A Social Entrepreneur’s Approach for Humanizing Higher Education: Reflections from a College Success Case Study

Abstract

Illinois has the fifth largest Latino population in the United States. A Complete College America (2011) fact sheet for Illinois reported degree attainment for Latinos to be 7% in comparison to 74% for White students. These educational disparities served as a catalyst for the community service collaboration that ensued between a Latino nonprofit organization and an activism researcher. From the perspectives of a humanistic educator, how the interweaving of social entrepreneurial principles together with Latino college success discourse led to the development of a culturally responsive college scholarship fund program and its offerings of financial resources, networks of information and natural mentoring relationships is explained. Reflections about a pathway for humanizing higher education together with 2013–2016 case study findings bring forward authentic voices of Latino community college students impacted by these student success initiatives.

Citation

García Ansani, E. (2020), "A Social Entrepreneur’s Approach for Humanizing Higher Education: Reflections from a College Success Case Study", Sengupta, E., Blessinger, P. and Makhanya, M. (Ed.) Integrating Community Service into Curriculum: International Perspectives on Humanizing Education (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 25), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 91-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120200000025007