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Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education membership participated in the legislative process during the 2013 Conference in Austin. Jesse Bernal, Luis Figueroa, MALDEF attorney and Dr. Jude Valdez led the training session for the Capitol visit. TACHE members were assigned Representatives and Senators to visit and convey the TACHE Public Policy Initiatives for the 2013 Legislative Session. The 82nd Legislature cut higher education by about 18%. These cuts have had a significant negative and disproportionate impact on Hispanic in the educational pipeline in Texas’ future.

Therefore, TACHE advanced the following public policy initiatives to elected and appointed officials in the state of Texas: 1) TACHE advocates for the reauthorization and refunding of the Doctoral Incentive Loan Repayment program; 2) TACHE advocates for public policy to restore funding for public colleges and universities to the previous biennium levels; 3) TACHE advocates for public policy to increase funding to previous biennium levels for the Texas Grant and the Texas

Educational Opportunity Grant programs; and 4) TACHE advocates for public policy that would require Texas public colleges and universities to demonstrate a strong program that leads to faculty and staff diversity which reflects the institution’s student population. The THECB would annually prepare a prog-ress report on each college and university in Texas and rank them in this area.

TA C H E N o t i c i a r i o 2

George Reyes

TACHE President

2013

Dear TACHISTAS,

As the 83rd Texas Legislature comes to a close, we can reflect on the successes and in some cases disappointments in the leg-islation that was passed. The at-tacks on restricting curriculum in History and resident status of stu-dents attending public institutions of higher education were de-feated. As a board action, TACHE took a stand in opposing carrying concealed handguns on college campuses. Although this House bill ( HB 972) passed in the Texas House, it was not voted on by the Texas Senate. Bills related to higher education enrollment as-sistance, public school account-ability and math and science scholars loan repayment program were passed and are awaiting the Governor’s signature. TACHE was witness against HB 1938 and for HB 2550. Both had outcomes favorable to TACHE and the students that we support. Unfor-tunately, SB 1, with many funding issues, was not able to address

the re-authorization of the Doctoral Incentive Loan Repayment Pro-gram. TACHE’s legislative commit-tee will continue to press and seek support for this re-authorization by the Legislature. The TACHE Board of Directors and the Regional Representatives continue to meet at our quarterly meetings. We are excited about our plans to host the 39th annual TACHE conference in Ft Worth on February 19-22, 2014. Our theme “Avanzamos Juntos:Shared Success and Prosperity through Higher Education!” will highlight our many accomplishments and goals for the future. Early Bird registration is currently active and I encourage you to join me in registering for our conference. I would like to thank all those who helped host the TACHE Board meeting in San Antonio this past April. Special thanks to San Antonio College for providing a beautiful location at their Koehler House. Dr. Robert Ziegler, Dr. Emma Mendiola, & Dr. Frank Solis

represented SAC as our hosts as well as the gracious support from Palo Alto College including Dr Daniel Ro-driguez and Dr. Mike Flores. Dr. Eyra Perez hosted an information session for the Board at Cafe College and we thank her for her continued support of TACHE. Thank you also goes out to past president of TACHE, Dr. Jude Valdez for his active support. TACHE continues to collaborate with other like organizations in creating coalitions to address legislative is-sues. It is also forming strategic part-nerships as part of TACHE’s strategic plan. Adelante, George Reyes TACHE President 2013

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2013 Distinguished Faculty Awardspresented at Annual TACHE Conference

Norseman M. Hernandez, M.A.Associate Professor of Spanish

Lone Star College Montgomery Campus

Norseman Hernandez joined Lone Star College Montgomery five years ago and has been instrumental in taking the Span-ish department to new heights. He thinks outside the box and is willing to take risks with his cre-ative ideas and he shows much compassion and empathy for students. Norseman was raised by his grandmother in Hondu-ras. He knows firsthand how hard it can be to succeed. His classes fill up immediately and his teaching methods make stu-dents love Spanish. He has a sense of humor and a deep love for his language and culture. In a recent classroom observa-tion by the Dean of Instruction, Dr. Barbara Buchanan and Dr. David Zimmermann, head of the English Department: “He is a remarkable teacher; truly a master teacher.” Hernandez came to Texas from California, where he taught at Riverside Community College, San Ber-nardino Valley and Cal State University.

