Belonging in an Unknown World: Assessing Students’ Perceptions of Agricultural Faculty’s Abilities to Teach Diverse Audiences at a Hispanic Serving Institution

Faculty of a post-secondary institution are uniquely positioned to cultivate a sense of belonging among students. This study evaluated student perceptions in New Mexico State’s agricultural college regarding agricultural faculty’s ability to engage diverse student audiences. We utilized a descriptive-correlational design and surveyed 1584 students and received 167 usable responses. Results indicated many students believe faculty can efficiently engage diverse student audiences but need additional training. Moreover, there were no statistically significant differences in the perceptions between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students regarding the faculty’s abilities, indicating Hispanic students did not feel excluded more than students of other ethnic backgrounds.