Aren't I Just the Academic?

Like all fears, they must be conquered!  Around this time last year, a lot happened.  Besides having a complete melt down of epic proportions while at work and pretty much seeking out psychological counseling for what would be the equivalent of post-partum depression after defending and submitting my dissertation, I also finished my academic career.  It was a long journey that pretty much imposed on my adult life.  I'm pretty sure that is why for the past year, I can count on two hands how many weekends I actually stayed home.  I was self healing with vodka like some alcoholic Orange County housewife that gave up a promising career who just found out her husband has been having an affair with his secretary of whom everyone knew about expect her for the past five years or maybe more like a retired KGB agent from the Cold War era.

I figured out the easiest way for me to conquer my fears would be to look into some adjunct positions, but then I realized what if I didn't necessarily want to teach for an entire semester and be told I needed to be at a classroom at a certain day and time.  TAing is not the same as teaching, so I can't really draw on that for experience.  Then one day, it hit me that I should just present at a conference...

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)'s mission as indicated on their website is geared towards:

• promoting the development of member colleges and universities;
• improving access to and the quality of post-secondary educational opportunities for Hispanic students; and
• meeting the needs of business, industry and government through the development and sharing of resources, information and expertise. 

The annual meeting this year is in Chicago, a city I have never been to.  I know, it's weird, I've traveled so much in the US for work and personal reasons, I find it strange that Chicago was never a destination I have come across as well.

So what am I presenting?  Well instead of writing about it, I'm just going to copy and paste my abstract:
Wish me luck that I get picked!

This study examined three institutional researchers from three different Hispanic-serving community colleges in southern California to examine how they would use data to act as agents of organizational learning and raise awareness of Hispanic students’ educational outcomes within their respective institutions.  This study was of a qualitative nature, and findings were based on data comprised of interviews and content analysis.  Based on the data collected, this study found that these specific researchers’ roles were not shaped by their affiliation with Hispanic-serving institutions and that using data to raise awareness of Hispanic students’ educational outcomes was not a primary concern.  However, even though raising awareness of Hispanic students’ educational outcomes was not a primary concern, these three institutional researchers exhibited qualities that would suggest the ability to take on the role of agent of organizational learning through the use of data to call attention to Hispanic academic achievement.  These qualities or practices include: (1) reflecting on the current role and institutional research practices to support the HSI identity, (2) not viewing Hispanics as deficient, (3) providing and promoting sufficient services for the success of Hispanic students, (4) understanding and knowledge of students’ histories and community realities, (5) further disaggregation of race/ethnicity into further racial/ethnic groups, and (6) developing strategic alliances.  These are further discussed and used as recommendations for the future practice of institutional researchers at Hispanic-serving community colleges to serve their Hispanic students better in regards to basic skills education.