, which must be addressed in order to promote Latino/a student transfer from community colleges to four-year higher education institutions.
"Latinos in Higher Education and Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Creating Conditions for Success" (with Richard Hoover, Kellie Pickett, Christine Stuart-Carruthers, and Maria Vazquez) (Jossey-Bass, 2013).
Presents a framework and strategies for promoting Hispanic student success that incorporate academic, financial, cultural, and social factors, as well as the importance of creating culturally responsive and supportive campus climates. Highlights how state and federal policymakers can contribute to strengthening Latino student success and the condition of HSIs.
"Latino Students’ College Transitions: A Social and Intercultural Capital Perspective" Harvard Educational Review 79, no. 1 (2009): 22-48.
Examines factors that contribute to a sense of belonging among Latino students entering college and presents evidence that Latino students who feel most alienated with their racial campus climate are also more likely to be involved in campus activities and community service. Suggests that in contrast to popular arguments that diversity activities like ethnic studies courses lead underrepresented minorities to disconnect from campus life, involvement in such activities help Latino students to feel a sense of belonging on campus and potentially contribute to their college persistence and degree attainment.