Friday, June 20, 2014

NJ Garcia

HACU president and CEO to serve as chair of Alliance for Equity in Higher Education

San Antonio, TX – The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education Alliance (Alliance), representing four associations of minority serving institutions, has announced the appointment of HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores as its chair. Flores is the first to serve in this new leadership role and will serve for a two-year term.

“I am very happy to serve as the first chair of the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education,” said Antonio R. Flores. “We are grateful to the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) and in particular to Jamie Merisotis and Michelle Asha Cooper, IHEP’s former and current leaders, for their commitment to fostering the Alliance, first established over fifteen years ago. Now the Alliance is prepared to stand on its own.”

“The recent addition of APIACU to our membership further strengthens our opportunities for collaboration. The millions of students our institutions serve represent the emerging majority in the U.S. and the role of minority-serving institutions in supporting their academic and career success has never been more important, both for them and for the nation as a whole.”

The Alliance will collaborate on a number of initiatives in support of students of color, including higher education financial aid, teacher training, educational opportunities for veterans, and enhanced support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research and education.

The Alliance for Equity in Higher Education (Alliance) was established in 1999 and is represented by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Asian American and Pacific Islander Association of Colleges and Universities (APIACU), the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). Combined, these Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) educate more than one-third of all students of color in the United States and more than two-thirds of the 3 million Hispanic college students. MSIs disproportionately address the needs of low-income and minority students while contributing significantly to generating a highly skilled workforce, developing civic and community responsibility, and producing citizens who are exceptionally attuned to the increasingly diverse country in which we live.

About HACU
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) was established in 1986 with a founding membership of 18 institutions. Today, HACU represents approximately 450 colleges and universities committed to Hispanic higher education success in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America, and Spain. More information is available at www.hacu.net.

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