During its meeting last Friday, the Student Government Association discussed funding for students to attend the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) conference and participating in a focus group for UTRGV’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion.
Sebastian Bonilla, a civil engineering junior, said he hopes UTRGV will fund travel for five students every semester to attend the HACU conferences.
“Right now, we averaged out about how much we could spend to send five students and one volunteer staff, and it’s about $1,100 a student,” Bonilla said.
He said he is speaking with HACU representatives to make the October conference in Chicago less expensive.
HACU is composed of about 560 colleges and universities. He said a key thing to know about HACU is that they usually work with universities that are interested in starting a program.
Bonilla said attending helps students network, receive internships and create a name for the university.
“I won a scholarship from HACU last October, and then they flew me out to Atlanta, and that was part of the scholarship as well,” Bonilla said. “After that, … I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and this is where my program comes in to play. So, I just started speaking to people about it.”
He said how students will be selected to attend will mostly be up to colleges and administrators. In the future, he would like for colleges to set money aside to attend HACU and send students from their departments.
Aaron Hinojosa, UTRGV’s program coordinator for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) and Dream Resource Center, asked for feedback on the center, which was launched in the fall. He invited the SGA to be part of a focus group.
“So, my purpose is to get your feedback to see what you envision for the center, what you would like to see,” Hinojosa said. “I have some ideas. They may not work, but I think from mixing them with yours, then I think the center will be better catering for the students.”
The SGA will meet with Hinojosa on a Friday, but students are still welcome to attend other available dates.
In other business, Ernesto Pequeño, a business administration master’s student and senator for the Graduate College, was appointed to the internal affairs standing committee.
SGA Vice President Carlo Flores, an international business senior, also discussed the library’s need to recruit volunteers during extended hours for final exams week.
For more information about attending a focus group for CDI, call Hinojosa at 665-3702.
Delma Olivarez, associate dean for Student Involvement, speaks about the new changes in advising and how students can easily make appointments through the Navigate app.
