UTSA joins leading HSIs to boost workforce development through employer summit

AUGUST 10, 2021 — Employers across the nation will meet virtually today to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) engagement, learning and strategic planning at an employer summit hosted by the HSI Career Collaborative and organized by UTSA. The summit will support the efforts of the nation’s Hispanic Serving Universities to promote social mobility and economic prosperity in underserved communities by recruiting, retaining and graduating students.

The federal government defines a Hispanic Serving Institution as a college or university where at least 25% of the undergraduate population is Hispanic. UTSA was one of the first U.S. universities to receive the designation when it was introduced by the Department of Education in 1994. At UTSA, 57% of students identify as Latino or Hispanic.

“UTSA is continuing to raise the profile of HSIs with the goal of having the best companies in the world recruit our students and alumni.”

Since that time, UTSA has set its sights on becoming a Hispanic thriving university, a model Hispanic Serving Institution that provides the highest quality education to advance social mobility and economic opportunities for Latino students and their communities.

In support of that goal, UTSA is an active member in the HSI Career Collaborative, which advocates for a collaborative model of inclusive excellence, serves as a point of reflection and strategy in how career recruitment is viewed, and advances diversity, equity, and inclusion for students and alumni.

“Through the HSI Collaborative, UTSA is continuing to raise the profile of HSIs with the goal of having the best companies in the world recruit our students and alumni,” said Mario Vela, executive director of UTSA’s University Career Center. “Our collaborative now represents 1.3 million alumni and over 260,000 students. We expect over 300 leading employers to join our event from across the country.”

The Employer Summit is kicking off with a keynote address by Jenny Sauer-Klein, the founder of The Scaling Intimacy School of Experience Design. Sauer-Klein has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Fast Company and Inc., as well as Tim Ferriss’ book Tools of Titans. Her session will equip participants with the tools to lead interactive recruiting sessions and share their company culture in a virtual space.

The event will also feature an employer panel about recruiting in the upcoming school year in a hybrid environment (both in-person and virtual). The panelists will represent CrowdStrike, Enterprise Holdings, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, NASA and USAA.

Student panels at the event will explore effective student outreach and engagement, enhancing the student learning experience and effective DEI recruitment at HSIs.

Employers attending the event, such as Airbnb, Allbirds, Autodesk, BP, Cisco, NASA, Pfizer, Salesforce, TikTok, Uber and others, will have a chance to meet members of the collaborative’s 13 HSI schools.

The virtual, one-day event is a joint effort led by the UTSA University Career Center and other leading HSIs in the country: California State University, Bakersfield; California State University-Dominguez Hills; California State University, Fresno; California State University, San Bernardino; California State University, Stanislaus; Florida International University; Texas A&M International University; Texas A&M University-San Antonio; University of California, Merced; University of Illinois Chicago; the University of Incarnate Word and the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley.

The summit is sponsored by AbbVie, Accenture Federal Services, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Services, CrowdStrike, H-E-B, Ford and X (Google’s Moonshot Factory).

— Shruti Anand