Despite the University's proximity to Mexico, in 1990 Hispanics at ASU made up only about 5 percent of the student population.
Today that percentage has nearly doubled, with programs and resources geared specifically toward the Hispanic community. These improvements recently landed ASU as the No. 20 school for Hispanics in Hispanic Magazine.
The magazine selected the top 25 universities across the nation based on the size of the Hispanic population and factors such as diversity of the student body, curriculum, student organizations, faculty and the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to Hispanic students. It was the sixth time since 1995 that ASU was ranked in the top 25.
"We have a very effective Chicana and Chicano studies department, and we are also very strong in our commitment to Hispanic students through our center for Latin American studies and our language and literatures department and many others," said Gary Keller, director of the ASU Hispanic Research Center.
Keller said the Hispanic center has accounted for a high increase in minority bachelor's degrees at ASU in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
"We are in the process of tripling the number of [doctorate degrees] within five years," Keller said.
He added that many other ASU programs benefit Hispanic students.
"Our psychology department, for example, has an extraordinary number of Hispanic faculty members to provide role modeling and leadership to our Hispanic students," Keller said.
Ruben Alonzo, student senator for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a political science sophomore, said ASU deserves the high ranking because of its diverse student body.
"As a Hispanic student at ASU, it has been a good experience for me, and ASU has a diverse student body for which to get involved," Alonzo said. "It's a positive thing to see ASU is doing a good job in attracting diversity."
Though affordability was also a factor in the ranking, Keller said he is worried about next year's 40 percent tuition increase.
"In years to come, we need to wrestle with the major percentage increases in tuition, which may psychologically frighten off more Hispanic students," Keller said.
To attract Hispanic students to the University, ASU administrators are in the process of translating parts of ASU's Web site into Spanish, said Milton Glick, ASU vice president and provost.
"I think it's increasingly important to work toward representing the changing demographic of the Valley, state and nation," Glick said. "Hispanic students are having a very high rate of graduation, and they are doing very good work here."
What do you think about ASU's support of its growing Hispanic population? Post your opinion in the forum below.
Reach the reporter at sarah.muench@asu.edu.
