The Texas Conference on Student Success is thrilled to announce our keynote speaker for the inaugural conference: Dr. Gina Ann Garcia. Dr. Garcia is an associate professor in the department of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches master’s and doctoral students pursuing degrees in higher education and student affairs. Her research centers on issues of equity and justice in higher education with an emphasis on three core areas: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs; postsecondary institutions that enroll at least 25% Latinx undergraduate students), Latinx college students, and race and racism in higher education.
She has made numerous presentations at national conferences, given talks at dozens of colleges and universities, and co-authored multiple publications in top journals including American Educational Research Journal, The Review of Higher Education, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
She is the author of “Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges & Universities,” published by Johns Hopkins University Press, for which she won the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Book of the Year Award in March 2020. She also edited the book “Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Practice: Defining ‘Servingness’ at HSIs,” published by Information Age Publishing, which provides stories of success from Title V and Title III directors and grant implementors.
Dr. Garcia was the recipient of postdoctoral fellowships from both the Ford Foundation (2016) and the National Academy of Education/Spencer (2017). In spring 2018, she received the Early Career Scholar Award from AERA’s Hispanic Research Issues SIG and in fall 2018 she was the recipient of the ASHE CEP Mildred García Award for Exemplary Scholarship (Junior). At the University of Pittsburgh, she was awarded the Iris Marion Young Award for Political Engagement for her work as a grassroots leader on campus elevating the Latinx community.
Dr. Garcia graduated from California State University, Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and the University of Maryland, College Park with a master’s degree in college student personnel. She was a STEM retention coordinator at California State University, Fullerton, funded by a Department of Education Title V grant for developing HSIs. She also held a position funded by a National Science Foundation grant, working with community college transfer students who wanted to major in science and math. She graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a Ph.D. in higher education and organizational change, where she worked with Dr. Sylvia Hurtado at the Higher Education Research Institute. Dr. Garcia is the mother of 2 boys, Jovan and Jaren, and has been a fitness instructor for 18 years.