September is National Hispanic Heritage Month, and Maryville College organizations and offices will join in the observance that pays “tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society,” according to the official website.
With numerous resources for all undergraduate applicants, Maryville College remains committed to providing an education to all persons with a variety of interests, backgrounds, beliefs and nationalities regardless of citizenship status, and the College invites all students to apply.
In 2004, MC was recognized by the Race Relations Center of East Tennessee for its history of “contributing to improving the quality of life for all in East Tennessee,” and in 2018, the College became the first partnership school in East Tennessee for Equal Chance for Education (ECE), a nonprofit organization founded by Nashville physician Dr. Michael Spalding. Because DACA recipients are ineligible for in-state tuition rates even if they’ve lived in Tennessee all their lives, ECE provides financial aid to offset that inequity, and last May, the first group of ECE scholars graduated from Maryville College.
That partnership was one of the reasons Maryville College was recently nominated for a Centro Hispano Comunidad Award, part of the organization’s 2022 Latino Awards that is given to “a nonprofit or for-profit organization serving Greater Knoxville that has gone above and beyond to further opportunities for Latinos and Latinas in our community.” The Latino Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, Sept. 15, at The Mill and Mine in Knoxville.
Even before that, Psychology Professor Dr. Crystal Colter and others spearheaded an outreach program funded through the Appalachian College Association and Excelencia in Education that focused on Latino students and families. Known as the Villamaría initiative, the grant was awarded in 2012.
As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, Colter — along with Kelly Massenzo, director of undergraduate admissions, and Alan Miramontes Flores, enrollment counselor for diversity recruitment at Maryville College — is organizing a Villamaría professional development series open to school counselors, teachers, support personnel, higher education faculty and staff and current college students.
The event structure will consist of three virtual lunch and learn sessions over Zoom and a final in-person lunch and keynote presentation on the MC campus. Each session is free to attend, and participants will be eligible for a professional development certificate. Session topics will focus on information related to DACA and undocumented students as well as Latinx students in general. The sessions include:
- “Access to Higher Education for Latinx Students,” 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13. This session, according to Colter, will focus on resources available to students and their families as they research college options.
- “After College — New Professional Work Opportunities for Latinx Students,” 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20. Led by members of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), this session will feature discussions about recently passed Tennessee workforce expansion laws.
- “Stories from Young Latinx Professionals,” 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27. This session will feature a panel of young professionals from different backgrounds who will discuss their collegiate experiences and challenges and offer advice for the next generation of Latinx students.
- From 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, in-person roundtable discussions will wrap up the Villamaría series, and a showcase of available Maryville College resources for Latinx students and their families will be provided. The day will include a free, catered lunch provided by Maryville College and will conclude with a keynote presentation from José Lee-Perez, the organizational culture manager in the Division of Student Success at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Original source can be found here
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