Latino Alumni and Friends Association
Officers
Coordinators Alejandro and Yolanda Guerra '85
Suzanna Rojas '81
Secretary / Treasurer Cristina Castro '05
Advisor Prof. Juan Rodríguez
Director, Center for Mexican American Studies
Mission Statement
The TLU Latino Alumni and Friends Association is committed to the development of funds and services for the benefit and advancement of Latino students at TLU.
The Latino Alumni and Friends Association of Texas Lutheran University (LAA) intends to increase the number of Latino students enrolling at TLU through tuition assistance grants and other recruitment and retention means. Additionally, it seeks to help create a campus environment that is culturally diverse and supportive of the needs of these students.
Minority enrollment on college campuses is a positive development that benefits not only students of color but enriches the entire academic community. A 2000 study released by the Educational Testing Service at Princeton, New Jersey concludes:
- While minority enrollment is growing, the numbers of Hispanic students enrolling in higher education continues to lag behind.
- Encouraging minority enrollment on the nation's campuses will translate into a more diverse professional workforce, which in turn strengthens the United States' ability to compete in the global economy.
- Enabling minorities to attend college is a promising approach to reducing poverty.
- Diversity strengthens the learning environment at the nation's colleges and universities. More diverse viewpoints will stimulate a broader range of ideas, improve intellectual pursuits and better prepare students to be good neighbors, citizens and workers.
Goals
- Increase the number of Latino students at TLU by initiating recruitment activities intended to increase both the number of Latino students recruited to TLU as well as the retention rate of those Latino students already enrolled at TLU.
- Maintain and enhance the reputation and standing of TLU as one of the best universities its size in the Southwest.
- Make recommendations to TLU's leadership that both encourage persistence and prompt institutional and programmatic changes as it shapes a campus culture that effectively supports Latinos. Necessarily, these changes will include a greater presence of Latinos at all levels of the administrative and faculty ranks.
- Raise funds that will help this organization to realize its organizational goals and objectives, especially for tuition grants and other projects that will benefit Latino students at TLU.
- Organize and promote social events and other activities that will enrich and diversify the culture and campus life of TLU and the lives of its alumni and friends
History
The idea for the Latino Alumni and Friends Association originated with professor Juan Rodríguez in February 2000. It was then that he met with Liz (Bueno) Gonzales, the first (1981) Mexican American Student Association (MASA) president. Later that year, during homecoming, the group, initially known as Friends of the Mexican American Studies Center, met for the first time on Oct . 21, 2000. That day, over 20 alumni and friends gathered at the Center for Mexican American Studies to renew friendships and to launch the association. Everyone present enthusiastically supported the formation of an association to help current and future Latino students at TLU. Since that first gathering, the group has had several meetings, and in the spring of 2001, the group formed a board, set goals and renamed itself the
Latino Alumni and Friends Association.
The original co-coordinators were
George Gonzales '85 (deceased the summer of 2004) and Suzanna Rojas (1981).
In the Fall of 2004, a few months after Geroge Gonzales' tragic drowning in México while he and his family were on vacation, the Latino Alumni and Friends Association at TLU began a drive to fund an endowed scholarship in his name. Anyone wishing to contribute to the fund, can do so through the TLU business office or by contact Professor Juan Rodríguez, association advisor, at
jrodriguez@tlu.edu.
