SOMOS JMU Latinx Conference

The inaugural “SOMOS JMU Latinx Conference: Collaborations Across the Commonwealth” (October 2022), directed by our own Assistant Dean, Karina Kline-Gabel, headlined with a conversation between Dean Robert Aguirre and Latina activist and civil-rights icon, Dolores Huerta. She highlighted the importance of collaboration and civic engagement – hearing all voices, voting, and then holding leaders accountable.

Current student Eve Wilkie (‘25), who attended with her classmates, said, “The SOMOS conference with keynote speaker Dolores Huerta was a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity and truly a day I will never forget. Hearing and seeing the passion within Huerta vividly illustrated the themes we touched on in class.”

Programmed by the College of Arts and Letters and the Madison Hispanic Caucus, the event gathered more than 300 JMU students, faculty and administrators, Latinx community members, and state and local leaders to explore issues facing the Latinx community.

Presenters included special guests Delegate Alfonso López, Delegate Elizabeth Guzmán, and Dr. Irma Becerra, President of Marymount University, the only Hispanic-serving Institution in Virginia. The Madison Collection also displayed artifacts from its Mesoamerican and Latin American collection.