San Antonio for AAHHE!

I recently attended a meeting in San Antonio -- the American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education. About 9 months ago I submitted three proposals for this conference, thinking that at least one would be accepted for presentation. Well, all THREE were accepted! So, I went with my colleague Jose Giraldo - a super professor of mathematics and statistics- and four of our students came to present work we do in a National Science Foundation funded peer mentoring program. These students are  undergraduate majors in math and science, and they are beyond wonderful --- I am so proud of them and the work that they do. We had a blast!

Brian, Nesreen, Kelsey and Shaun. Mark my words -- you will be seeing much productivity and success from the careers of these future professors/doctors/inventors/leaders.

Jose and I going over some technical details.

The interview panel of mentors. 

Taaa -daaaa!!

At the Rain Forest Cafe. I didn't accompany them (I had separate dinner plans) but Nesreen  borrowed my camera for the remainder of the evening. Now I know what they were up to!

The next day - a new presentation, and they were wonderful. It was an awesome trip, caught up with many friends and made some new ones. But the best part was spending time with these wonderful young people. There is a LOT of bad news in higher education these days. No money, no funding, no jobs, no....hope. It is not a good time to be an educator - from kindergarten to 16th grade, the news is dismal and in some cases, catastrophic. But when I talk to these young students and the doctoral fellows at AAHHE, I hear good ideas, positive thoughts, and ones that involve education for all - not just the privileged. They restore my faith in our future and re-instill that fervent, burning  desire to work hard and make a difference. Thank you!!!