A New Catholic HSI Alliance

"The institutions-University of the Incarnate Word in Texas, University of Mount Saint Vincent in New York, Dominican University in Chicago and Universidad del Sagrado Corazf3n in San Juan, Puerto Rico-are geographically far apart. But ideologically, they're neighbors: All are century-old universities founded by nuns in bustling metropolitan areas, and all enroll at least a quarter Hispanic students and disproportionately serve low-income and first-generation students."

"When the individual campus presidents realized how similar their institutions were, they started brainstorming ways they could draw on one another's respective strengths, and a coalition was born. The group, which calls itself CHARISM, or the Catholic Higher Education Alliance of Rising Institutions in Service and Mission, officially launched last month. The presidents' asked themselves, "How do Catholic institutions that have these affinities work together? What are the kinds of things that we could do?""

"The group is dreaming big-co-taught virtual classes, joint degree programs, new pathways to each other's graduate programs, faculty and student exchanges, and shared efforts to offer more bilingual programming. The hope is, if one campus doesn't have a particular resource, program or opportunity for students, another can provide it or the four can develop it together."

Four Catholic Hispanic-serving universities formed a resource-sharing partnership called CHARISM to expand bilingual coursework, travel opportunities and academic programs for underserved students. The institutions are century-old, were founded by nuns, operate in major metropolitan areas, and enroll large shares of Hispanic, low-income and first-generation students. Campus presidents recognized institutional similarities and launched the coalition to draw on each other's strengths. Planned collaborations include co-taught virtual classes, joint degrees, graduate pathways, faculty and student exchanges, and shared bilingual programming. The coalition aims to provide resources or jointly develop programs when individual campuses lack them.

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