Cisneros Institute Encourages Students to Reach Their Potential

The Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute provides students with college scholarships and post-doctoral fellowships, and offers a pre-college program for high school juniors who have demonstrated a commitment to leadership and service within the Hispanic community. A $7 million gift from Gilbert Cisneros, BA ’94, and his wife, Jacki created the institute, which is situated in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. The institute focuses on the issue of undermatching, which occurs when students of high academic potential—often from low-income communities—do not matriculate to selective universities, and instead enroll at universities they are overqualified to attend. Latinos are the most likely ethnic group to undermatch, but Gil and Jacki aim to change that.