Director of Latinx Achievement talks future of Chapman’s Hispanic community

As Chapman’s director of Latinx achievement, Gabriela Castaneda aims to help the university become recognized as a Hispanic-Serving Institution through the U.S. Department of Education. Photo courtesy of Gabriela Castaneda

After working at Chapman as assistant director of Career Services for almost six years, Gabriela Castaneda accepted a new position as director of Latinx Achievement within the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) earlier this semester.

Since being promoted in February 2022, Castaneda said one her main goals has been to attain the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) designation for Chapman. HSI is an initiative by the U.S. Department of Education to recognize higher education institutions where the population of students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs is at least 25% Hispanic. 

According to Castaneda, the fastest growing minority at Chapman is the Latinx community, which currently represents 18% of all students.

“My role will hopefully help with recruitment of Latinx students and help our local community and community at large to learn about Chapman,” Castaneda said. “(The goal is) to have Chapman be a place where (the community) want to work and a place where our Latinx students want to be enrolled at.”

Castaneda aspires to increase the graduation rate of Hispanic students at Chapman and also intends to analyze post-graduation employment, career success and economic mobility of Chapman’s Latinx community as part of her role. 

Additionally, she plans on ensuring Latinx staff and faculty receive support for professional development and upward mobility in their careers within this sector of the DEI office

“(The position of Director of Latinx Achievement) brings a lot of excitement (and pride) for me to be able to represent and support a community that I identify with and be part of Chapman’s effort to be able to continue to become a diverse campus,” Castaneda said. “(I hope to be) a role model for other individuals who are seeking to do this work but also a role model for the younger generations that are coming and seeing what we can accomplish.”