ALA Board of Directors: Tatiana Olmedo C'91, GEd'99, Clemson Smith Muñiz C'79, Cecilia Ramírez C'05, SPP'10, Nicolas Rodriquez C'04 and Jasmine Pérez NU'08, GNU'10 
Not Pictured: Dr. Patricia Martín, M'85 and Dr. Juan Luis Ferrer, C'78, V'82

¡Bienvenidos!
Welcome to the Association of Latino Alumni (ALA). ALA has just completed a sixteen-month long strategic planning process (phew!) and we are proud to announce a new and improved organization. One of our many new features is a newsletter that will go out to all Latino Alumni of the University. Our goal with this newsletter is to keep you updated on what's happening at Penn and what your fellow alumni are doing throughout the world. We will also regularly share stories that are relevant to our diverse Latino community and welcome more contributions from you!

There are thousands of Latino Penn alumni scattered around the world and we hope to reach as many as we can. Please join us in our efforts to connect our alumni community by spreading the word, updating your contact information on QuakerNet and, of course, telling us about you here for our Alumni Spotlight features.

Mil Gracias,
The Association of Latino Alumni Board of Directors

ALA CALL FOR BOARD MEMBERS!
ALA is looking for candidates for its Board of Directors, and here is the reason why: In its second decade, we have charted an ambitious course, propelled by a two-year Strategic Planning Review and a new mission. We are the global network of Penn Latino alumni. We believe that diversity and inclusion demand participation. By actively engaging our members in issues that will improve opportunities for alumni and advance the recruitment and retention of Latino students, faculty and staff, ALA strives to make the University of Pennsylvania a leading institution for Latinos in the United States and abroad, thus enriching the University community as a whole.

We already actively engage Latino undergraduates at Penn, believing that if we help them enjoy happy and satisfying experiences as students, we will ensure that they become interested and committed alumni. Besides sponsoring two Endowed Scholarships that helped two undergraduates in 2010-11 with $8,735 each, ALA has started an Emergency Fund to prevent students from leaving Penn due to an unexpected financial emergency. And we work closely with La Casa Latina, the Center for Hispanic Excellence, including holding ALA Office Hours, when board members and other alumni visit to talk with and advise students on a wide range of issues.

We have also begun to engage fellow alumni nationally, through regional chapters and activities. In the fall of 2009, we started the South Florida Chapter and now we are using it as a blueprint to launch new chapters elsewhere in country. In January, we organized a docent-led private tour of “Nueva York 1613-1945,” the celebrated New-York Historical Society exhibition about the Latino legacy in New York City staged with the collaboration of El Museo del Barrio.

But all this is only the start at a university that under President Amy Gutmann has fully embraced diversity and will for the first time this fall have a freshman class that is more than 50% of color. If you are thinking that it’s time to give back to Penn, and are willing to help ALA take the next steps as an active, engaged and successful alumni group, we can use el apoyo. Penn may never become a Latino university, but we certainly can make it a university that Latinos are proud of.

Our nine-member Board of Directors has currently two vacancies. Please send a letter or note explaining your interest in joining the board along with a resume to Clemson Smith Muñiz C ’79, President, Association of Latino Alumni at smithmuniz@optonline.net. Please include in the subject heading: ALA Board of Directors. We look forward to meeting you.