Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs)—specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)—have carved out a unique niche in the nation, serving the needs of low-income, underrepresented students of color. Covering foundational topics relating to MSIs, chapter authors explore how salient issues across the landscape of higher education play out within the MSI context. Undergirded by national data and key literature, A Primer on Minority Serving Institutions provides graduate students, scholars, and researchers a full picture of the work and contributions of MSIs and urges them to think about MSIs as part of the larger higher education landscape.

Explores the particulars of minority-serving institutions while also highlighting their interconnectedness.

Minority-serving institutions share a common mission to educate the growing number of racial- and ethnic-minority American students, most often within their own communities. The stated missions of these schools address the issues that form a well-recited litany of the failures that characterize many mainstream institutions in their attempts to educate minorities. Recognizing that mainstream institutions were built for nonminority populations, minority-serving institutions have attempted to structure and organize educational experiences for students within their own social and cultural contexts. These institutions--including historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, and Hispanic-serving institutions--have unique histories, purposes, and operating structures. Despite these differences, minority-serving institutions share many common goals in educating underserved populations. These goals make it important to understand the shared visions and missions as they build for the future. This volume serves as a primer on the growing group of minority-serving institutions, with the goal of educating leaders at mainstream institutions, analysts, and those at minority-serving institutions themselves about their distinct purposes and common goals. An increased understanding of minority-serving institutions and their roles in educating underserved populations is important as the nation's demographic profile becomes increasingly diverse. This is the 102nd issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Higher Education.

Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are responsible for educating 20 percent of the nation’s college students and nearly 40 percent of the nation’s students of color. This growing group of institutions is essential to higher education and moving toward a more equitable society. This important book focuses on the challenges faced by MSIs within the larger higher education context and provides practical solutions to address these challenges. From performance-based funding, to issues of being dually designated MSIs, to articulation agreements with community colleges, to college readiness, the authors tackle the most important topics in higher education by exploring these varied topics through the lens of MSIs.

This volume explores the unique experiences of student affairs professionals at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in the US. In doing so, it highlights broader challenges faced by MSIs and highlights ways in which these have been countered by effective student affairs practice. Recognizing that the role of student affairs practitioners at MSIs often differs from that of their contemporaries in other types of institution, this volume offers important insight into the context of student affairs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Predominantly Black Institutions, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander- Serving Institutions. Drawing on rich qualitative data, chapters identify examples of best practices to foster student growth, ensure culturally relevant approaches, and enhance collaboration between academic and administrative departments. The volume thereby showcases the important contribution that these institutions, and the professionals within them, make to the US Higher Education landscape and the success of minority students. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in student affairs practice, higher education management, and inclusive education. Those interested in the sociology of education as well as race and ethnicity studies will also benefit from the volume.

There are over 20 million young people of color in the United States whose representation in STEM education pathways and in the STEM workforce is still far below their numbers in the general population. Their participation could help re-establish the United States' preeminence in STEM innovation and productivity, while also increasing the number of well-educated STEM workers. There are nearly 700 minority-serving institutions (MSIs) that provide pathways to STEM educational success and workforce readiness for millions of students of colorâ€"and do so in a mission-driven and intentional manner. They vary substantially in their origins, missions, student demographics, and levels of institutional selectivity. But in general, their service to the nation provides a gateway to higher education and the workforce, particularly for underrepresented students of color and those from low-income and first-generation to college backgrounds. The challenge for the nation is how to capitalize on the unique strengths and attributes of these institutions and to equip them with the resources, exceptional faculty talent, and vital infrastructure needed to educate and train an increasingly critical portion of current and future generations of scientists, engineers, and health professionals. Minority Serving Institutions examines the nation's MSIs and identifies promising programs and effective strategies that have the highest potential return on investment for the nation by increasing the quantity and quality MSI STEM graduates. This study also provides critical information and perspective about the importance of MSIs to other stakeholders in the nation's system of higher education and the organizations that support them.

Despite the increasing numbers of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and their importance in serving students who have historically been underserved in higher education, limited research has addressed the meaning of the growth of these institutions and its implications for higher education. Hispanic-Serving Institutions fills a critical gap in understanding the organizational behavior of institutions that serve large numbers of low-income, first-generation, and Latina/o students. Leading scholars on HSIs contribute chapters to this volume, exploring a wide array of topics, data sources, conceptual frameworks, and methodologies to examine HSIs’ institutional environments and organizational behavior. This cutting-edge volume explores how institutions can better serve their students and illustrates HSIs’ changing organizational dynamics, potentials, and contributions to American higher education.