Board
The Virginia Latino Higher Education Network (VALHEN) is an organization designed to serve as a networking structure for individuals in colleges, universities, and the community-at-large, to communicate, advocate, organize, research, and identify resources which support and work towards the success of Latinos in higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
VALHEN Board-in alpha order:
Tania B. Alvarez is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and a certified Master Advisor at Old Dominion University (ODU). She works as a First Year Advisor in the College of Engineering and Technology at ODU, and serves as secretary of the Hispanic and Latino Employee Association (HLEA) and co-advisor for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). She is also member of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), Old Dominion Advising Network (ODAN), and the Association of University Administrators (AUA). Ms. Alvarez has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Denison University, and a master’s degree in Counseling from Regent University.
Marcela Chaván-Matviuk, Ph.D. serves as director for the Center for Latino Leadership at Regent University. She has extensive experience in higher education, ethics, entrepreneurship, mass media, community and faith based organizations. Her topics of research include the testimonial communication, the impact of leadership training centered on values, women’s leadership and the experience of Latino students in Christian higher education. She has a Ph.D. in Intercultural and International Communication, and master’s degree in Counseling and Social Communication.
Christopher N. Doval, J.D., M.S. is an Assistant Professor at Virginia State University’s School of Business, where he has developed the undergraduate curriculum focusing on areas of ethics, legal studies and intellectual property as they pertain to digital and business environments. His research interests include patent and market research on inventions of university professors, and the civil and property rights of people with disabilities. Prior to joining VSU, Mr. Doval worked at Syracuse University’s Office of Transfer and Industrial Development, the Burton Blatt Institute in Washington, DC, and the Institute for Urban Family Health in New York.
Mr. Doval holds a Law Degree and a Master of Science in Telecommunications, Security and Network Management from Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Virginia Commonwealth University. He was awarded the Student Senate Distinguished Service Award at Syracuse University and serves as a technical advisor for the Impunity Watch Law Journal. He has been a volunteer with the Autism Society of America since 1993.
Juan P. Espinoza (Treasurer) joined Virginia Tech in 2007 and currently serves as Senior Assistant Director of Admissions and oversees several diversity programs at the University. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he was an Assistant Director of Admissions at Radford University from 2004 to 2007. Juan has more than seven years of experience in the admissions profession and strives to reach all underserved populations.
Mirta M. Martin (Vice-President) serves as the Dean of the Reginald F. Lewis School of Business at Virginia State University (VSU). Prior to joining VSU, Dr. Martin served as Special Assistant to the Chancellor for the Virginia Community College System, and also as the Executive Vice President of the John Tyler Community Foundation, where she provided leadership in building an effective development and outreach program. She received her Baccalaureate from Duke University, with a triple major in Political Science, Psychology, and French. She has an MBA from the University of Richmond and a Ph.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University with a concentration in Strategic Management and Leadership.
Previously, she directed executive education and workforce activities at the University of Richmond, Robins School of Business. She also has over fourteen years experience as a tenured faculty member and administrator. Dr. Martin started her career in the banking industry, serving in her last position as Senior Vice President for First Union Bank.
Erin McGrath is a Regional Resource Manager for the Federal GEAR UP grant administered through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). Erin McGrath, after moving to Richmond, Virginia in 2007, she taught Spanish for Henrico County Public Schools. Previously, while in Chicago, she taught ESL, Spanish and Bilingual Education in the Chicago Public School System for seven years. She was also the Program Manager and East Coast Director for Workforce Language Services, a language and culture consulting company and translation agency, based in Chicago, IL.
Ms. McGrath holds a M. Ed. in curriculum and Instruction from Loyola University Chicago and a BA in International Studies from American University in Washington, DC. She serves on the leadership team for Colaborando Juntos, an organization that provides a platform for service providers and agencies that work with the Latino Community in Central Virginia. She is responsible for VALHEN’s publicity and communications efforts.
María Nieto-Shahsavarian (Board Member) holds a dual appointment as an Outreach/Development Specialist for the Pathway to the Baccalaureate Program and as a Spanish Instructor for the Department of Languages and Literature at Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC). She holds a Master of Arts in Foreign Language and a B.A. in Government and International Politics.
