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Drawer Trigger

HSI & Title V

Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) are designated by the U.S. Department of Education through criteria defined as an institution of higher education that has an enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25% Hispanic.

Vanguard University has been meeting this requirement by serving over 1,650 full-time undergraduate students annually of which 48% identify as Hispanic.

In 2015, Vanguard University received the first individual Title V award (#P031S150199) from the Department of Education in the amount of $2.6M intended to strengthen and enhance the pipeline of Hispanic and low-income students from early engagement to alumni. In 2017, Vanguard received a Cooperative Title V Award (#P031S170149) in the amount of $3.8M intended for the development of comprehensive integrated pathways for Hispanic students to enter the teaching professions in collaboration with Orange Coast Community College (OCC). Through these five-year comprehensive plans (grants) Vanguard University and her institutional partners hope to broaden the scope of impact by expanding educational opportunities for Hispanic and low-income students and comprehensively targeting STEM education and teacher preparation programs.

In 2019, Vanguard University was awarded $98,000 from the National Endowment of the Humanities to develop and launch a Humanities Bridge Program. This project will develop and launch American Stories – a program to engage First-generation and Students of Color in the Humanities. American Stories: A Humanities Bridge Program would allow Vanguard to create a reading and writing intensive course with an attached Writing Lab that integrates two disciplines in the humanities, history and English, for first generation and underprepared students. The five-week residential bridge program provides a humanities focus for incoming freshman students at Vanguard University.

In 2020, Vanguard received its third Title V award (# P031S200287): Career Opportunities and Master’s Program Attainment Across the STEM disciplines (COMPAAS) to improve Hispanic student achievement with acute attention to career placement within various STEM fields. This goal will be accomplished through several activities including: 1) incorporating professional internships into the education pathway for students at local companies including STEM fields; 2) expanding professional career development opportunities for students including education for financial literacy, and 3) expanding accelerated and flexible pathways for degree completion by launching accelerated and integrated programs in computer science.

Summer Bridge Programs*

Humanities Bridge

STEM Bridge

*Programs not available 2024. We anticipate programs to resume in the future.

Title V Awards

Title V Resources

Title V Project Reports

Title V Endowment

Meet the Title V Team

Itzel Calleja-Macias

Assistant Professor of Biology

Sylvia Kane

Professor Emerita, Adjunct Faculty

Amanda Lebrecht

Vice President for Student Development

Bonni Stachowiak

Dean, Teaching and Learning

Kayli Hillebrand

Dean, Student Success & Academic Services

Julie Johnson

Development Officer

Michael Hanna

Associate Professor of Neuroscience

Hien Park

Associate Professor of Sociology

Mary Ginty

Career Development Advisor

We invite you to take the next step