Mauricio Rodriguez, M.F.A.Assistant Professor of English

El Paso Community College Valle Verde Campus

Mauricio Rodriguez joined El Paso Community College Valle Verde campus fall of 2007. Mauricio is committed to ad-vancing Chicanos in higher education through efforts both inside and outside the class-room. As a professor, Rodri-guez seeks to inspire, chal-lenge and engage his students. Even though he is an English professor, his innovative ap-proach was demonstrated when he made Shakespeare accessible to his students by making it relate to their lives, he did this by incorporating his own play “El Homie: Hamlet del Barrio”, which utilized a combi-nation of English, Spanish and Calo, to bring Shakespeare’s Hamlet to life in a contempo-rary setting. Due to his tenac-ity and leadership, the Chicano Studies Program at EPCC was established. He grew up disadvantaged and faced many barriers, yet was able to over-come these obstacles and be successful.

Dr. Maria HinojosaAssistant Professor and

Meadows DirectorTexas A&M University Commerce

Dr. Maria Hinojosa has been in education a long time. She began her career in a secondary setting as a paraprofessional in Corpus Christi ISD; then went on to become a high school composite science teacher. Somewhere along the line she became a high school principal for the Jubilee Academic Center in San Antonio, Superintendent for Benavides ISD before join-ing the ranks of post-secondary education. Mr. Gilbert Hernan-dez, Coordinator for the Office of Hispanic Outreach and Stu-dent Programs at TAMU Com-merce states, Dr. Hinojosa has proven to be an outstanding role model for our student popula-tion. In fact, students selected her as the Hispanic Outreach and Student Programs Faculty of the Year. This award honors her dedication, knowledge, and scholarship to Latino students. This award commemorates her endless energy and support to the Latino community.

Norseman M. Hernandez Dr. Maria Hinojosa Mauricio Rodriguez

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2013 Graduate Fellowship Awardspresented at Annual TACHE Conference

David Barrientes Veronica Percera Sofia Bahena Elsa Medrano

David Barrientos. M.S.El Centro College

David is currently enrolled at Texas Tech University pursuing a Doctor of Education in Community College Administration. David says that he was inspired while attending the TACHE conference in Galveston, to see so many Latino leaders make it. During his time in post-secondary settings, David has noticed that Latinos are ex-cited about college; however, they are lacking the preparations and skill set needed to progress toward a degree. This is an area he wants to make a difference in. He also knows firsthand the struggles young Latino students encounter, especially when they have a family. Dr. Stephanie Jones, Assistant Professor of Education at TTU and David’s advisor states that “David has made significant commitment to attain-ing his education, while working full time and raising a family. Any investment in Mr. Barrientos’ education is money well spent.”

*****Elsa Diego-Medrano, M.Ed.West Texas A&M University

Elsa Diego-Medrano is currently a doctoral student at Texas Tech Univer-sity in the College of Education. As a child of two parent who immigrated to the United States from Mexico, she knew the importance of an education and how necessary it was in order to

Sofia Bahena, B.A.Harvard

Sofia is currently a doctoral candidate in Culture, Communities and Education at Harvard. She is the only Latina in her cohort and one of very few in the doctoral programs as a whole at Harvard. Sofia is the daughter of Mexican immigrant parents and a product of an inner-city Title I high school in San Antonio. Dr. Arturo Madrid, a former professor at Trinity University has been her mentor through-out her academic journey and along with her family support; she recalls the words they say to her every time she goes off to school. “para representar nuestra gente”. Although she has been away from home for several years now, her heart is still in San Antonio. Upon gradua-tion she is preparing to return to San Antonio and hopes to contribute as a faculty member at one of the six universities in San Antonio.

obtain a better life for oneself. When she was a classroom teacher, she encoun-tered many parents and students who resembled her own situation. She wants to help others, as her principal helped her. Her future goal is to model comprehen-sion strategies to teachers in Title I schools and work with teenage parents, especially Hispanic students, to teach them the importance of reading to their children; and to help teachers learn how to make reading enjoyable, since reading can be the key to a child’s future.

