A Message from President Aceves
Dear Colleagues,
As we commemorate the significant achievement of attaining our Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) status one year ago, I asked Dr. Nicki Gonzales, Ph.D., to reflect on the impact this has had on our institution and its potential trajectory. Here is what she shared.
"Last Friday the U.S. Department of Education notified us that they had approved our Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) renewal application, which included a waiver for the designation’s Pell Grant requirement. This was validating, as it recognizes the work we, as a campus, have done and will continue to do to make our campus a culturally-validating community. Not surprisingly, as Latine student enrollment increases nationwide, the number of HSIs increased over 5% from last year. HSIs enroll no less than two-thirds of all Latine undergraduates. Regis is now one of 600 HSIs in 28 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and one of 180 four-year private institutions to hold the designation. And we are one of only 14 HSIs here in Colorado.
While there is much to celebrate and many to thank for their tireless work toward creating a Hispanic-Serving Institution that truly serves our Latine students—a goal that we are constantly working toward—I would be remiss not to take this opportunity to recognize those who were critical in laying the foundation for our HSI work today. A recent walk down memory lane with University Ministry’s Beth Brin reminded me of just how much work went into directing university attention and energy into serving Latine students and communities. Beth, who is working on a Master’s in Pastoral Studies at Loyola New Orleans, is writing about Regis’ HSI history and identity.
Beth and I talked at length about Dr. Tom Reynolds, our former vice president of Mission and current UCS Provincial Assistant for Higher Education, who planted the seeds that would help us in our HSI journey. From 1999-2017, he built lasting relationships between Regis and Escuela de Guadalupe Elementary School and Arrupe Jesuit High School, as well as a strong partnership with Centro San Juan Diego, the ministry of the Denver Archdiocese which supports the Latine community through education and family programs. The success of these partnerships and a changing narrative in the Denver and Colorado communities signaled that Regis was making a significant turn. Families and communities that had once seen a Regis education as unattainable were beginning to see that there were paths to a Jesuit education for their children. They began to trust an institution that was once seen as exclusive, and they told others.
Certainly, since I have been at Regis, I have seen significant changes in the student body, as our classes have become more diverse, especially since 2017, when our first-generation student population increased significantly. As I look toward the future, I see that, while we are experiencing challenging times now, our future is bright. And, while we still have much work to do, with Dr. Aceves and Dr. Bucher at the helm, and with all of you doing servingness work in our classrooms, on our walls (shout out to Tony Ortega), in our programming, through our community events, and in our everyday interactions with students, I believe our best days are ahead.”
Thank you, Nicki. I wish to express my sincere gratitude for your unwavering commitment, as well as, for the collective efforts of our entire community, which have brought us to this significant juncture. While our journey is far from complete, I maintain a steadfast belief in the promise of our future, guided by our shared dedication to serving our students and to cultivating an environment of ever-deepening inclusivity.
Kindly,
Salvador D. Aceves, Ed.D.
President