First Hispanic to lead UT system says education is key for next generation

BY JENNIFER EVANS
Rice News staff

Francisco Cigarroa wants to inspire the next generation of Hispanics in Texas. He wants to see them overcome the statistical odds stacked against them. And he believes education is the key.

“Not only does a higher education degree change an individual’s life, it really changes a generation’s,” said the world-renowned pediatric and transplant surgeon and the first Hispanic to serve as chancellor of the University of Texas system. This week Cigarroa presented “Hispanics in Texas: Educational Opportunities for the Next Generation,” the first talk of this year’s President’s Lecture Series.

“Texas in 2020 is going to look very different from Texas in 2011,” he said. Today in Texas there are more than 9.5 million Hispanics, he said. Twenty-eight percent of the Texas population is under 18, and 46 percent of that population is Hispanic. Fifty percent of students in K-12 are Hispanic. The median age for Hispanics in Texas is 27, compared with mid-40s for other ethnic groups.

“It is entirely beyond clear to me that we have to nurture the talents and the aspirations of our young Hispanic students who will soon become our leaders in government, public service, education, health care and other fields,” he said. “But if we do this right, we lift everybody — all students, no matter what their background or what their diversity is.”

He told the audience they all “share an obligation to usher this new era … in a way that makes all Americans grateful for its arrival.” He noted, however, that there are many issues to overcome:

–32 percent of Texas Hispanics under the age of 18 are living in poverty.
–Attrition rates are somewhere around 38 percent for Hispanic high school students in Texas.
–Only 14 percent of native-born Texas Hispanics between 25 and 64 have college degrees.
–23 percent of native-born Texas Hispanics between 25-64 are high school dropouts.

“While these statistics in some ways are discouraging, I also have to tell you that despite that, we are making great progress,” he said. “For one thing there has been a concentrated effort at the University of Texas system to increase Hispanic enrollment across our 15 campuses.”

He also noted that 40 percent of students in the UT system are Hispanic, with those percentages higher at the institutions along the Texas/Mexico border. Hispanic enrollment at UT institutions has increased 61 percent since 2000. The number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanics at UT institutions has increased by 85 percent since 2000.

“There is no doubt we are on the right track,” Cigarroa said. “We are making progress. We are increasing opportunities for Hispanics in Texas.” He added feels a responsibility to expand this progress, expand UT’s efforts to enroll more college-ready Hispanics and more college-ready students who are first-generation students and enable them to get an affordable, world-class education.

“Fundamentally, all of us want a better future for our children and our grandchildren,” he said. “And we believe in order to succeed in that endeavor, the real piece of that puzzle is education. It’s probably the greatest gift we can give a child.”

Cigarroa referenced his own story several times throughout his talk and discussed how it shaped his views on the issue. He grew up in a small South Texas border town with nine siblings. He credits hard work, dedication and the support of his family — who placed great value in education — for his many accomplishments, which include an appointment in 2003 by then-President George W. Bush to serve as a member of the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science, election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and, more recently, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and his appointment this spring by President Barack Obama to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

During the lecture, Cigarroa acknowledged the efforts of others — particularly Rice professor Richard Tapia — who have worked hard for furthering educational opportunities for Hispanics. Tapia was recently recognized for his dedication to fostering diversity in education and for his achievements in mathematics by President Barack Obama with the National Medal of Science.