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Keynote Speaker

Dr. Gina Ann Garcia

Dr. Gina Ann 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 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 has given talks at over 40 colleges and universities, including Cabrillo College, UC Riverside, Cal State Los Angeles, Community College of Aurora, and Texas State University. 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. 

Notably, 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 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.

Recent Invited Talks

Garcia, G. A. (2020, March). Defining “Servingness” in Practice at Hispanic Serving Institutions. Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE). 

Garcia, G. A. (2020, March). Transforming Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Cal Poly Pomona. 

Garcia, G. A. (2020, February). Learning with and From Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Equity, Justice, & Liberation. Advancing Equity in Our Colleges & Universities Summit, Wisconsin. 

Garcia, G. A. (2020, February). Assessing Servingness at an Emerging Jesuit Hispanic-Serving Institution. Marquette University 

Garcia, G. A. (2019, November). Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Laverne University. 

Garcia, G. A. (2019, January). Decolonizing Hispanic-Serving Institutions. University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Garcia, G. A. (2018, October). Incorporating culturally enhancing practices in the classroom at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Marquette University. 

Garcia, G. A. (2018, April). From diversity & inclusion to equity & justice at Hispanic Serving Institutions. Northern Nevada Diversity Summit, University of Nevada, Reno. 

Garcia, G. A. (2017, February). Campus (racial) climate and student success at Minority Serving Institutions. The Education Trust, Optimizing Academic Success and Institutional Strategy (OASIS). 

Garcia, G. A. (2016, October). Microaggressions to racialized aggressions: Exploring racism on college and university campuses. Carnegie Mellon University, Division of Student Affairs. 

Garcia, G. A. (2016, September). Between Trump and #BlackLivesMatter: Latinx college students in the 21st century. SUNY Oneonta, Center for Multicultural Experiences. 

Garcia, G. A. (2016, July). #BlackLivesMatter and racial (in)justice in the 21st century university: Unmet needs of college students of color. University of Pittsburgh, Center for Race & Social Problems. 

Notable Publications

Garcia, G. A. (2019). Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges and Universities. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

Garcia, G. A. (2018a). Decolonizing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: A framework for organizing. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 17(2), 132-147. 

Garcia, G. A. (2017). Defined by outcomes or culture? Constructing an organizational identity for Hispanic-Serving Institutions. American Educational Research Journal. 54(1S), 111S-134S. 

Garcia, G. A. (2016). Complicating a Latina/o-serving Identity at a Hispanic Serving Institution. The Review of Higher Education, 40(1), 117-143. 

Garcia, G. A. & Crandall, J. R. (2016). Am I overreacting? Understanding and combatting microaggressions. Higher Education Today: A Blog by the American Council on Education. https://higheredtoday.org/2016/07/27/understanding-and-combatting-microaggressions-in-postsecondary-education/