UCUC president affiliates with Excelencia in Education’s network

Excelencia in Education, the nation’s premier authority in efforts accelerating Latino student success in higher education, announced that Union College of Union County President Margaret M. McMenamin has chosen to be part of the Presidents for Latino Student Success network.

This important national network is composed of college and university presidents and chancellors who commit to making their institutions learning environments where Latino students thrive. The institutions in Excelencia’s network are transforming higher education.

Of the thousands of colleges and universities across the country, the more than 150 leaders of the 175 institutions in the network enroll one-in-four of all Latino students in higher education. More importantly, these institutions account for one-in-three of all Latino graduates. In fact, a subset of the Excelencia network —

30 institutions that have been certified with the Seal of Excelencia — represents 13% of all Latino enrollment and graduates 14% of all Latinos in the U.S. For the fall 2022 semester, 45% of Union’s students and more than 55% of first-time full-time students identified as Hispanic, the largest percentage in the College’s history. Union is identified as a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution, based on the college’s Hispanic student enrollment.

Excelencia professionals, the leadership network, and their campus teams, actively collaborate to put evidence-based practices and strategic analysis of student data to use supporting and advancing the talents, skills, and contributions of Latino students and the institutions.

Sarita Brown, co-founder and president of Excelencia, said, “Higher education leaders with skills and vision are fundamental to our country’s strong recovery. Those prepared to engage and intentionally serve Latino students, while serving all their students, will lead the way.”

“Excelencia is honored to work with the trendsetting presidents and chancellors who have accepted this challenge. The leaders in the network have made a common cause with Excelencia to accelerate Latino student success in higher education.”

“Dr. McMenamin’s leadership has worked in the best interest of students since she arrived at Union almost 13 years ago,” said Union College of Union County’s Board of Trustees Chairperson Victor M. Richel. “Her focus from the beginning has been on student success, specifically with initiatives such as Inspire the Future, which provides support to Hispanic students and aims to increase graduation rates of Union’s Hispanic population. With her new affiliation with Excelencia, she will have the opportunity to bring her innovative ideas to a national level.”