*****Veronica Pecero, B.A., B.S.

University of Texas at AustinVeronica is a second year master’s stu-dent in the College and University Student Personnel Administration program at UT-Austin. Veronica is a first generation, low income Latina student. She comes from a small family consisting of her mother, grandmother and aunt; all three were un-able to finish elementary school but have always supported and encouraged her to pursue an education. The experience she has encountered so far has sparked an in-terest in research on how the role of family affects students’ educational success. She has been fortunate to work under Dr. Victor Saenz’s research initiative, Project MALES, where she has focused on the role of family in Latino male students’ col-lege experience. Her goal is to become an administrator who directs diversity and inclusion program on college campus.

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Young H ispan ics Dropping Out o f H igh School The new ly re leased Oc tober 2012 da ta f rom BLS a l so i nd i ca te tha t young H ispan -i c s a re much less l i ke l y to d rop ou t o f h igh schoo l t han they were i n 2000 . In Oc to -ber 2012 the re were 134 ,000 H ispan ic recen t h igh schoo l d ropou ts . By de f i n i t i on these were H ispan ic 16 - to 24 -yea r -o lds who repo r ted no t be ing en ro l l ed i n schoo l i n Oc tober 2012 bu t were en ro l l ed a yea r ea r l i e r and d id no t have a h igh schoo l d ip loma. Th is compares w i th 101 ,000 recen t H ispan ic h igh schoo l d ropou ts i n Oc tober 2000 . A l though the abso lu te number o f H ispan ic recen t h igh schoo l d ropou ts has r i sen , t he re a re many more H ispan ic s tuden ts en -ro l l ed i n schoo l i n Oc tober 2012 compared w i th Oc tober 2000 . The Bureau o f Labor S ta -t i s t i cs does no t pub l i sh the number o f 16 - to 24 -yea r -o lds who were en ro l l ed i n schoo l l as t yea r and d id no t have a h igh schoo l d ip loma, so a p rec i se recen t h igh schoo l d ropou t ra te can -no t be tabu la ted . I ns tead we can compare the num -ber o f d ropou ts to the s i ze o f t he h igh schoo l g radu -a t ing c lasses . I n Oc tober 2000 the re were th ree new ly m in ted H ispan ic h igh schoo l g radua tes fo r eve ry one recen t H ispan ic h igh schoo l d ropou t . By Oc tober 2012 the re were f i ve new ly m in ted H ispan ic h igh schoo l g radu -a tes fo r eve ry one d ropou t .

Young H ispan ics a re i n -c reas ing l y s tay ing i n schoo l . By th i s measure , d rop -p ing ou t a l so has sha rp l y dec l i ned among 16 - to 24 -yea r -o ld wh i tes s ince 2000 . The ra t i o o f b lack h igh schoo l g radua tes to b lack d ropou ts has no t marked ly changed f rom Oc -t obe r 2000 to Oc tober 2012 . The t rends on H ispan ic recen t schoo l d ropou ts a re cons is ten t w i th o the r be t te r known H ispan ic d ropou t s ta -t i s t i cs . The Na t iona l Cen te r fo r Educa t ion S ta t i s t i cs re -por t s the h igh schoo l d rop -ou t ra te fo r 16 - to 24 -yea r -o lds . I n Oc tober 2000 28% o f H ispan ic 16 - to 24 -yea r -o lds were schoo l d ropou ts acco rd ing to th i s measure (Na t iona l Cen te r fo r Educa -

