Magazine picks KU as a top university supporting Hispanic student success

LAWRENCE -- The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine has selected the University of Kansas in its 2003 Publisher's Picks list of colleges and universities that do a "fine job recruiting, enabling and graduating Hispanic students."

The magazine also has named the KU School of Law to its list of the top 100 Hispanic-friendly law schools in the nation.

Janet Murguia, KU executive vice chancellor for university relations, said the ranking by Hispanic Outlook editors reflects a concerted effort by the entire KU community to support the success of all multicultural students, including Hispanics.

"For many Hispanic students, they are the first in their family to seek a college degree, so we are making sure they feel at home here and get the support and encouragement they need to succeed," said Murguia. "Moreover, diversity in our student and faculty only serves to enrich and enlighten everyone. An increasingly diverse student population makes KU stronger."

KU boasts eight multicultural-scholars programs on its Lawrence campus. The program, recognized as one of the nation's most successful retention programs for students of color, began 11 years ago in the School of Business and has expanded to architecture and urban design; journalism; education; pharmacy; human development and family life; African and African-American studies; and languages and humanities. Last fall KU's HawkLink program, designed to recruit and retain students of color, was named one of the most successful programs of its kind by one of the nation's leading higher-education consulting firms.

This fall, for the second consecutive year, KU reported record-breaking recruitment and retention of minority students. The number of students in four minority groups -- African-American, Native American, Hispanic and Asian -- rose to 3,281 this fall, 316 more students than in 2002. KU's first-time freshman class included 520 minority students, a 15.6 percent increase over 2002. In addition, retention of first-year minority students improved. Of the minority students from KU's 2002 freshman class, 81.7 percent returned this fall, an increase of almost 2 percentage points over the previous year and up sharply from 71.2 percent in 1998.

"KU offers dozens of services and programs to help students succeed both inside and outside the classroom," said Marlesa Roney, vice provost for student success. "There is always someone here to help. It is this kind of heartfelt support that gives students a real sense of security and the confidence to excel at KU and have a great college experience."

The colleges and universities chosen for the Publisher's Picks list were selected based on assessments of formal survey data from the national Center for Education Statistics and informal input from many sources.