UIC was founded to offer a world-class public education to the people of Chicago in Chicago. Since our founding, students, staff, faculty, and community members have pushed UIC to reflect the Chicago population. In 2014 UIC reached the threshold to become a Hispanic Serving Institution or HSI. The awarding of an HSI STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) grant from the U.S. Department of Education establishing Latin@s Gaining Access to Networks for Advancement in Science (L@s GANAS) affirmed our designation. Several grants and initiatives have sprung since including projects in Latino humanities, connecting biology and culture, and catalyzing system change at the department level.
UIC’s mission as an HSI is to affirm Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx students, staff, and faculty with culturally engaging and informed curriculum and initiatives.
UIC is proud to be a federally-designated as a Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) — a U.S. Department of Education status given to universities that serve high enrollments of racial and ethnic minority and low-income students – since 2010. That same year, UIC was designated an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) and has received three grants totaling $5.4 million in support of its AANAPISI Initiative.
