Latino students comprise 35% of Woodbury University’s enrollment. In the School of Architecture, however, Hispanic enrollment is greater than 40%, in part because the program’s mission, curricular focus and support systems are matched to the needs of the Latino population. Woodbury Architecture does not require a portfolio for entrance, a rarity among National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)-accredited programs. As schools in low-income communities seldom can afford art or design programs that result in portfolios, Woodbury's Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) program targets students who display passion for the discipline and habits of hard work. The program actively encourages students to express their identities and value their heritage through the practice of architecture.
Examples of ¡Excelencia! 2008
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BaccalaureateCA -
Community CollegeAZSouth Mountain Community College (SMCC), in partnership with Gateway Community College (GWCC) and Banner Health, Arizona’s largest health services provider, created its Bilingual Nursing Fellows Program (BNFP) in 2002 in response to the medical community’s critical need for bilingual Registered Nurses. BNFP combines an innovative nursing curriculum with a system of support services to allow students to stay in their cohort by taking prerequisite nursing courses and requisite Registered Nurse (RN) courses simultaneously. The sequence of courses allows for the individual student to earn a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certificate; become eligible as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN); and then earn licensure as an RN within a two-to-three-year period. These stages of licensure permit students who cannot immediately move to the next sequence or level to qualify for employment as a CNA or as an LPN in a local hospital. At the completion of all nursing requisites and course sequences, BNFP students graduate with an RN degree in 24 to 32 months. -
GraduateTXThe University of Texas' Intellectual Entrepreneurship Consortium (IE) offers a distinctive vision of education attractive to minorities as well as a unique methodology for expanding the minority graduate applicant pool and improving undergraduate education for all students. The IE Pre-Grad Internship is offered for academic credit, and student participants work closely with graduate student mentors and faculty supervisors to create internship experiences aimed at exploring, anthropologically and from the ground up, their chosen fields of study. Participants learn about the unique aspects of graduate study that distinguish it from the undergraduate experience. Examples of internship activities include attending graduate school classes; shadowing graduate student teaching and research assistants; attending seminars and departmental colloquia; working with their mentors on research projects; attending meetings for graduate professional organizations and lab sessions; and discussing graduate study and career development with faculty and graduate students.
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