Tech Hispanic Freshmen Could Hit All-Time High

The percentage of Hispanic students in this year’s Tennessee Tech freshman class poised to be an all-time high.

With roughly six weeks remaining, Hispanic students make up roughly 9.17 percent of the class. Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Robert Owens said the primary driver for the increase is the growth of the local Hispanic population.

“You know, we’ve seen the Hispanic population increasing here in the Putnam County area for a number of years now, and so I think a natural byproduct is that we would see those students attending Tennessee Tech University,” Owens said.

Owens said they have seen that Hispanic students generally want to attend colleges or universities that are close to home. Owens said the university has not been doing specific outreach to encourage Hispanic students to come to the school, but they have a myriad of resources to support Hispanic students once they are on campus.

He said there are a number of Hispanic student organizations that are run by Hispanic faculty advisors for students to enjoy, as well as other resources from the Intercultural Affairs Department.

“Students talk, you know, if you come to Tennessee Tech, you have a good experience, and you live in the local community, then you’re going to share that experience with family members and friends,” Owens said.

Owens said this increase will also lead to improved diversity throughout the school, which he said would strengthen the experience of all students.

“We want our students to be well-rounded at Tennessee Tech,” Owens said. “We understand that we still got – get a lot of our students that are from the state of Tennessee, but we understand also that these students are potentially going anywhere across the world to work, and we want to make sure that they have diverse experiences while at the university to help prepare them to be as successful as they can be.”

Owens said the increase will also allow them to educate more students overall, thereby further supporting the job market, especially in STEM-related industries.

“Certain types of manual labor or technology types of jobs that would require, not necessarily a four year degree, but a trade school, a certificate, or an associate’s degree, many of those jobs are going unfilled,” Owens said.

Owens said they recently hired a recruiting specialist that is focusing on working with Hispanic students, alongside other underrepresented groups.

“I believe that person has already done a fantastic job of engaging with incoming freshmen, and specifically, you know, Hispanic, Latino students,” Owens said.