Excelencia in the News

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was presented with the Seal of Excelencia for their efforts in helping Latino students achieve success.

Excelencia in Education named 10 institutions nationwide whose mentoring, financial, academic and internship programs helped Hispanic students succeed. Five California four-year colleges and universities are among the ten higher education institutions that have been recognized for implementing programs and strategies that are helping more Hispanic students attain college degrees.

Excelencia in Education — a national organization dedicated to Latino student success — has named four evidence-based programs as its 2021 Examples of Excelencia.

Pushed by their parents and educators, more Hispanics than ever are attending college in the hopes of securing their place in the U.S. middle class, presenting a growing challenge for institutions that in the past have catered to mostly white students.

“Too few in our community and in the nation know that we have been education advocates for so long,” Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education, wrote in an email. “And not just for our own education, but for that of so many others as well.” Latinos have often not been included in American history, she explained, which obscures the community’s legacy of leadership and advocacy.

“Too few in our community and in the nation know that we have been education advocates for so long,” Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education, wrote in an email. “And not just for our own education, but for that of so many others as well.” Latinos have often not been included in American history, she explained, which obscures the community’s legacy of leadership and advocacy.

In the first of what Dr. Deborah Santiago hopes might become a series of conversations, Excelencia in Education brought together a group of Latinx scholars to discuss the state of higher education on the island of Puerto Rico.

In the first of what Dr. Deborah Santiago hopes might become a series of conversations, Excelencia in Education brought together a group of Latinx scholars to discuss the state of higher education on the island of Puerto Rico.

“Latino students were disproportionally affected in the pandemic, since we are the most economically vulnerable,” said Deborah Santiago, co-founder and chief executive officer of Excelencia in Education, an organization that looks to accelerate Latinx student success in higher education. “There was less enrollment and less persistence but looking at the bigger picture, in one year, we saw five years of growth lost in terms of enrollment and representation and that is big.”