About Dr. Garcia

Dr. Gina Ann Garcia is a professor in the School of Education at UC Berkeley. Drawing on theories of change, her research explores how Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) embrace an organizational identity for serving minoritized populations. She coined the term “servingness” which is a framework for organizing and envisioning new futures for colleges and universities. 
 
Dr. Garcia is the author of Becoming Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Opportunities for Colleges & Universities, for which she won the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education Book of the Year Award in 2020, and the editor of the book Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Practice: Defining “Servingness” at HSIs. She also authored Transforming Hispanic Serving Institutions for Equity and Justice and co-authored the companion workbook Transforming HSIs for Equity and Justice: A Practitioner’s Workbook. In fall 2026, her third solo-authored book was published, The HSI Movement: Strategies Driving Change at Hispanic-Serving Institutions.  
 
She has delivered over 200 public lectures and workshops across the country and consults directly with colleges and universities to work towards organizational transformation. She is also the host of the popular podcast ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? At UC Berkeley, Dr. Garcia serves as the inaugural Faculty Director of Latinx Thriving Initiatives (LTI) and directs the Higher Education Action Research for Transformation HEART Lab, affectionately known as HEART Lab. 
 
Dr. Garcia graduated from California State University, Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, the University of Maryland, College Park with a master’s degree in college student personnel, and the University of California, Los Angeles with a Ph.D. in higher education and organizational change. She is a proud alumna of a HSI and was a Title V Coordinator at Cal State University, Fullerton.