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UT El Paso

Serving the Underserved

Diana Natalicio is impatient about the numbers: Hispanics, who are the United States ' fastest growing population, post lower high-school and college graduation rates than other ethnic groups.

"What does that say about our country's future?" she asked.

As president of the University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Natalicio is determined to change those numbers and bolster that future. "With a level playing field, Hispanics can compete with anybody anywhere," she said. "That's what we're trying to do at UTEP. We're trying to give Hispanics the same advantages affluent young people in our society have always had."

With that level playing field firmly in mind, UTEP offers a variety of aggressive programs to encourage more Hispanics to come to college, to excel, to graduate - and to expect more of themselves. Since Hispanics are often first-generation college students with family responsibilities, UTEP and other UT System campuses have found these programs must be shaped to fit the students' particular needs.

UTEP recruits students from the community by sending educators and college students to area high schools throughout the school year. Once students have been accepted, UTEP tries to connect as strongly as possible with its entering class. After summer orientation programs, students are encouraged to enroll in 1301, a core academic program designed to help new students make a successful transition to college.

"We're a commuter campus," said Dorothy Ward, director of UTEP's entering student program. "We want a way to connect new students with older students, faculty and the campus."

The core program's classes, which focus on a variety of carefully selected topics, are taught by faculty members and by student peer leaders with extensive training. "It was so important to me - having a peer leader who was like me, who could understand me," said Claudia Garcia, a senior who commutes daily from Juarez. "My English wasn't that good when I started UTEP. My peer leader was very important in helping me to understand the language."

Full-time students who take the core program have a retention rate of 72 to 74 percent, said Dorothy Ward. Retention rates for students who do not take the program can fall as low as 43 percent.

At both UTEP and the University of Texas-Pan American, educators have also found learning communities vital to forming stronger bonds with their students. These communities link two required courses-such as English and history, for example-so that small groups of students share the same courses and instructors.

"Most of our students commute and work full-time - as well as being students," said Ana Maria Rodriguez, associate vice president for academic affairs at UTPA. "They don't have much opportunity to interact with other students. Learning communities help them to get to know each other and build a community. They don't feel as isolated.

"Also, since the learning community instructors are talking to each other, students have a better sense of how each course fits in with their overall education."

Beyond these programs, UTEP also forges stronger ties with its students by providing them with meaningful employment on campus. "The last thing we want is for students to go to class and leave and go to work," said Gary Edens, director of the Student Success Program. "Rather than having them work in a mall, we try to keep them on campus.

Campus employment is part of what Edens calls UTEP's "very intentional" programs that specifically address the needs of its student body. Another approach is to involve undergraduate students in research with faculty members - exposing them to new areas of interest and providing employment.

Greater contact with faculty members brings other benefits, as well. "The professor I work for has complete faith in me," said Marisa Ybarra, a UTEP senior. "You know what? When that happens, when someone trusts you that much, it changes you.

"I just wanted to go to college and graduate. But it's been a magical experience that really gives you purpose and confidence. I didn't expect this."

Ms. Ybarra also takes part in UTEP's Law School Preparation Institute, which is available to upper-level students who are on track for graduation and are considering law school. The institute introduces them to legal thought and research, prepares them for law-school applications - and encourages them to aim higher than they might have. Like UTEP's retention programs, the institute draws students closer to one another and to the university.

More than anything, the Law School Preparation Institute helps to level the playing field Diana Natalicio talks about, said Shelli Soto, director of the Center for Law and Border Studies at UTEP. "We help our students be competitive with regular students from well-educated families," she said.

Since the institute began in 1998, 80 percent of its students have earned higher grades and most have enhanced their performance on the LSAT. Two-thirds of its graduates have attended law schools regarded as being in the country's top quarter, including the University of Texas at Austin, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard and Michigan.

As these students and the UT institutions they attend work to adapt themselves to one another, the changes in our society have only begun.

"You educate students, and they are going to educate other people," said Bianca Martinez, a junior who will be the first in her family to graduate from college. "Other people in the community see you doing it - and they know they can, too."

"We'll finally have the chance to make the law work for people it hasn't worked for traditionally," said Marisa Ybarra. "We're going to make a difference."

Overhearing some of these student discussions, Wendy White Polk, UTEP's assistant vice president for university communications, smiled proudly. "We're going to be voting for some of these students one of these days," she said.