February 20, 2020 | UHCL Staff
University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Associate Vice President for Strategic Information Initiatives and Technology Evelyn Miralles was invited to attend the second National Hispanic Leadership Summit at the United Nations in New York in December. The conference was the culmination of We Are All Human Foundation’s yearlong agenda of regional summits and international events to discuss the action plan for Vision 2020: education, financial empowerment and perception change.
Miralles was accompanied by interim Director of Student Involvement and Leadership Patrick Cardenas and Assistant Director of Human Resources Operations Erika DeLeon.
“The summit’s agenda was to gather Hispanic leaders from all fields, from all over the country to discuss main educational goals for the Hispanic community, which is the largest growing cohort in the country,” said Miralles. “Throughout the year, all the meetings organized by We Are Human have had explored ways to improve education, political representation and economic opportunity for Hispanics in our communities.”
Since UH-Clear Lake is a designated Hispanic Serving Institution, with a Hispanic student population of 39%, Miralles said it was especially important to understand the challenges facing this segment of the university’s population at the ground level. “Since we are an HSI, our presence there was very important. I signed a symbolic agreement stating we would use our influence to bring opportunities and enhance the level of education we can provide for that demographic,” she said.
Miralles also said the agreement signified that she would leverage her network and bring leaders like Cardenas and DeLeon to help them understand how best to support We Are All Human’s agenda at the university level.
“It was an honor to represent UHCL at this summit,” said Cardenas. “By signing the Hispanic Promise, UHCL is demonstrating its commitment to providing new and exciting educational opportunities to our Hispanic students, which further advances our HSI designation.”
DeLeon said, “Receiving a higher education is a life-changing experience and is a way for our students to take advantage of advanced opportunities. The We Are All Human Foundation is working to advance the equity, diversity and inclusion, and collaborating with them was an exciting experience.”
“I was there to listen to the challenges and also provide my insight into the need for more meaningful partnerships with academia,” Miralles said. “Training is key for the growth of Hispanic students, and we need paid partnerships because our students come from backgrounds where they need more than one job,” she said. “The world’s great innovation happens here in the U.S. We have to make sure that continues by offering strong STEM education, which will make us more powerful and better prepared for the future.”
