This year the Hispanic Theological Initiative was recognized by the Excelencia in Education organization as a program that has promise and I believe a program that should be researched by other faith based institution who want to be serious about developing future faculty and leadership for the academy. As stated earlier, faculty are seen as vital in sustaining diversity efforts. Below is a brief description of the program.
The Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI) was established to create and nurture a community of Latina/o scholars and prepare a new generation of faith leaders for service in the academy. The Hispanic Theological Initiative manages the Hispanic Theological Initiative Consortium (HTIC), consisting of 18 Ph.D.-granting institutions across the nation. To fulfill its intention, HTI provides graduate students with mentoring, networking, and editorial opportunities. These various resources have helped Latina/o students cope with the lack of supportive environments, financial resources, and feelings of marginalization and isolation during their graduate studies. At the commencement of their doctoral studies, HTI fellows are teamed with a seasoned Latina/o scholar in their field of study and denomination.
Since its inception in 1996, HTI has: Awarded 77 masters, 255 doctoral fellowships and 10 post-doctoral fellowships; Engaged 43 tenured and tenured-equivalent professors as mentors of HTI fellows; Supported 48 masters fellows (11 of them continued onto Ph.D. studies) and 68 Ph.D. fellows in the completion of their doctorates; Achieved an average time to degree for HTI doctoral fellows of 5 years; and, 12 HTI fellows in the pipeline (as of this 2009-2010 academic year).
If you know of other promising practices please share those with us.
Posted by jperez2002 
Diversity in Higher Education 