UTRGV earns Seal of Excelencia

UTRGV, along with nine other institutions, was awarded the Seal of Excelencia, a comprehensive certification awarded by Excelencia in Education, an organization that recognizes a university’s commitment and ability to accelerate Latino student success, according to a campuswide email sent Oct. 14.

Adriana Rodriguez, vice president for programs in Excelencia in Education, said this year 20 institutions applied and 10 earned the seal, making it a total of 24 institutions with the certification. These new 10 institutions will be certified for three years.  

“We have had three cohorts, so the 2021 group is the third cohort,” Rodriguez said by phone from Washington, D.C., where the organization has its headquarters. “There are 10 institutions. They are from across the country. They’re all different, you know. You don’t have to, for example, be a [Hispanic Serving Institution] to apply. You can be a community college or public, private. There’s no requirement there.”

Excelencia in Education calls the cohorts “trendsetter institutions” that others can learn from. 

“These 24 now have become a community of common cause that can listen and learn from each other and also inform other institutions of how to do this,” Rodriguez said. “And they can say that they have met and have a standard or ability to say that they are student centered, that they are asset based in their approach to students and in particular, Latino students.” 

She said the certification is based on a framework that looks at three core areas of leadership, data and practice and how that aligns an institution to show impact. 

“The certification comes from a pretty extensive application,” Rodriguez said. “We ask for some things from the institution and within there we ask for five years of data in six areas. We asked for three evidence-based practices in those six areas, and those six areas, they asked the question, ‘Are institutions enrolling, retaining, transferring and supporting financially and modeling the faculty and staff and graduating Latino students?’ So, those are the six areas for which they provide data and practices. And then the application also looks at strategy that links all of that data and practice.”

The annual application opened in late March, and closed in June. The institutions went through an application review and the finalists were announced in July. In August, the finalists were interviewed and in September and October institutions were notified.  

Rodriguez said most of these institutions apply to use it as a jumping off point to say, “‘OK, what else can we do?’”

“That’s where, you know, the recertification comes in and we often tell institutions that the application, also an assessment, it’s a framework and an approach, and how you as an institution can reflect on your own effort and look at your own impact,” she said. “The certification may be, you know, three years and you earn it again and there’s no limit. It really is an approach to think about how do you serve students.” 

She said the application serves as a self-evaluation for institutions to reflect on how they serve all students. 

UTRGV President Guy Bailey said it is an honor to accept the seal during an Oct. 29 livestream from Washington, D.C.

“We worked very hard for this seal,” Bailey said. “Thank you for making us earn it. Earning a seal is different from just getting it. And we really appreciate that difference. It’s something that is not lost on us and shouldn’t be lost on anyone. So, thank you very much. We are committed, along with [Excelencia in Education] to ensure that our students, 90% of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino … [to be] able to graduate and serve their communities, go into their communities and make a difference. And if you think about 90% of our students, that’s 29,000 people who are going to graduate and be equipped to transform their communities.”

He said UTRGV wants to provide opportunities for students in two ways. First, to make sure that finances are never a barrier and second, have the best professional opportunities out there. 

“Our students will have great opportunities,” Bailey said. “They’ll be able to graduate without debt and they’ll be able to transform our communities. I want to thank you for all your help in helping us do this. It means so much to us. It means so much to our communities.”