Latinos in Leadership

Bauer College Associate Director of Student Engagement Jorge Arellano (BBA ‘14, M.Ed. ‘25) represents a large group of engaged staff who are taking on leadership roles in professional organizations, participating in the latest cohort of the Aspiring Latino Leaders Fellowship.

Throughout the school year, Arellano is a critical part of the HUB for Student Success’ operations, overseeing all business student organizations and leading the Bauer Ambassadors program. After bonding over a joint passion of uplifting students with one of the fellowship directors, Arellano was inspired to apply for the program.

Following his acceptance, he looks forward to gaining professional skills that will assist in promoting student success. We recently chatted with him to learn more, where he shared his experience in the fellowship so far, and what makes the program so special.

What is the Aspiring Latino Leaders Fellowship?

The fellowship is designed to work with different key stakeholders, from politicians to educators. The idea is for anyone in charge of working with students to focus on student success, especially within the Latinx community. Some examples of what we go over are working with AI, which we just did a workshop on, and learning what our barriers are. We also tailor stories to make sure our messaging is clear, concise and to the point.

What's something that you hope to gain from the fellowship that you would want to bring back with you to Bauer?

The workshops have been enriching in regard to style and the way they are conducted. The structure is one of the key things that I would like to bring back. Also, we're a Hispanic serving institution, so serving our students better starts by understanding how our backgrounds, voices and stories can help inspire the next generation of students.

What type of perspective or experience do you think you bring to the fellowship?

In my previous role, I was working in recruitment and advising, and we partnered with middle school programs. In the Stars of Tomorrow Excellence Program, we would work with sixth graders in Houston and follow them all the way to their college career, promoting college success.

We taught them that college is attainable, achievable and doable, and helped them navigate through the process. Some of that was helping their parents fill out the FAFSA and talking through their multiple college offers.

Think of it as a college counselor, but in a different setting. If they came to UH, we would be an additional support on top of the many supports that the university offers.

Houston is home to a large Latino community. How do you seek to foster the growth of learning and career opportunities for Latino students at Bauer?

It starts with getting involved and being a familiar face. Recently, I had a student say, “you're the first Latino person I met on campus,” and they remembered me by name. They met me at orientation and said, “I connected with you because you were from Pasadena, and I'm from Pasadena.” Knowing that I'm helping students really prosper and push through their college journey is the reason why I do what I do.

What does it mean to you to be a Latino leader?

A Latino leader is to be authentic in my core values and my culture. I'm not just representing myself. I also represent my parents, my grandparents and my family who came to this country. I have not just myself, but the culture and language itself. It’s important to always be true to yourself because those are your core values.