{"id":24275,"date":"2017-11-30T12:39:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T17:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=24275"},"modified":"2019-02-25T13:36:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T18:36:33","slug":"new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\/","title":{"rendered":"New Position to Spearhead Hispanic Initiatives at UCF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Rachel Williams<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24276\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/02\/CYNTHIA-MUINIZ-361x396.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"361\" height=\"396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/02\/CYNTHIA-MUINIZ-361x396.jpg 361w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/02\/CYNTHIA-MUINIZ-361x396-273x300.jpg 273w, https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/02\/CYNTHIA-MUINIZ-361x396-299x328.jpg 299w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 100vw, 361px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The University of Central Florida has its first assistant director of Hispanic initiatives to lead the university in being named a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education, and to spearhead the growth of an inclusive culture at UCF.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning Friday, Cyndia Mu\u00f1iz will serve as the new assistant director as part of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur Hispanic and Latino students are very much our future doctors, CEOs and elected officials. I\u2019m excited to see how we\u2019ve [UCF] grown and make sure we are supplying this population of students with the adequate tools to be successful,\u201d Mu\u00f1iz said.<\/p>\n<p>UCF\u2019s student body is 25 percent Hispanic\/Latino students, which qualifies UCF to apply for the Department of Education\u2019s Hispanic Serving Institution designation that roughly 15 percent of U.S. higher education institutions hold, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges &amp; Universities. Mu\u00f1iz will spearhead UCF\u2019s application for the designation next year, as well as future applications for federal grant money that UCF would then be qualified to receive.<\/p>\n<p>Mu\u00f1iz also will work to further educate faculty, staff and students on the Hispanic Serving Institution designation and how they can contribute to an inclusive culture. For instance, she sees opportunities to help recruit and retain Hispanic faculty and staff, work with the UCF Foundation to help create stronger relationships with Hispanic alumni, and work with students to help plan more cultural celebrations and educational events on campus.<\/p>\n<p>This work is especially important now as UCF is set to welcome hundreds more Hispanic students in January. After Hurricane Mar\u00eda devastated Puerto Rico,\u00a0<a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sdes.ucf.edu\/puerto-rico-educational-relief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UCF waived the out-of-state tuition rate<\/a>\u00a0for displaced Puerto Rican students for the spring semester. Nearly 1,100 students from Puerto Rico have since applied to UCF, and 242 have been accepted so far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will take time to understand what we\u2019re truly facing with the influx of people from Puerto Rico,\u201d Mu\u00f1iz said. \u201cWe need to make sure we\u2019re welcoming them appropriately and supporting these students to the best of our ability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mu\u00f1iz is in her ninth year at UCF, where she\u2019s held positions as a graduate assistant, graduate research associate, and most recently as assistant director of Multicultural Academic and Support Services.<\/p>\n<p>Karen Morrison, chief diversity officer of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, said a position that focuses on Hispanic initiatives at UCF is a welcomed addition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUCF\u2019s fastest-growing student demographic is those who identify as Latino, and we have a large Hispanic staff,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cWe believe we can improve as a university and support our strategic initiatives if we bring together those with the expertise, passion and skills to advance our learning and workplace environment for this community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want UCF to excel as a higher education institution and community partner to the Hispanic community. That takes work, time and effort, so we are committing ourselves now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/today.ucf.edu\/new-position-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-ucf\/\">here<\/a> for original post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rachel Williams The University of Central Florida has its first assistant director of Hispanic initiatives to lead the university in being named a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education, and to spearhead the growth of an inclusive culture at UCF. Beginning Friday, Cyndia Mu\u00f1iz will serve as the new assistant director [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":24276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5945],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-puerto-rico-research-hub"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Position to Spearhead Hispanic Initiatives at UCF - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Position to Spearhead Hispanic Initiatives at UCF - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Rachel Williams The University of Central Florida has its first assistant director of Hispanic initiatives to lead the university in being named a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education, and to spearhead the growth of an inclusive culture at UCF. Beginning Friday, Cyndia Mu\u00f1iz will serve as the new assistant director [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-30T17:39:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-25T18:36:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/02\/CYNTHIA-MUINIZ-361x396.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"361\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anabel Otero Toledo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anabel Otero Toledo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anabel Otero Toledo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d0e0ad63a821f6f392aecdae8a77c01\"},\"headline\":\"New Position to Spearhead Hispanic Initiatives at UCF\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-30T17:39:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-25T18:36:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":506,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/CYNTHIA-MUINIZ-361x396.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Puerto Rico Research Hub\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/new-position-to-spearhead-hispanic-initiatives-at-ucf\\\/\",\"name\":\"New Position to Spearhead Hispanic Initiatives at UCF - 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