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September 2004

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Villanova University was founded 162 years ago to educate the children of Irish immigrants in the Philadelphia area. The mission of fostering diversity and reaching out to newly arrived Americans continues.

Beginning this fall semester, Villanova will house the Villanova-NHI Leadership Service Center  of the National Hispanic Institute (NHI), a national organization which for the past 25 years has been dedicated to the development of  leadership for the U.S. Latino community by encouraging and mentoring high-performing Latino students in high school and higher education. The new Villanova-NHI LSC will handle NHI’s Northeastern Initiatives and serve the University as part  of the  Center for Multicultural Affairs under the guidance of Dr. Teresa Nance, who recently was appointed assistant vice president for multicultural affairs. She was formerly chair of the Department of Communication.

The new NHI Leadership Service Center will be headed by Hector H. Lopez, NHI’s Director of  NHI’s Northeastern  Initiatives.  Lopez a 2002 graduate of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., worked for two years as the International Trade Liaison and Industry Development Advisor  for the  City of El Paso, Texas before joining NHI specifically to open the Northeast Leadership Service Center at Villanova. For him, it was a return to an organization which had mentored him since his days as a student at Cathedral High School in El Paso.

Lopez, who has just moved into an apartment in Havertown, will divide his time between traveling for NHI in the northeast area and serving as resource for the Center for Multicultural Affairs. He will also act in a recruitment capacity as well. While NHI is affiliated with more than 150 universities in the United States, the partnership arrangement between Villanova and NHI is unique.

An alliance for progress

Villanova’s relationship with NHI began two years ago, when the University began hosting one of the institute’s programs, The Young Leaders Conference (YLC).  YLC invited high-achieving Latino high school rising sophomores to deliberate on topics concerning the Latino community. The students came from the northeast area of the country (including the Philadelphia-Lancaster area). In 2003, approximately 30 young people took part. At this year’s session, which took place from July 19 through July 24, about 90 enrolled. NHI observed its 25^th anniversary during this conference.

During  the YLC, the students received training on how to research topics, formulate arguments and compete with their peers in four different formats : original oratory, cross examination, impromptu and extemporaneous speaking.  Participants were graded on their creative and original thought, how well they could think on their feet, speech delivery skills and overall command of the topic. The conference is conducted in both English and Spanish.

Ernesto Nieto who, with his wife and partner Gloria de Leόn-Nieto founded NHI, attended the opening ceremonies and reminded his young audience that they held the future in their hands. Nieto, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement of 40 years ago, told them: “You are going to be dealing in a world where brains count and skills count. And the better you develop your brain, the more you develop your skill, the wider your vision of the world will be and the more effective you will be.” 

Nieto took pains to remind the young teams that they had a week of hard work before them; he would not be doling out sympathy for hard work and lost sleep. “It isn’t about how cool you are. It isn’t about your hat,” he said. “Here, brains count. Here, your ability to speak eloquently counts. Here, your ability to inspire will make the difference.”

As the keynote speaker, Nance drew on her own experience as a high school and college debater. “The skill you learn today, in this kind of workshop, will serve you for the rest of our life … when you go for college interviews and job interviews.”

Nance recalled growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was told as a teen-ager to take a secretarial track in high school “because we’re not sure how far you can go.” Nance declined the advice, chose the academic track, and then went on to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Emerson College in Boston and her doctorate from Temple University in Philadelphia

            Noting that the conference organizers had asked her to impart some words of wisdom, she recounted a conversation from Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, in which Alice inquired of the Cheshire Cat where she should go. “That depends,” the cat responded, “on where you want to go.”

            She also gave her teen-agers three watchwords which Lopez, in keeping with NHI custom, translated into Spanish: imagination, action, and me. “Knowledge without imagination is useless,” Nance counseled. “You must use knowledge and develop your creativity.  On action, she quoted Marion Wright Edelman, the driving force behind the Children’s Defense Fund, who said that “if you don’t like the way the world is, change it.”

With the third watchword, me, Nance offered advice to her ambitious young audience who is concerned with keeping up grades, participating in extra curricular activities, getting into college, paying their tuition, and embarking on their careers. “Make time for yourself everyday. Do what you like, even if it has no serious content or purpose. Take care of yourself and you’ll be better prepared to take on the world,” Nance said, speaking not only as an educator and mentor but as a parent, too.

Throughout the week, the students researched and prepared to speak about issues of health and wellness that affect the Latino community. At the end of the week, trophies were awarded to more than 15 participants.

Diversity: a matter of mission

For Stephen Merritt, dean of enrollment management, the presence of NHI on campus and the opportunity for Villanova to host its events mark a milestone in the University’s efforts to fulfill its mission of diversity.  “After the 2003 Young Leadership Conference, Ernesto Nieto sat down with some of us. He told us that NHI was looking to have a broader agenda in the northeast, and the ethos of NHI and that of Villanova were a terrific match.

“We decided that we wanted to develop what NHI calls a leadership service center on our campus. And that’s where Hector came in. He will help young people from the Philadelphia, Lancaster and Harrisburg area in particular to get into one of NHI’s programs for high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Ours is one of several NHI leadership service centers across the country helping Latino students get into a college or university and earn a degree. It might be Villanova, but it might also be another college or university.  For example, Hector could meet a student from Philadelphia and determine that he or she belongs in an NHI program at Southwestern University of Texas .  The student will be mentored, helped to raise tuition fees, and go there.”

Villanova worked directly with Nicole Sada, vice president for In stitutional Advancement at NHI to finalize the LSC agreement, its community outreach role and its internal role at Villanova.  Together Villanova and NHI determined that Lopez would provide assistance to Nance and the Center for Multicultural Affairs in mentoring Latino students on campus. Lopez also will be in contact with the Office of Admission when he discovers  Latino students who, he thinks, will be a good match for Villanova.

Tuition, of course, is always an issue and Merritt is especially sensitive to the needs of all students, Latino included. “Thanks to the efforts of Joan Chrestay from our development office and George Walter, associate dean for enrollment management for admission and financial assistance, we received a $1 million endowment from the Goizueta Foundation. This will support the full tuition, room and board of a Latino student here at the Unversity.” The Goizueta Foundation was established in 1992 by Roberto Giozueto who, at the time of his death in 1997, was chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of The Coca-Cola Company. Freshman Beatriz Argentina Iniguez, has been chosen to be the first recipient.