High School Drop-out Rate at Record Low Hispanic High School Graduates Pass Whites in Rate of College Enrollment

by Richard Fry and Paul Taylor

t i on S ta t i s t i cs , 2013) . By Oc tober 2011 14% o f H is -pan ics i n th i s age g roup were d ropou ts . Ev idence a l so sugges ts tha t H ispan ic s tuden ts a re i n -c reas ing l y l i ke l y to g radu -a te f rom h igh schoo l ( i n th i s i ns tance “g radua te ” re fe rs to those who ob ta in a regu -l a r h igh schoo l d ip loma and does no t i nc lude s tuden ts ob ta in ing a GED) . A recen t comprehens ive i nves t i ga t i on o f h igh schoo l g radua t ion ra tes f i nds tha t 78% o f H is -pan ics g radua ted f rom h igh schoo l i n 2010 , an i nc rease f rom 64% in 2000 (Murnane , 2013) .

For complete report see the article at http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/2013/05/PHC_college_enroll-ment_2013-05.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tex-as-Association-of-Chicanos-in-Higher-

Education/313108929222

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TACHE ExECuTivE BoArd

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MEET Your rEgionAl rEprEsEnTATivE

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IDRA establishes The José A. Cardenas School of Finance

Fellows Program

Dr. José A. Cardenas

IDRA’s (Intercultural Development Research Association) has new-ly-created the José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellows Pro-gram. The program is established to honor the memory of IDRA founder, Dr. José An-gel Cárdenas. The goal of the program is en-gage the nation’s most promising researchers in investigating school finance solutions that secure equity and ex-cellence for all public school students.

The program will fo-cus on and fund school finance research that builds cross-disciplinary and inter-sector per-spectives on equity.

IDRA will select one or more fellows per year who will dedicate them-selves to a period of in-tense study and writing in school finance.

IDRA will hold an annual symposium that includes release of the fellow’s program paper. The paper and findings will be pub-l ished in the symposium proceedings and dissemi-nated to the education re-search and policy maker community.

Key DatesJune 2013 2013-14 Call for Applications released

October 15, 2013 Applica-tions due

December 6, 2013 Notifi-cations to applicants

January-February 2014 Formalize agreements and announce selection

Spring-Summer 2014 Fel-low, in consultation with IDRA, conducts research and develops initial find-ings, completes one-month summer post as Fellow in Residence, and submits research paperFall 2014 Fellows paper is finalized and sympo-sium planned; application

process begins for 2015 fellow.

Spring 2015 Inaugural IDRA José A. Cárdenas School Finance Sympo-sium is held.

The José A. Cárdenas School Finance Fellow will be selected for a nine-month period be-ginning in the winter of 2013. Fellows will re-ceive a stipend of up to $20,000 to include cost of release time, travel and IDRA one-month summer residency. IDRA will provide office space during the residency.

For more information on this program and appli-cation go to: http://www.idra.org/Fellows_Program/

The Intercultural Development Research Association is an indepen-dent, non-profit organization that is dedicated to assuring educational

opportunity for every child.

T A C H E N o t i c i a r i o 11

2013-14TACHE STATE

BOARD MEETING DATES

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April 19-20, 2013San Antonio

June 21-22, 2013Corpus Christi

September 19-21, 2013Dallas/Ft. Worth

February 19-22, 201439th Annual Conference

Sheraton HotelFt. Worth

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Membership Levels

Professional: $40.00An employee of a public or private higher education institution or agency.

Associate: $30.00Any person who shares the pur-poses and goals of the Association, but is not an employee of a public or private higher education institu-tion or agency.

Student: $10.00Any person enrolled in a Texas public or private higher education institution and classified as an un-dergraduate or graduate student.

