Francisco Dorame: A leader in the making
By Michelle Adam, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education
Last year, Francisco Dorame, doctoral student at California Lutheran University, was bestowed an Examples of Excelencia Award, one of five given annually to community colleges nationwide for promoting college for Latinos. He was honored for helping minority and low-income community college students succeed and graduate from college through a program called the Transfer Achievement Program, at Santa Barbara City College.
Since working with hundreds of minority students at Santa Barbara,Dorame continues to help underrepresented students achieve and succeed in higher education. A Mexican immigrant to the U.S. at age 5, he has built a passion, from his own experiences and struggles, to change higher education for the better for underrepresented students and all students seeking the dream of a better life.
The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine recently spoke with Dorame about his life and goals, beginning with his current work at Allan Hancock College in California.
The Hispanic Outlook: About the
program you are currently running at Alan Hancock College, how many
students are served by this program, and how long have you been running
it?
Francisco Dorame: Our program is called the College
Achievement Now (CAN) program. It's a TRIO program. There are different
grants with the TRIO program, and ours is a student support services
program with 140 students served. Our whole mission is to service
first-generation low-income students, students with disabilities, and
students with limited English proficiency. Our mission is to have these
students persist in college so they can get to their goal of
transferring or getting a degree from the community college. I arrived
with the program this January.
HO: How important is this program, and what do you feel happens to these same students without such a program?
Dorame: It is extremely significant. As California continues to struggle
financially and budget cuts continue to grow for programs that service
certain students, we need these programs to supplement these cuts.
Students are being turned away from other Californian programs like
Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), which helps
low-income and economically challenged students achieve their
educational and career goals. These kinds of programs continue to be
cut. Federally funded programs have allowed us to supplement some of
those cuts. What happens to these students without this is they don't
get the proper assistance academically and financially as well. They
won't get book grants and other financial assistance. Everything from
tutoring and resources that are one on one are provided through the
program. Our program comes in to assist and provide that help for these
students.
HO: Tell me about the Transfer Achievement
Program at Santa Barbara City College. How long were you with this
program? How many students did you serve, and how much did you help
them?
Dorame: I assisted 600 ethnically underrepresented
students there, but when I first arrived at the program in 2004, it had a
little over 200 students. When I got there, I put a system together to
allow these students to succeed. We provided a step-by-step process on
academic planning,career planning, career assistance and financial
assistance. What was unique is that we were assisting undocumented
students. It was a district-funded program, so it allowed us to be
flexible on whom we serviced. In the beginning, one of the things I
started seeing is that many of these students were not getting serviced.
I began recruiting these students and created an open-door policy to
give students counseling and support. It grew to 600 in three years. Our
students were succeeding at much higher rates than the general
population. For math, which is a huge challenge, our students were
persisting. They were transferring in three years instead of four, and
we were moving these students forward. This was because of the system
and expectations that we put into place.
HO: You won an
Examples of Excelencia Award for your work with the Transfer Achievement
Program? Why do you feel you received this award?
Dorame: I
think I got the award because with community colleges in general we are
seeing low transfer rates. Not only are our students not transferring to
university, but they are dropping out within a year of attending a
community college. I think the reason these programs are important is
that we are a retention tool for the school and a tool for graduating
these students. With these programs, we are having success rates of 90
percent, whereas transfer rates are anywhere between 15 to 25 percent
for ethnically underrepresented students.
HO: What got you involved with programs like these?
Dorame: It's been my own personal experience that drew me to this. I didn't
have any programs that assisted me at a younger age. At first, I wanted
to be a high school teacher because I felt there were many students with
high aspirations that were not getting the guidance they needed. When I
got into college, I began receiving that support and saw the connection
between mentors and how academics play a role. I got a lot of support
at California State-Northridge where I went, and I wanted to later be
able to help students out. While I was at Cal State, I did internships
to motivate young kids to go to college.
HO: How common are these kinds of program nationwide? Has there been an increase or decrease in these programs?
Dorame: Programs like the College Achievement Now should be a lot more common.
Out of the 112 community colleges in California, 48 have TRIO programs.
That is actually about 40 percent. Programs like the Transfer
Achievement Program are even more rare because they are locally run, and
the institutions provide their own funds to provide that service. When I
first started that program, it was staffed by six people, and then when
I left it was staffed with three. It was extremely underfunded by the
time I left there. As time passes, these programs get eliminated.
Programs for underrepresented students are the first to go when there
are cuts.
HO: You are a doctoral student in educational
leadership development at California Lutheran University. How long have
you been a doctoral student there, and how much work are you doing "in
the field" and in research?
Dorame: I started my doctoral
program in 2007. I have a family, and it has been extremely difficult to
balance work and family and studies. At the same time, I understand the
value of what I am doing and the value for the community. I am doing
this to help more people. My research is directly related to what I am
doing now. It is in degree aspirations for Latino males at California
community colleges. I am looking at the successes of students and how
they maintain their degree aspirations. Latino males are the most at
risk for lowering their degree aspirations at California community
colleges. Within a semester or a year of saying they want to transfer
and receive a bachelor's degree or beyond, these students will lower
their degree aspirations and aim for an A.A. degree or certificate
programs. I am writing my dissertation, and it should come out in May.
