Hanging Out and Hanging On: From the Projects to the Campus

About the Book

Hanging Out and Hanging on: From the Projects to the Campus chronicles the progress of students from Hartford and Manchester, Connecticut, who are enrolled in the Dual College Enrollment Program (DCEP) at Eastern Connecticut State University. “Hanging Out” sets the stage for describing the program by first reaching back in time to tell of Dr. Núñez’s own beginnings in Puerto Rico and Newark, New Jersey, of her struggles as a non-English speaking elementary school student and her triumphs in high school and college. The next section of the book describes the lives of Latinos in Connecticut and the social, economic, and educational challenges they have faced over time. Her personal experiences and desire to improve the lives of the underprivileged led Dr. Núñez to create the DCEP Program. Through the words of faculty and staff and the personal accounts of six DCEP students, you will read stories of desperation and hope, of struggle and triumph, of heart-breaking failure and stunning success. We hope their story can serve as a model for other communities to follow.

Table of Contents:

Foreword
“When Need Meets Opportunity”
Jeffrey Bartlett, College Specialist, Hartford Public High School
Preface
Elsa M. Núñez, President; Eastern Connecticut State University
Introduction
Part One: Beginnings
Introduction: The American Dream Chapter 1. A Personal Journey: El Fanguito and the Flight to NewarkChapter 2: The Dream of College Comes TruePart Two: The Need for Innovative Educational Initiatives
Chapter 3. Tobacco Valley and the Thread City Blues: The Story of Latinos in Connecticut Chapter 4. Closing the Achievement Gap: Sharing the American DreamChapter 5. Off the Streets and into Class: The Birth of the Dual College Enrollment ProgramPart Three: Student Stories
Chapter 6. Federica Bucca ’13Chapter 7. Ismael GraciaChapter 8. Whitley Mingo ’13Chapter 9. Todd AvilesChapter 10: Maria Burgos-Jiménez ’12Chapter 11. Eshwar Gulcharran Part Four: A Model for Reform
Chapter 12: How Inner-City Students Can Succeed on Your Campus

About the Author :
Elsa Núñez , a native of Puerto Rico, grew up in Newark, New Jersey. During a career spanning more than 40 years, she has served as a faculty member and administrator at colleges and universities in New York City, Massachusetts, and Maine. For the past nine years, she has led Eastern Connecticut State University as its president.

Review :
Hanging Out and Hanging On is a compelling and engaging book. By combining socioeconomic background and personal narrative, the author humanizes the statistics and contextualizes the personal struggles of the students whose lives she documents. Nunez adds an additional dimension to this work by describing some of her own struggles and explaining to the reader how she has used the insights from her life to construct an effective program to support student success. Listening to the students’ stories allows the reader to hear the power of a liberal education working firsthand in these students’ lives. Their minds open to growth and insight as they describe their journey through the university. This book should be read by anyone who is concerned about the success and uplift of all students who struggle with poverty and stress in their own families and manage to succeed as college students in spite of the challenges. Hanging Out and Hanging On: From the Projects to the Campus is that rare book that puts facts and figures in the context of the human condition. It does more than just identify the challenge we have in promoting access and opportunity to America’s students as “one nation under God.” It brings life to that challenge and explicitly outlines what works and why it works. Elsa Núñez and the community at Eastern Connecticut State University have demonstrated what can be done to truly impact the opportunity gap. As someone who made it from the projects to the campus myself, I found this book to be inspirational and authentic. Dr. Elsa Nunez’s Hanging Out and Hanging On: From the Projects to the Campus shines a beacon of hope on inner-city students, illuminating a path by which they can travel the road to college and away from the cycles of poverty, crime, and societal, parental, and their personal expectations of low achievement. Rooted in Dr. Nunez’s own early educational challenges as a Puerto Rican immigrant and inspired by the highly successful Dual College Enrollment Program instituted at Eastern Connecticut State University, the school over which she presides, “Hanging Out and Hanging On” shows educators how to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. The book also gives voice to the participants of the Dual College Enrollment program: Latino and African-American students from the ‘hood whose stories of success and how they achieved it illustrate the program’s basic tenets of inspiration, opportunity, and support. Elsa Núñez is one of the most forward-looking, ambitious university presidents in America. She has written a path-finding book that is a roadmap for reaching and educating students who are often overlooked in the system. Her writing style is engaging, authentic, and honest. Everyone from college administrators to high school teachers to parents should read Núñez’s groundbreaking book.