SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) welcomed 34 new member higher education institutions this year to the only nationally organized voice for Hispanic higher education.

HACU now represents 330 member and partner colleges and universities serving the largest concentrations of Hispanic higher education students in the United States, as well as international member institutions in Mexico, Latin America and in Spain.

"We are delighted to welcome so many new members in a single year to an association that each year is winning record new federal government and corporate support for the higher education needs of the nation's youngest and largest ethnic population. This is only July, so we expect our numbers to continue increasing through the remaining five months of 2002," said HACU President and CEO Antonio Flores.

"Certainly, the growth of the Hispanic population - still the fastest-growing U.S. population group -- is reflected by not only our new numbers, but also by the location of these higher education institutions in so many states now experiencing rapid Hispanic population growth," Flores said.

When HACU was founded in 1986 in San Antonio, Texas, the founding membership was based mostly in the Southwestern United States bordering Mexico. Today, HACU's membership includes higher education institutions in 24 states, Puerto Rico, eight countries in Latin America and in Spain.

"Today, HACU represents colleges and universities not only in states with traditionally large Hispanic populations such as Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New York and New Jersey, but also now in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington," Flores said.

"Colleges and universities in states that have always served large Hispanic student populations are now lending their expertise to higher education institutions in states from Connecticut to Georgia to Idaho eager to better serve increasingly multicultural communities," Flores said. "HACU is providing these institutions a platform to build new partnerships and, in this global economy, to encourage new cross-border initiatives with our international member institutions that share our Hispanic history, language and cultural roots."

Higher education leaders from HACU member and partner institutions will join corporate, community and allied sector representatives October 26-29 at HACU's 16th Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado, to discuss new trends in Hispanic higher education and promote greater public- and private-sector support for education initiatives spanning kindergarten through graduate school. HACU's 5th International Conference in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in July 2003 will focus on global trends and cross-border partnerships.

HACU also is providing a voice for Hispanic higher education to Congress and the country through its government affairs offices in Washington, D.C., which currently is advocating for record new federal funding increases for member and partner higher education institutions in the upcoming federal fiscal year 2003 budget. The Washington, D.C., offices also are headquarters for the HACU National Internship Program, which this month celebrated its 10th anniversary as the nation's largest Hispanic college internship program.

HACU membership categories include: Member Hispanic-Serving Institutions, which have a student population that is at least 25 percent Hispanic; Associate Members with a Hispanic student population that is at least 10 percent Hispanic (or with an enrollment of at least 1,000 Hispanic students); Partner Institutions that do not yet meet Member and Associate Member requirements, and International Members in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama and Spain. HACU also represents 48 individual members of the HACU Faculty and Staff Caucus representing campuses throughout the United States.

HACU this year welcomed nine new Member Hispanic-Serving Institutions: AIBT International Institute of the Americas in Arizona, University of Arizona South, Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health in California, Los Angeles Mission College, Ventura College in California, Morton College in Illinois, St. Augustine College's Main Campus in Illinois, Bronx Community College of the City University of New York and the University of Puerto Rico at Utuado.

HACU's 13 new Associate Members for 2002 are: Fresno Pacific University in California, Los Angeles Community College District's West Los Angeles College, the University of California at Irvine, Gateway Community College in Connecticut, College of DuPage in Illinois, Malcolm X. College of the City Colleges of Chicago, Montgomery College in Maryland, Michigan State University, University of Medicine and Dentistry of the New Jersey Medical School, Fordham University in New York, Galveston College in Texas, Rice University in Texas and the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston.

HACU welcomed nine new Partner Institutions this year: Paradise Valley Community College in Arizona, Georgia Institute of Technology, Midwestern University at Downers Grove in Illinois, Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Glen Oaks Community College in Michigan, Adelphi University in New York, Tarleton State University in Texas, Texas Christian University and Norfolk State University in Virginia.

HACU also welcomed three new International Member institutions: Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Universidad Catolica Santa Maria la Antigua in Panama, and Universidad Centro del Este in the Dominican Republic.

For more information about HACU, or a list of all member and partner institutions, contact HACU at (210) 692-3805. Ext. 3214. Or visit www.hacu.net/hacu_members/index.shtml.