Chancellor Gillman speaks at DC roundtable with Hispanic-serving institutions
HACU leaders discussed career opportunity for students interested in homeland security and cybersecurity service
UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman was among more than a dozen university chancellors and presidents who spoke at a Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities roundtable in Washington, D.C., Feb. 23, 2023. The roundtable brought together higher education leaders and officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to discuss a broad range of issues about how DHS could better advance Hispanics in higher education and how Hispanic-serving Institutions could help the department advance its mission.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas led the discussion, at which university chancellors and presidents and CEOs in attendance discussed strategies to create a pipeline for students interested in careers in homeland security and cybersecurity among other topics salient to the department. Discissions also included DACA and the ongoing challenges those students face.
Gillman specifically spoke on issues relating to cybersecurity, and in particular, how the department could help HACU institutions build a more diverse pathway for students interested in cybersecurity, starting with supporting existing outreach efforts into regional school districts continuing through to programs that would get more Hispanic undergraduates into advanced graduate programs. He also discussed how support for our cutting-edge research would also help ensure a more diverse group of leading experts in the field.
Participants at the roundtable were institutions from Arizona, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Texas designated as Hispanic-serving institutions. UCI earned HSI status in 2017, and one of the few universities to HSIs to be members of the prestigious American Association of Universities, whose members are the leading research universities in the U.S.
Gillman serves on the governing board of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, which represents more than 500 colleges and universities in the United States, Latin America, Spain and school districts throughout the U.S. HACU is the only national association representing existing and emerging Hispanic-serving institutions.
