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Student Organizations |
Casa Writers for Freedom: A Movement toward Freedom of Expression in Cuba. Freedom Writers serves the purpose of educating the UVA community of current Cuban events and conducting letter writing campaigns to advocates of freedom of expression in Cuba. Freedom Writers participates, and encourages others to participate, in the greater international effort to promote human rights in Cuba with a specific goal of promoting freedom of expression. Though primarily existing as a letter writing campaign, Freedom Writers participates in other activities that work toward this goal. For more information, contact Antonino DiMaggio, President, agd3h@virginia.edu. La Alianza Coalition of Hispanic/Latino Leaders is a working group that brings together leaders of the diverse Hispanic/Latino and Latin American student organizations. The goal is to facilitate communication and exchange of ideas among the various organizations, to coordinate scheduling of events and activities, and to collaborate on worthy projects (such as Hispanic Heritage Month and Latino Awareness Week). For more information, contact Carla Zeballos, Chair, crz5d@virginia.edu. La Casa Bolivar (Spanish House) a language/culture immersion residence hall affiliated with the Spanish Department and closely linked to the Hispanic/Latino student community. Through its name, La Casa Bolivar honors UVA's first Latin American student, Fernando Bolivar, nephew of patriot Simon Bolivar. For more information, contact Stephanie Kang, Resident Assistant, hyk6h@virginia.edu. La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Inc. is a fraternal service organization aimed at uniting men in brotherhood in order to serve the Latino community. It stresses diverse membership, drive for academic excellence, and commitment to raising awareness about Latino culture and history as its core values. For more information, contact Patrick Martinez, President, pam7x@virginia.edu. Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. (LTA) is the first and largest Latina-based Sorority in existence. The Gamma Alpha Chapter at UVA seeks scholarly excellence, minority unity, cultural/political awareness, and excellence in community service and educational programs. Non-exclusive, LTA Sisters represent a diverse mix of race, religion, and creed. For more information, contact Vanessa Arancibia, President, vra2y@virginia.edu. Latin American Law Organization (LALO) is an all-inclusive student group devoted to increasing awareness of legal issues facing Latinos and Latin America. The group works to increase Latino representation at the Law School, augments the exploration of Hispanic-related issues in the law, and provides cultural and social programming that is of interest to the Law School community. For more information, contact Allissa Pollard, President, aap3b@virginia.edu. Latin American Student Association (LASA) at Darden is committed to providing students of Latin descent and others with interests in Latin American cultures within the Darden community with a forum to pursue cultural, professional, and social activities and opportunities. For more information, contact Gerardo Portela, President, PortelaG08@darden.virginia.edu. Hispanic/Latino Peer Mentor Program (PMP) assists Hispanic/Latino and Latin American first-year and entering transfer students with their college transition by providing one-on-one guidance through the use of peer mentors. In addition, the PMP offers a wide range of academic, social and career development programs designed to support each student's transition to college and to help create a strong sense of community. Our core purpose is to guide and support LHA students and to enrich their experience at UVA. We provide a base of support by uniting LHA students among themselves to support their integration into the UVA community at large. For more information, contact Alex Torres, Chair, avt6g@virginia.edu. Latino Student Union (LSU) is devoted to building Latino student unity and community as well as educating the wider community at the University of Virginia. Interested students of any and all backgrounds are welcome to join LSU. For more information, contact Carolina Ferrerosa, President, cf4k@virginia.edu. National Network of Latin American Medical Students (NNLAMS-UVA) is devoted to meeting the unique educational and social needs of Latin American medical students. This includes efforts to foster student-faculty interaction, conducting community service, organizing health outreach to the surrounding Latino communities, and increasing communication among Latin American medical students at the University of Virginia. NNLAMS incorporates itself into the School of Medicine by collaborating with other medical student associations, promoting the recruitment and retention of Latino medical students and educating medical students on Latino health issues. Further, NNLAMS offers a forum through which students can voice their concerns about issues pertinent to the Latino medical community. For more information, contact Kira Mayo, President, kmayo@virginia.edu. Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) is a nation-wide organization which promotes advancement of Hispanics in engineering, science, and education. As part of our work with the University, we develop study groups, participate in programs that would benefit students seeking leadership and professional careers, assist in locating and providing scholarships, attend national and regional conferences to introduce members to Corporate America, all with the goal of supporting and enhancing the Hispanic student's educational goals. For more information, contact Valerie Acre, President, vna2n@virginia.edu. SUR Magazine is a bilingual, student-run publication which explores current Latin American social and political issues to find points of convergence that promote cross-cultural understanding. For more information, contact Editor Elio Jordan, ej2p@virginia.edu Towards A Better Latin America (TBLA) is an organization that works throughout the year to collect funds for one or two specific projects chosen at the beginning of each year by its members. Founded in 2002, we have worked on different projects in countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, Cuba and Nicaragua. In the academic year of 2006-2007, we sponsored three small projects; we worked with Patch Adams to help build his clinic in El Salvador, fundraised for two Cuban artists to help buy supplies and a computer, and we built a playground and bought sewing machines for a group of ladies in Nicaragua. The University Salsa Club promotes Latin culture through different forms of dance. A western-style Salsa and Cuban-style Rueda are primarily taught. Meetings are typically a weekly two-hour practice. Parties and socials are sponsored during the semester to encourage interaction. For more information, contact Ricardo Perez, President, rjp3a@virginia.edu. |