HO: What is your ultimate goal in pursuing this doctorate? What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?
Dorame: Hopefully, I will be in upper administration - a vice president or
president of a community college - and really be an integral part in
changing the system. I think there need to be a lot of systemic changes.
We can't continue at the rate we are going - this old-world structure
is not going to survive. There need to be a lot of structural changes at
community colleges. We need to look toward the community and do more
fast-track programs and accelerated programs. The other aspect is the
pipeline from high school to community college. It is not as clear as it
used to be. Community colleges don't do a good enough job at creating
that pipeline for high schools. Students are coming in and are asking to
be failed because there isn't any real pipeline.
HO: Tell me about your childhood. What were your hopes and dreams as a child?
Dorame: I was 5 years old when we came from Mexico. We were a low-income family
new to the United States. I grew up moving a lot. I went to five
different elementary schools in California for six years. My dad was a
welder. I am the youngest of five, and my brothers and sisters were much
older than me, so they had it a bit harder with the language barrier. I
always had the expectation I was going to succeed. I knew I could, but I
wasn't given the tools to know I was doing wonderful things. I was
never exposed to programs or told by teachers or counselors that I could
succeed. I didn't know what I would succeed at.
HO: What
kind of student were you in middle school and high school, and how were
you inspired to go to ultimately attend California State-Northridge?
Dorame: When I was in middle school, my mom went to school with me because I
had become that bad of a kid. She went to school with me for three
months. That helped extremely much. It changed my attitude because now
the bad kid beating up everyone actually had a mom. She became more of a
disciplinarian with me and took away things I loved, and I started
changing little by little. In high school, I wanted to play sports, so I
had to keep my grades up to play. I would do the average. I would do
enough to just get by. Nobody ever told me to be great and put effort
into my work. My older brothers and sisters all went to community
colleges, and only one transferred. The rest lowered their degree
aspirations and didn't graduate. My high school teacher noticed that
trend and said if I were to go to a local community college that could
happen to me as well. He started telling me about universities and what I
should be focused on. He provided a lot of guidance, and I got into
California State-Northridge - something I never, never thought I would
do.
HO: What happened for you in higher education? What was it like?
Dorame: A light bulb went on when I got to Cal State Northridge. I decided I
would not let this opportunity go by. I became a completely different
person than the one I was in high school. I became a good student,
meeting with professors and study groups. I liked the freethinking, the
classes and the environment. I thought, wow, this is education the way
it should be.
HO: How did your college experience impact your future aspirations?
Dorame: I felt high school was a waste of time. I ended up being angry at my
high school experience and decided I wanted to teach and go back into my
community and provide that assistance. My friends had been just like
me, and yet I had the fortune of having a teacher that helped me out.
But my friends who didn't have that teacher, they didn't get that
support. A lot of them didn't go to college or they dropped out after
the first semester. I wanted to go back into high schools and help the
youth. During my time at Cal State Northridge, I did an internship where
I went into middle schools and high schools. The internship then
recruited me to work with them as a coordinator for the GEAR UP program.
I fell in love with the university and college system. This position as
a professional increased my degree aspirations. I never thought I'd get
a master's degree, and a doctorate degree had never been on my radar.
HO: How have your friends and family responded to you pursuing a doctorate and a career in higher education?
Dorame: My friends and family can't even fathom what I am doing. I can't even
believe it myself. I am really amazed by where I am. It is like an
out-of-body experience. It feels unusual, but at the same time it is so
special. This is just going to get me closer to really being a leader in
the community and also in higher education. The accessibility of a
doctorate
degree into upper administration allows you to really make changes.
HO: Today when you work with students, and specifically Hispanics, how
similar are their stories to your own? How are you able to help them
with your own story and example?
Dorame: Our stories are very
similar. Every time I speak with students, I share part of my own story.
It allows me to build that bond with them. They see me as a role model
and accessible and real. That allows them to grow their own ideas and
say to themselves, "I can probably do this."
HO: How common
is it for Hispanics to be in community colleges but never get to a
four-year-institution? Why do you think this is so, and how do you feel
programs like yours help in this process?
Dorame: It is very
common for Latinos to be in community colleges. They are not
underrepresented in the California Community College system, but they
are at four-year universities. Part of the reason is that the students
don't have the tools, the resources (financial, study skills,
discipline, environment) to succeed. We are providing those resources
and tools and role models for them to succeed. Unfortunately for me and
for low-income families, your neighbor is not a lawyer or doctor. You
become a product of that environment.
HO: What advice do you give Hispanic students?
Dorame: I offer a lot of different advice. The one thing is for them to have
high expectations for themselves. Good is not good enough. It is
important to take risks and not settle - to be willing to be an
individual and to expect to be great. Having a positive role model is
also important. If Hispanics can have access to different professionals
and professions, this is very significant. They can see a tangible
person - someone who has made it.
--- Published in The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education on June 27, 2011