Texas A&M University-San Antonio has received national recognition for intentionally serving Latino students.
A&M-San Antonio is one of 10 institutions in the country to earn the Seal of Excelencia this year from Excelencia in Education, a national organization dedicated to Latino student success. The 10 institutions also join 14 previous recipients.
Students who identify as Hispanic make up more than 75 percent at A&M-San Antonio and about 73 percent are the first in their families to attend the university, according to a press release.
The national announcement was made on Oct. 29 by Excelencia in Education during a virtual and in-person press conference in Washington, D.C. James Kvaal, the U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary, delivered the opening remarks.
“These 24 Seal-certified institutions are trendsetters,” said Deborah Santiago, cofounder, and CEO of Excelencia in Education. “Combined, they enrolled 10 percent of all Latino college students and graduated 12 percent of Latinos in the U.S. That is powerful and says a lot about their intentionality.”
The 135 presidents and chancellors of the 170 institutions in the organization’s network, Presidents for Latino Students Success, enroll one in four Latino students and produce one in three Latino graduates, according to Excelencia in Education.
“By earning the Seal of Excelencia, this is a message for our student population that we intentionally work on not only Latino success, but all student success,” Dr. Mari Fuentes-Martin, vice president for Student Success and Engagement said.
In 2019, Excelencia launched the Seal certification program as part of its transformative strategy to encourage institutions to do more than enroll Latino students.
The Seal was awarded to 10 institutions after they demonstrated particular inclusive initiatives and implemented activities that were proven to be beneficial.
This year’s other recipients were:
- California State University, Fresno
- California State University, Fullerton
- Miami Dade College
- San Diego State University
- University of California, Merced
- University of California, Riverside
- University of Central Florida
- University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
- Wilbur Wright College
For more information, visit the Excelencia website at https://www.edexcelencia.org/