She has over 20 years of experience at NVCC, where she has served in various capacities on three of the college’s campuses, including Program Manager and Medical interpreter (Spanish/English) at the Medical Campus. Ms. Nieto-Shahsavarian is a native Peruvian, with extensive multicultural and global experience.
Aida Pacheco works for the Virginia Community College System, Workforce Development Services, providing strategic leadership and policy direction as staff to the Virginia Workforce Council. She has extensive experience in program development and management, technical assistance and consultation, networking and building collaborative partnerships, and community organizing and planning.
Ms. Pacheco was influential in establishing the first Hispanic human service agency in Mercer County NJ, known as MECHA. In Virginia, she was one of six Latinos working in the Governor’s Office from 2006-2008 assisting the Senior Advisor to the Governor for Workforce to reform the Commonwealth’s Workforce Development System. She is a board member for the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Aida Pacheco was born in NYC and raised in NJ. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Sociology, a teacher certification for secondary education, and a program certificate in Latin American Studies.
Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones (Board Member) is Associate Dean in Residence and Director of the Office for Diversity Programs at the Graduate School, an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, and a member of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. Pérez-Quiñones holds a D. Sc. in Computer Science from The George Washington University. His research interests include human-computer interaction, personal information management, user interface software, digital government, and educational uses of computers.
Dr. Pérez-Quiñones is the chair of the Coalition to Diversify Computing (2010-2011), and has been a member since 2006; he co-directed the national program Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates in Computer Science and Engineering. He serves on the editorial board for the ACM Transaction on Computing Education. For 2008-2010 has been included in the IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Visitor program.
Maricel Quintana-Baker (President) is currently a principal at MQB-Consulting, where she specializes in research, writing, and training on higher education policy and Latino and women issues. Previously she served as Associate Director for Academic Affairs and Planning at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), where her duties included Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Awards, the Agency's Statewide Strategic Plan, and research and writing on higher education policy. She is a member of the National Advisory Board for the Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities' Higher Education Research Collective (H3ERC).
Dr. Quintana-Baker currently holds a gubernatorial appointment to the Virginia Council on the Status of Women. She was also appointed by Governor Warner to the Virginia Latino Advisory Board, where she served for five years. She is a founding member of the Central Virginia Chapter of LULAC (League of Latin American Citizens) and recently completed a term of service with the Executive Board of The Women's Network, the state affiliate of the American Council on Education's Office of Women in Higher Education.
She held an Oakridge Institute for Science and Education Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the National Science Foundation's Division of Education and Human Resource Development. She holds a Ph.D. from American University, and is a graduate of the Management Development Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and of Leadership Metro Richmond.
Maureen G. Shanahan, J.D., Ph.D. is associate director of the Honors Program and associate professor of art history in the School of Art and Art History at James Madison University. She has served on the university’s College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Diversity Council and has supported the university’s mission on diversity by collaborating with the Center for Multicultural Student Services to bring nationally-recognized scholars to campus. She has also been a successful fundraiser for the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, the Sate University of New York, Oswego’s Women’s Studies Program, James Madison University’s Honors Program, and the Women’s Caucus for Art. Her academic interests focus on issues of race and national identity as well as gender and sexuality in modern art, including research into representations of Simón Bolívar.
Emily Sumner, Esq. (Community Representative) is an immigration attorney at Challa Law Offices in Richmond, with a focus in university immigration. She speaks Spanish, having lived in Salamanca, Spain, and regularly advises clients on complex immigration matters in their native Spanish.
Ms. Sumner is also co-chair of the Immigrant Outreach Committee, a division of the Virginia State Bar, dedicated to educating other lawyers on legal issues relevant to the immigrant community.
