Leadership Team

Co-Chairs 

Alfred J. López is Professor and Head of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Director of Global Studies, and Director of Latin American and Latino Studies at Purdue University. He is the author of five books, including José Martí: A Revolutionary Life (U Texas P, 2014), the definitive biography of Cuba’s greatest national hero. His essays have appeared in American Literature, Comparative Literature, Cuban Studies, South Atlantic Quarterly, Modern Fiction Studies, and the Huffington Post, among many other journals and periodicals. López was also the founding editor of The Global South (Indiana UP 2007), the leading journal of globalization and Global South studies. He is the son of Cuban immigrants and a first-generation college student.

I am originally from California but I have been in the Midwest for the past 6 years.  Spanish was my first language and it was the only language spoken at home so I didn’t pick up English until I started school.  Despite attending a predominantly Latino school district, I didn’t really think much about my racial identity until college.  In college, through my involvement in MECha and my major courses in Ethnic Studies, I finally began to see myself as Latino and not just someone of Mexican descent.  This prompted me to understand the importance of community and the need to address issues of access and retention in higher education, particularly for communities of color.  After earning my Masters in Educational Leadership,  I was looking for an opportunity to engage with students in authentic ways where we can discuss how our multiple social identities influence the way we lead.  I really enjoy deconstructing the ways in which we have traditionally thought of leadership in order for students to understand that leadership is something that can be learned and it is best practiced collectively.  Through courses, workshops, and retreats, students also come to understand how everyone has something to contribute to the leadership process.