TAMIU Latino Leadership Initiative Ends Friday

This week, a select group of 36 students from across the nation traveled to Laredo for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI), hosted by Texas A&M International University (TAMIU).  The LLI ends Friday.

Launched in 2010, the Latino Leadership Initiative is sponsored by the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at the Harvard Kennedy School. It is a weeklong program that prepares rising college seniors for the opportunities and challenges they will face in the coming decades.

The eight participating Initiative schools were Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles); University of California, Merced; TAMIU; the University of Houston; the University of Massachusetts–Boston; The University of Texas–Pan American; West Texas A&M University and Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México.

Students were all chosen through a competitive and highly selective application process.

The LLI curriculum included classes on public narrative, community organizing, negotiation, moral leadership, emotional intelligence and critical thinking, networking, and public speaking. LLI participants will also have opportunities to build relationships with respected Latino mentors from government, non-profit, and business sectors.

Organizers and guest lecturers included George P. Bush, attorney, Houston; Kaleb Canales, assistant coach, Dallas Mavericks; Marshall Ganz, Harvard senior lecturer in Public Policy, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations; Cristina Diaz, Senator, México; Mark Menaldo, TAMIU assistant professor, international and American politics, and Renato Ramirez, chairman of the Board, International Bank of Commerce-Zapata.

Also, Miguel Angel Isidro Rodríguez, Consul General, México; Allison Shapira, president, Global Public Speak; Al Silva, chief operating officer and general manager, Labatt Food Service, Inc.; Judith Zaffirini, State Senator, Texas; Andy Zelleke, senior lecturer, Harvard Business School and David Zimov, Consul General, USA.

TAMIU was the  lead partner in this, the fifth offering of the Latino Leadership Initiative. This is the first time the Initiative has been held off campus from Harvard’s Kennedy School.

For additional information, contact the TAMIU Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services, 956.3265.2180, email prmis@tamiu.edu or visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu