Meeting the psychosocial needs of Hispanic students to ensure they succeed is a theme woven throughout Salvador Hector Ochoa’s 37-year career as an educator and administrator. Born in South Texas, Ochoa holds a B.A. in psychology, an M.Ed. in guidance and counseling, and a Ph.D. in school psychology. “(The Ph.D. program) was the only program that trained individuals in my field that had a specialization in serving Hispanic children. That was very important to me being from South Texas,” says Dr. Ochoa, president of Texas A&M-San Antonio.
Shortly after earning his Ph.D. from Texas A&M in 1989, Dr. Ochoa joined the school’s faculty, where he researched bilingual psychoeducational assessment and educational programming for Latino students, research that would shape his decision making as an administrator. His research was two pronged. First, he assessed students experiencing academic difficulty. “Is it a genuine disability or is it due to other factors, like educational programing issues? That’s very important because we have to meet students where they are,” says Dr. Ochoa.
Secondly, he explored educational programs in K-12 to determine whether a school district’s curriculum affects a student’s journey to higher education. “One thing that’s really important is curricular alignment. Often there’s no curriculum alignment, or it can be improved, between what happens in high school and the jump to get into college,” says Dr. Ochoa. Any such gap jeopardizes a student’s success.
A significant variable in this equation is a student’s psychosocial experience. Students with a sense of belonging and self-efficacy have a far better chance of succeeding than those who don’t possess such traits. “It’s really important to realize the context of the student and their families and what they’ve experienced to get here. If we can create a general understanding about that journey, that road is much easier for our students,” says Dr. Ochoa.
Creating Seamless Pathways
Prior to his appointment at Texas A&M-San Antonio last August, Dr. Ochoa served as the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at San Diego State University, from 2019 to 2023. Under his leadership, the school’s overall four-year-graduation rate increased by seven percent and its six-year-graduation rate by 3.7 percent. However, an even more significant accomplishment was hidden in the general data. When disaggregated, the data revealed an increase in graduation rates for first-generation students, Pell students, and commuters. “In those areas, we increased to at least nine to ten percent. I was very proud of that because it took a really detailed focus,” says Dr. Ochoa.
Before his stint at San Diego State University, Dr. Ochoa was the dean of the College of Education at The University of Texas-Pan American (now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) from 2007 to 2014, and the dean of the College of Education at the University of New Mexico from 2014 to 2019.
No matter the position or the school, Dr. Ochoa has always partnered with community colleges, “to create seamless pathways and create bridges. Often, when students go to community college, they finish, they get their associate’s degree, but they really don’t know how to make that bridge to a four-year school,” he says. Initiatives and programs that “reach down” teach community college graduates how to transfer their hours and encourage them to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
At Pan American and the University of New Mexico, Dr. Ochoa met students where they were by identifying the characteristics of successful students, applying predictive analytics, and intervening academically when necessary. “(Sometimes we need) to intervene early on and not wait for the problems to occur...Many students have two jobs. Some have young children. Rather than telling them what they need, we asked them what they need. When you provide support structures, both psychosocially and academically, more students will succeed,” says Dr. Ochoa.
North Stars
A&M-San Antonio is 77 percent Hispanic, and of those students, approximately 60 percent are first-generation college students. As he was in his previous positions, Dr. Ochoa is proactive as A&M-San Antonio’s president, reaching out to often-ignored students. Some administrators, he says, establish relationships with first-generation students only after they’ve committed, enrolled, and stepped onto campus. Not Dr. Ochoa. He cultivates this group by connecting with them while they are still earning their two-year degrees or while still in high school. Programs like La Familia, known as College 101, invite families to campus and provide information on navigating the college experience and securing financial aid. “We empower these families to be change agents and advocates for their children,” says Dr. Ochoa. “When you yield a greater harvest, I think that’s really important,” says Dr. Ochoa
He leverages the strengths of first-generation students and builds upon their talents. In his first year at A&M-San Antonio, he’s expanded supplemental instruction and created a culture of self-efficacy. “(Our students are) the school’s north stars. It’s not just what you do for them in the classroom, but how you serve as mentors for them. When you put the academic support structures in place and you address the psychosocial needs of students, this is very critical,” says Dr. Ochoa.
Walking the Fine Line of Change
Dr. Ochoa’s three degrees, his research, and his time in the classroom all inform his leadership style and enable him to identify paradigms in education and recognize how each student fits into an educational system. While education leaders must perform day-to-day activities like budgeting and planning, they must also analyze systems and create the necessary changes to better serve the student. “The key to that is how fast you create that change. If you don’t make the change quickly enough, you maintain the status quo. If you go to fast, quicker than the system is with you or believes in you, then you create more chaos,” says Dr. Ochoa.
Shortly after being named president, Dr. Ochoa embarked on a campus listening tour to evaluate the health of the 15-year-old institution. Through more than 50 listening sessions that included staff, faculty, and divisions, he gained an understanding of the institution’s human capital. “I learned what people took pride in. I learned what we’re doing well and things that people wanted to do better…People felt listened to,” says Dr. Ochoa. When the tour was over, he realized that if A&M-San Antonio was going to achieve its mission, he needed to improve the organization’s health. Unlike institutions that are 100 years old, A&M-San Antonio’s identity and methods are still a work in progress, offering Dr. Ochoa ample opportunity to improve the school’s culture.
A&M-San Antonio is a “school on steroids,” with its enrollment growing by five percent each year. “They’re building a hospital across the street from our campus and a subdivision that in eight years will have 11,000 residents. We’re growing so fast,” he says. This growth represents his biggest challenge, namely keeping the school’s infrastructure up to date. “I don’t think there’s ever going to be a time during my tenure that we’re not building something…While most schools are building one building, I’ve got two or three going up at one time. We’re finishing our second residence hall and we’re finishing a rec center. We’ve just started our next academic building and we’re building a childcare facility in January. These are all brand new buildings,” says Dr. Ochoa. Given the permanence of campus structures, he’s intent on doing it right; it’s part of his overall commitment to continue paving a solid path toward the school’s future.