Institutional Member: Any public or private higher educa-tion institution or agency that sup-ports and furthers the goals of the Association. Level 1: $500 - 5 membershipsLevel 2: $600 - 10 membershipsLevel 3: $700 - 15 memberships

Membership Period: Membership begins on September 1 and ends August 31

Join ONLINE Today:Online membership registration at

www.tache.org

Membership Benefits

■Subscription to our newslet-ter “Noticiario”.

■Access to local TACHE Chapters.

■Access to your very own TACHE personal page in-cluding listserv.

■Bulletin Board. ■Conference registration.

■Donations and contribu-tions.

■Employment opportunities.

■Local, state, and national networking events.

■Membership renewal his-tory.

■Printable receipts.

■Personal areas of educa-tional interest, studies, and publications.

T A C H E N o t i c i a r i o 12

Texas A&M Corpus Christi & Del Mar CollegeTACHE Chapters participate in the

Cesar Chavez March

Texas A&M Corpus Christi & Del Mar College TACHE Chapters particpate in Cesar Chavez March

The South Region very ac-tive in TACHE. The re-gional currently host three chapters of TACHE. Chap-ters are Del Mar College, Laredo Community College and Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

Dr. Gilda Ramirez, South Region Representative and Dr. Maria Salinas, Co-Rep are both very active in their respective chapters. Some of the activities from the chapters are as follows:

Del Mar College Chapter

The chapter collected items for a local nursing home and a women’s shelter. In

February they hosted a “Tapas & Sangria” reception fundraiser in conjunction with the Del Mar Drama department’s produc-tion of Garcia-Lorca’s BLOOD WEDDING. In April, the Chapter joined TAMU-CC in the Cesar Chavez March.

Laredo Community College Chapter

The Laredo TACHE Chapter hosted its 2nd Annual 5K Run/Walk for scholarships and raised over $2,000. The Chapter used the funds raised to award a $1,000 scholarship and two $500 scholarships in April. In May, the Chapter hosted a new mem-bership mixer, which had a great turnout.

Texas A&M Corpus Chrisit Chapter

TAMU-CC is very proud of launching its own chapter web-site hosted by the university. The Chapter is currently in discussions with other University groups to begin planning events for Hispanic Heritage Month later this year. The Chapter continues to explore ways to increase membership. Chapter members joined with Del Mar College members and participat-ed in the Cesar Chavez march.

TAMU-Corpus Christi and TAMU Kingsville were the host loca-tions for the June TACHE Board Meeting.

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Fraire recognized for Outstanding Contributions to

TACHEDr. Jacob Fraire was recognized for Outstanding Contributions to TACHE over the years through con-tinued support from TG. The award was presented to Jacob by Dr. Jude Valdez during the Presidents and Dignitaries reception.

Dr. Jose Angel Guitierrez receives TACHE Lifetime

Achievement AwardDr. Jose Angel Gutierrez was presented with the TACHE Lifetime Achievement Award for his visionary leadership, inspiration and invaluable service. The award was presented to Jose Angel by Dr. Arturo Madrid during the Presidents and Dignitaries reception.

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REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

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38th Annual ConferenceSponsors & SupportersDiamond

West Texas A&M University

Platinum

Austin Community College

Texas Guaranteed Corporation

Gold

Dallas County Community College District

Laredo Community College

Tarrant County College District

Texas A&M University-Commerce

The University of Texas at Austin

Silver

Angelo State University

Baylor University

Lone Star College-Kingwood

San Jacinto College District

Texas A&M University-College Station

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Texas State University-San Marcos

Texas Tech University

The University of Texas-San Antonio

University of Houston-Downtown

University of North Texas-Denton

Latinos in Higher Ed

Official Airlines of Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education

Editor’s CornerDeadline InformationSpring Issue - Content due

by April 1Fall Issue - Content due by

August 1Publication DatesSpring/Summer Issue - JuneFall/Winter Issue - October

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Maria C. Aguirre-AcunaVP of Communications

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Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher EducationP. O. Box 398

Canyon, TX 79015 806-651-5350

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