I am the son of Luis Urrieta and Elodia Ramos, arrivants to the Indigenous lands del norte (i.e., U.S.) from the pueblo of San Miguel Nocutzepo, Michoacán, México. My parents, along with my community, have deeply influenced my professional, academic and community work in education. This work has been dedicated to raising awareness and valuing the diversity of Latinx family and community knowledges, including Indigenous and Afro-Latinx ways of knowing and being. I have focused my energies on the importance of nourishing and supporting strong ethno-racial and linguistic identities in Latinx children and youth, while promoting and creating the conditions for high academic achievement.

My service has primarily centered on mentoring, teaching and cultivating leadership in Latinx communities. Through critical pedagogy and extensive family and community involvement, many of my students have become personally and academically successful and adept at navigating the higher education system. This is not due to me but to larger collaborative efforts between students, teachers, family and communities that I’ve been fortunate to be a part of. Being part of various communities has always been a fundamental source of nourishment for me and my work.

My involvement with the American Association for Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) has been based on such efforts to seek out spaces for collaborative community building. [Editor’s Note: AAHHE’s Latino/a Graduate Fellows Program encourages community among Hispanics within academia by giving Hispanic doctoral studies students the opportunity to attend AAHHE’s national conference where they can find general guidance and mentors within the Hispanic community.] My relationship with AAHHE began when it was still perhaps an idea or aspiration that existed within the elders who then formed part of the Hispanic Caucus of the now defunct American Association for Higher Education. I was first selected as a graduate student fellow in 2002, while a Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The following year, I became the incoming chair of the Graduate Student Fellows Program, working with Leticia Oseguera as chair. I became the chair in 2004, with Stella Flores as incoming chair. In 2005, I witnessed the creation of AAHHE and have been involved with the organization in various capacities since, including as a faculty fellow. From 2014 to 2017, I had the honor of serving as co-chair of the Faculty Fellows Program with Rebeca Burciaga; my most rewarding years in AAHHE and as a faculty member. Working with Latinx faculty at the early stages of the tenure track was rewarding in many professional ways, but most importantly in spiritual and emotional ways as we collaboratively and collectively challenged and healed from the many enduring myths and roadblocks that exist for Latinx faculty in the majority main stream academy.  [Editor’s Note: In addition, AAHHE has developed the Junior Faculty Fellows Program, which provides sponsorship for junior faculty to attend AAHHE’s national conference.]

Overall, it has been a true honor to grow alongside AAHHE for the past 16 years. Service to communities is an indispensable part of a daily struggle. When there are communities in need and for which we share a commitment to, then service, advocacy and activism make sense. With its challenges, rewards and growing pains, service to AAHHE for me has meant contributing to a larger mission for social justice and educational equity.  •