2025 Summer Research Symposium • Julianne Pena • July 9, 2025

Julianne Pena

Class of 2027

Majors: Psychology

Mentor: Rick Sperling, PhD, St. Mary’s University

Turns Out, Latinx Faculty Doesn’t Mean the School Sucks: The Faux

Relationship Between Latinx Saturation Rate and Institutional Prestige

Understanding Hispanic Serving Institutions (HIS) provides an avenue into shedding light on the

lack of Latinx faculty within HSIs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship

between saturation rate and prestige. Data were extracted from the Hispanic Association of

Colleges and Universities to identify the HSIs and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data

System to assess the total number of faculty, students, applicants, and those admitted to each

institution. Results show that there is no relationship between White representation and

institutional prestige.

Keywords: Hispanic Serving Institution, Prestige, Latinx, Faculty, Underrepresentation