09/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/09/2024 15:36
Fresno Pacific University will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month September 15-October 15, 2024, with a variety of events on the main campus, 1717 S. Chestnut Ave., Fresno.
National Hispanic Heritage Week was signed into law in 1968 and expanded to a month 20 years later. September 15 was chosen as the start date to honor the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence that resulted in independence for Mexico Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week
Preceding Hispanic Heritage Month is National Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Week September 9-15. The U.S. Department of Education defines an HIS as having "an enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent students that is at least 25 percent Hispanic students." At FPU, 60% of students identify as Hispanic.
To honor National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, President Biden issued a proclamation reading, in part: "Education is a ticket to a better life, and for more than 4.7 million Hispanic and Latino students, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) make it possible. The over 500 HSIs across our country are home to over half of Hispanic and Latino college students. During National Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week, we celebrate these critical postsecondary institutions, which empower our students to pursue the full limits of their talent and ambition.
"HSIs are engines of opportunity, success, and upward mobility. They serve Dreamers, first-generation college students, and many who come from low-income and underserved communities. HSIs empower their students, no matter the students' backgrounds, to obtain their degrees and begin building a more secure, prosperous future for themselves and their families."
Congress first formally designated HSIs in 1992.
Wayne Steffen
Associate Director of Publications and Media Relations
E-mail