To better serve its student body and reflect campus demographics, Sacramento State is implementing a cluster hire of 17 faculty members with an expertise in working with Latino students, school officials said. These instructors will start teaching in fall 2025.
The planned hires follow criticism and concerns that the university is not fully addressing Latino student needs. Like many campuses across California, Sacramento State has struggled to match its Latino student population with teaching and leadership positions.
The university’s student population is 37% Hispanic or Latino, representing the largest ethnic group at the university according to university demographics. Only 9.6% of faculty are Latino, with the majority being lecturers.
These hires are “a start” to tackling the disproportionate representation, said Amber Gonzalez, an associate professor of child and adolescent development.
“Recruitment is not enough,” she said. “We need to make sure that these faculty are retained.”
Universities with diverse faculty have seen higher retention rates, graduation rates and improved student satisfaction, according to the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
What do these hires hope to accomplish?
The mission of the cluster hire is to diversify faculty at Sacramento State and even out disproportionate ratios between students and instructors.
For students, to see someone who looks like them and shares a lived experience is empowering, said Carlos Nevarez, the university’s interim provost. Diversifying faculty contributes to building a safe environment for students of color and offers culturally relevant curriculum.
“There’s some concern with a lack of proportional representation,” Nevarez said. “I would say its a best and proven practice to narrow that gap is to actually undertake hiring cohorts of faculty. In this case, specific to Latinx.”
But while the goal is to increase Latino faculty representation, Sacramento State is looking at hiring non-Latino faculty with this initiative. This is in accordance with Proposition 209, which eliminated affirmative action in California in 1996. As a result, the consideration of race, sex or ethnicity as a criteria of employment is prohibited at a public universities.
With this initiative, Nevarez said the university is focusing on hiring instructors who show a “record of success” with Latino students, a history of advising and mentoring Latino students and a history of research, scholarship and creative expression on Latino communities.
“The ultimate goal is to bring an individual that has a demonstrated record and experience of working with the Latinx community,” Nevarez said. “If it means that Black individuals, white individuals, Asian individuals, it is what it is. They’re welcome to apply and be considered.”
Recruitment of faculty will be conducted among individual departments, Nevarez said. Departments will receive an additional $700 to $1,000 per position to incentive recruitment efforts.
All of these hires will be full-time, tenure or tenure-track positions, which will contribute to higher retention, Nevarez said. The university plans to hire faculty among different academic disciplines.
These hires will be replacement and new positions at the university, meaning these 17 hires are the standard amount the university would employ for a given term. Sacramento State ideally hires 40 new faculty each year. But due to a budget deficit, they are being “conservative” and hiring 17 with the cluster hire, Nevarez said.
Are the hires enough?
Hiring is only the first step in solving Sacramento State’s longstanding issues with serving its Latino students, Gonzalez said.
In 2015, Sacramento State was recognized as a Hispanic-Serving Institution — a designation given to schools with an at least 25% Hispanic student body. In 2020 and 2023, it was one of a few institutions in the country to receive a Seal of Excelencia — a certification highlighting a commitment to Latino students and their successes.
But these recognitions only mean so much, say Gonzalez and other Latino professors.
“We have representation, but it’s centered in pockets across campus,” Gonzalez said. “We don’t see it across campus.”
Beyond the recent hiring, Gonzalez said the university must be “intentional” with retention, create tenure opportunities for current lecturers and offer professional development for faculty seeking leadership positions.
Low numbers of Latino tenured faculty and leadership remain issues at Sacramento.
About 3.5% of the Latino faculty on campus are tenured or tenure-track. Across the entire CSU system, Latinos are 10% of the tenured or tenure-track faculty, according to the Campaign for College Opportunity.
There are also no Sacramento State deans or department chairs who identify as Latino, Gonzalez said. Nevarez makes up the 1% of Latino administration at the school.
“This is a lot of work,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not just we’re going to hire all these people. It’s about what we’re doing behind the scenes. I don’t think you should be recruiting faculty if you can’t retain them.”
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