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ASU hires more Hispanic faculty

University shows dramatic increases

Arizona State University recently announced it now has 129 Hispanic faculty, _a higher number than UCLA _ and a record number of Latino students.

The Tempe-based school also has the largest enrollment of Hispanic students of any university in the state, and one of the highest in the nation, with 7,284 Latinos making up almost 12 percent of the student body this fall.

In addition, a record 26 percent of this yearÕs first-time freshman class are minority students. The overall student population is the most diverse in ASU history, according to ASU officials.

University students say ASU has shown dramatic increases in Latino student enrollment from 20 years ago. Latino enrollment at ASU was only 1,917 in 1985, representing 4.7 percent of the student body. Ten years later the number of Hispanic students was 4,136, or 9 percent. This yearÕs record number represents a 76 percent increase since 1995, and a 7 percent jump in one year.

The 2005 freshman class includes 72 National Hispanic Scholars, a talented cadre of students with high PSAT scores who are intensely recruited by the top schools in the country. The university now enrolls 175 National Hispanic Scholars.

In the last two years, ASU hired 30 tenured or tenure-track Latino faculty. Twenty-nine percent of the 326 tenured and tenure-track faculty hired in the past two years are minority faculty. This brings the overall proportion of minority faculty at ASU to 22 percent, the highest in the universityÕs history.

"This has been a strategic effort to attract clusters of faculty so we can build our intellectual strength in key areas and simultaneously increase diversity," says Marjorie Zatz, vice provost. "The Southwest Borderlands Initiative has been a major element in drawing top Hispanic faculty to ASU, and weÕre also working toward creating a Native American policy center."

She adds, "We also want to meet the expectations of our communities, to help find solutions to the most pressing societal demands locally, regionally, nationally, and on a global scale."

School officials say several Latino-oriented programs have paved the way for more successful recruitment of Hispanic students. One such program is the ASU Hispanic Mother-Daughter Program, which targets 8th grade girls who have no college educated family members. They are brought to campus with their mothers throughout high school for tutoring and enrichment programs. ASU was the first university to start such a program 21 years ago. Almost all of the girls who stay in the program graduate from high school and enroll in college. ASU also has about a dozen active Hispanic student organizations that give students social, academic and career support.

Hispanic Magazine  named ASU one of the top 25 colleges for Hispanic students in the United States in its 2004 annual college guide.

Rankings are based on academic excellence and Hispanic achievement, along with freshman retention rate, minority enrollment and number of degrees awarded to Latinos.

ASU ranks 20th in the nation in awarding bachelorÕs degrees to Hispanics and 10th for the number of doctorates awarded, according to ASU officials.