The Latino Higher Education Landscape

Join the School of Education and SSU's HSI-MSI Initiatives to learn about Latino college students and the institutions that serve them in MA. We will discuss the data from the latest White Paper by the Gastón Institute (UMass-Boston) with the authors. This is a great opportunity to learn about the importance of HSIs in MA and discuss the research process when studying our regional higher education landscape. Guest Speakers: Fabián Torres- Ardila, Fatema Ahad, and Elisa Castillo.

Meet the Authors:

Fatema B. Ahad is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education Program at the Leadership in Education Department at UMass Boston. She holds a master's degree in public policy from the University of Utah. She has over 10 years of professional experience in quantitative data analysis, policy evaluation, and assessment of institutional effectiveness in higher education. 

Fabian Torres-Ardila is the associate director of the Gaston Institute. He draws on the strength and resources of UMass Boston to support research focused on the Latino community and works to ensure that the institute supports the development of Latino community leadership through partnerships with local groups. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from Boston University. 

Elisa Castillo is Assistant Vice President for Hispanic and Minority Serving Initiatives at Salem State University (SSU), the first public four-year university in MA to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). She co-authored SSU's Roadmap to Servingness (2023) and leads efforts to advance its intentional HSI identity. She helped organize the inaugural New England HSI-MSI Conference in 2024 and now leads the Massachusetts HSI-MSI Consortium, representing 18 institutions. She has presented nationally on the New England HSI Movement and co-authored a book chapter on SSU's HSI journey. She earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her 

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