VALHEN Alumni Board-in alpha order:
Sindy Benavides, M.S. Ms. Benavides has served as the Democratic National Committee Director for Community Outreach and Voting since summer 2009. Prior to that, she held joint appointments as Latino Liaison to Virginia’s Governor Timothy Kaine and Director of Appointments for the Secretary of the Commonwealth. As Latino Liaison, she worked closely with Latino leaders and organizations serving the Latino community throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Ms. Benavides is a graduate of the National Hispana Leadership Institute’s Executive Leadership Program and the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute. In addition, she served as Founder and President of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council 4611 (Richmond). Ms. Benavides served as the Student Representative while she was a part-time graduate student at American University, where she received her Masters in Public Administration. She believes that giving back to the community through public service is an investment in our future.
Carlos Campo, Ph.D. On October 28th, 2010, Dr. Carlos Campo was inaugurated as the 8th President of Regent University in Virginia Beach, after serving as the Chief Academic Officer and Vice President of Academic Affairs since 2008. Dr. Campo's career progression includes more than 20 years in education. After teaching English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) for ten years, he joined the College of Southern Nevada (CSN) in 1998 as an English professor. Dr. Campo advanced to dean of arts and letters in 2005, then to director of academic partnerships, and finally to interim vice president of academic affairs before accepting his current position with Regent.
In 2007, Dr. Campo was recognized as Outstanding Educator by the Clark County (Nevada) Commission, Educator of the Year by the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce and was given the Champion of Education Award by the National Latin Business Association. In 1993, the UNLV Foundation honored his dissertation, Friendship in Arthur Miller, as the Dissertation of the Year. Dr. Campo is an active member of the Arthur Miller Society; he hosted their 11th annual conference in Las Vegas in 2006. He was a founding Board member of VALHEN, serving as Treasurer during his tenure with the organization.
Elin Cortijo-Doval, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in Management at the Reginald F. Lewis School of Business at Virginia State University in Petersburg. She is a national and international consultant in the areas of education, behavior intervention, transition, leadership, empowerment, and advocacy for people with disabilities and their families and an expert on Self-Determination, Transition, Universal Design, Person-Centered Practices and Autism. She has coauthored chapters in two text books: “The Good Behavior Game” in Offentlichen Schulen Anwendungsmöglichkeiten und Chancen (Hillenbrand, C. & Pütz, K. Hrsg.2008) and “Applications for youth with autism spectrum disorders” in Life beyond the classroom: Transition strategies for young people with disabilities (P. Wehman,Ed., 4th edition, 2006).She has served on the Virginia Latino Advisory Board and is a member of the Virginia Autism Council.
Dr. Cortijo-Doval holds a doctorate in Special Education and Disability Policy and a Masters of Education from the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. She also holds a mediation certification from the Center for Mediation Key Bridge Foundation, Washington, D.C., and is a graduate from the Leadership Metro Richmond and Partners in Policy Program of Virginia.
Judy Mejia (Secretary) Ms. Mejia is the Associate Director of Civic Engagement and Social Justice at Eugene Lang College New School for Liberal Arts in New York City, responsible for implementing sponsored initiatives that promote community-engaged scholarship and teaching among faculty and students while involving and benefiting communities. Prior to that, she was the Program Manager for the Richmond Families Initiative at the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement of the University of Richmond.
She earned a B.A. with honors in Communication with minors in Latin American Studies and Business Management from George Mason University, Fairfax Campus. She also holds an M.A. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Education, Teachers College, in Education Policy.
A Richmond native, Mejia worked for five years in education policy and research for the New York State Education Department and for the New York City Council Education Committee. In New York, she managed university-community partnerships in the Bronx and Harlem for both the City University of New York’s Lehman College and Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Sylvia Rosa-Casanova (Treasurer) is the Compliance Manager for the private and Out-of-State- Postsecondary Education unit of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). She earned a B.A. with honors in English from Mercy College and a M.A. in Writing from Manhattanville College. A native of New York, she was director of the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) at Manhattanville College- a program serving economically disadvantaged and academically underprepared students. Prior to relocating to Virginia in 2007, she held the position of Research Compliance Manager at Columbia University.
A published author, her children’s book Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice, a Reading Rainbow selection published in 1997, relates the story of a Puerto Rican grandmother and the multi-ethnic feast she collects on the way to visit her granddaughter. She was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul.