By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
Latinx students, faculty and staff engaged with one another in an informal setting at a mixer hosted by the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association Tuesday night.
At the mixer, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Bobo Spiritual Life Center, students were informed about different resources and departments available on campus.
Dr. Crystal Diaz-Espinoza, director of graduate enrollment for the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences and president of the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association, said her involvement with the event was helping organize the opportunity for students, staff and faculty to congregate so that students can understand how much the association can support them.
“The hope was to bring people together to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, but also for students to know that the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association is here to support them as they are navigating their way through college,” Diaz-Espinoza said.
Diaz-Espinoza said it was important to them to celebrate during Hispanic Heritage Month, but also to host it at the beginning of the year for new students or those who are still trying to find community.
“We wanted students to have an opportunity to just reconnect with us or meet us for the first time… just to remind them that there’s a group of people here who care about them and want to see them succeed and understand what they’re going through,” Diaz-Espinoza said.
Dr. Ricardo Alvarez-Pimentel, assistant professor of history and president elect of the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association, said the goal of the event was to have an informal event where faculty, staff and students of the Latino, Latina and Latinx community can come together and get a chance to know each other.
The association is best able to put on events like this to create that sense of community with the help of other departments, Alvarez-Pimentel said. For this event, LFSA partnered with Multicultural Affairs.
“We just basically partner with all the different people on campus to make sure that we can make this kind of programming possible,” Alvarez-Pimentel said.
Currently, Alvarez-Pimentel was recently elected to the president position and will begin next year. He said he is looking forward to becoming the president of the association because it will allow him to put emphasis on student involvement.
“Certainly getting students more integrated into LFSA [is a goal],” Alvarez-Pimentel said. “Unlike some of the other campus resource groups, we don’t have students as part of our membership, but we do want to partner with students as much as we can to make sure that we can be allies for them on campus.”
Alvarez-Pimentel said his favorite part about hosting an event like the mixer is being able to meet new students and getting the chance to see them in their community and their element. He said there are many involvement opportunities for students, faculty and staff throughout the year, and he encourages them to come.
“I would just encourage the Baylor community in general to follow [Latinx] faculty and staff events throughout the year, not just through Hispanic Heritage Month,” Alvarez-Pimentel said. “Right now, the spotlight is on us because of the Heritage Month, but we have programming throughout the year, so I would just encourage them to be in touch and keep on the lookout for that.”
