Latino Heritage Month Celebration
Field Experience 1
Latino Heritage Month Celebration
Seth Hickerson
EDLP 711
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Latino Heritage Month Celebration
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Program Overview
To first help in framing the program I am evaluating it would be important to understand
the University and the campus culture on which this program, the stakeholders, and clients work.
The University is a private, highly selective liberal arts academic institution that provides a
collaborative learning and research environment unlike any other institution in higher education.
The University offers students a combination of the liberal arts with law, business and leadership
studies. The University provides several innovative programs for enhancing the lives of students
both inside and outside the classroom. The program I will be evaluating, the Latino Heritage
month celebration, aims to enhance cultural awareness and diversity among the student body.
The mission of the University is to sustain a collaborative learning and research
community that supports the personal development of its members and the creation of new
knowledge. An education from this campus prepares students to live lives of purpose, thoughtful
inquiry, and responsible leadership in a global and pluralistic society.
The focal document that is responsible for shaping the future for the University is
President’s strategic plan. The plan stands on five intertwining commitments. One of the main
principles speaks specifically to diversity and inclusivity. The principle states the University will
work towards providing a defining spirit of opportunity and welcome to excellent students,
faculty, and staff of all means and backgrounds, sustained through a bold program of financial
aid, a dedication to fairness in all that we do, and an authentic culture of inclusivity that seeks
and prizes diversity of experience, belief, and thought. It is highly evident that increasing and
promoting diversity on campus is paramount to the University moving forward.
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Program Organization
In order to facilitate these principles there are numerous departments on campus that are
committed to diversity. For this program evaluation I will be working with the Office of
Multicultural Affairs. The Office of Multicultural Affairs was established in 1987 as a resource
to support the enrollment and retention of under-represented students on this Universities
campus. The office also serves as a vehicle to promote a campus community that embraces
difference and values inclusive diversity. One of the many programs that this office offers is the
Latino Heritage Month celebration. This celebration has been ongoing since 2009. The
celebration was developed to recognize Latino heritage. The programs typically take place from
mid-September through mid-October and consist of varying formats such as carnivals and other
themed events. The Office of Multicultural Affairs understands the importance of the cultural
context and more importantly the opportunity to share it with the campus community. By
highlighting the history of Hispanic Heritage Month, they provide an overview of the cultural
context by discussing how, during Hispanic Heritage Month, America celebrates the culture and
traditions of residents who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking nations
in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
As mentioned previously the Office of Multicultural Affairs offers several programs to
enhance student awareness of the Latino culture and heritage. For this academic year the
programs were a night of celebration and kick-off dinner. For this event students, faculty, staff,
and local community members were invited to the Dining Center to launch the University's
Latino-Hispanic Heritage month celebration. Authentic cuisine from Latin American regions
was prepared by the dining staff. Student and guest performers also entertained.
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In narrowing my focus for this program evaluation, I decided to research and evaluate the
most recent event which was the Latino Heritage Month Celebration-Carnival on campus. This
year the Latino and Hispanic Heritage Month committee hosted a Carnival which was a
celebration of the many forms of arts and expression amongst the Latino/Hispanic community in
the United States. Students were invited to come out and enjoy dance lessons, Latin American
games, food, music, and many other forms of art. The purpose of this evaluation will be to
evaluate the effectiveness of this program and to work with the office of Multicultural affairs to
see if the program is meeting the needs of the department and the intended students and staff on
campus. The Chain of Command for the Office of Multicultural Affairs is represented in Figure
1.
Director
Assistant to the
Director
Associate
Director
Facilitator, Men's
Coordinator
Figure 1. Organizational Chart
Stakeholders and their involvement
The primary stakeholders for this program are the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the
Spanish and Latino Student Alliance (S.A.L.S.A). The mission of this student-led group is to
promote awareness about Hispanic and Latin American culture through social and cultural events
as well as educational programs.
Latino Heritage Month Celebration
The group hopes to empower students to use their talents and diverse backgrounds to
make a lasting impact on the campus’ Latino population through community service. Through
neighborhood outreach events and on-campus programs, such as the Latino Heritage month
celebration, they hope to expand the Universities community and cultural awareness into the
greater Richmond area. Additional stakeholders that contribute to this program are the faculty
and staff that make up the Office of the President, Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office
of Common Ground. Inevitably, the overarching aim of this program should have a positive
effect on both the minority and majority students.
Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the stakeholders and their proximity to and
relationships with each other and their proximity to the goal of the program. The stakeholder
map as depicted in Figure 2 shows the central idea or target goal for the program and the
surrounding stakeholders that are instrumental in the development and implementation of the
program. Each stakeholder contributes to the goal and has to work together in many capacities
to achieve the task at hand. The ability for a program such as this to be successful will need to
have cooperation and communication among all the invested stakeholders.
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Latino Heritage Month Celebration
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Officeof the
President
Minority
Students and
Student group
(SALSA)
Majority
Students
Latino Heritage
month
celebration to
increase diversity
awareness on
Campus
Office of
Multicultural
Affairs
Office of
Common
Ground
Faculty and
Staff
Figure 2. Stakeholder Map
Goals of the Program
The goal of the celebration is to create awareness at the University in regard to the Latino
culture. Another goal is to provide an opportunity to create a bond and a welcoming
environment amongst people who identify with Latino culture. The aim of the most recent
Carnival program was to provide a festive event where people can enjoy Latino culture via
music, games, food and fellowship. Ultimately the overarching aspiration is to not only provide
an opportunity for an underrepresented group but to also connect and establish bonds and
friendships among varying cultures and demographics. The event hopes to raise awareness of
the diverse populations and cultures on campus by providing exposure and education to the
majority of students in the campus community.
Target Audience and Logic Model
The target audience is the University campus community of Faculty, Staff and Students.
It was worth noting, and not surprisingly, that the majority of participants that attended the most
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recent festival were of Latino background. Although students from racial and varying ethnical
cultures can have diverse backgrounds, for some Latino students, there is a sense of comfort in
attending programs that showcase their collective cultural pride, particularly at predominantly
white institutions such as the one this program is held on. Even though the program is targeted
to the Latino community, the hope is that there will be a blanket effect that reaches students of
non-Latino backgrounds.
A Logic Model as depicted in Table 1 further illustrates program actions. The purpose of
this table is to clearly state what it is that the program does or plans to do. What are the
resources needed and utilized along with the short term and long term outcomes.
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Table 1
The Latino Heritage Celebration Logic Model
Inputs
Providing staff
to facilitate the
programming
for event
Process/Activities
Organizing the
planning
committee
Outputs
Established plan of
events for festival
with specific
details
Outcomes
Increase the
number of
Latino students
attending events
Provide food as
an incentive
Review previous
year(s) program
information
Establish target
number of current
Latino/Hispanic
students on
campus
Provide funding
for event
Plan for coming
year celebration
event
Establish number
of cultural
awareness
programs on
campus currently
being offered
Increase
opportunities for
Latino/Hispanic
students to
demonstrate
culture
Increase on
campus of
community
integration
Facilities to host
event
Establish
culturally
relevant activities
and games for
festival
Establish targeted
amount of students
(minority/majority)
to attend event
Training to
prepare staff and
students for
event
Establish targeted
amount of
faculty/staff
(minority/majority)
to attend event
Impact
Increase
diversity and
cultural
awareness on
campus
Provide
atmosphere that
is welcoming to
minority
students
Increase the
number of
minority
students
applying and
admitted to the
University
Reduce
perception on
campus that
University is
homogenous