METAS Mentoring
Pairing first-year and transfer students with mentors who know the road, so no one has to navigate a first semester alone.
DeKalb, Illinois
Luis Santos-Rivas,M.A.
Educator · Author · Director, Latino Resource Center, Northern Illinois University
“Helping students find home, and their place in the world.”
About
Luis Santos-Rivas is Dominican-American, and both halves of that word do real work in his life. He grew up between two languages, and he never learned to think of that as a problem to be solved. Spanish is the language of his family and his island; English is the language of the campus he walks every morning. He moves easily between them, and he has spent a career making sure students never feel they have to pick one.
For roughly a decade he has directed the Latino Resource Center at Northern Illinois University, where his job description could be summarized in three verbs: recruit, retain, graduate. But the version he actually lives is warmer than that. He knows names. He knows which student is the first in the family to go to college, which one is quietly working two jobs, which one needs someone to say you belong here before they will believe it.
In 2011 he became an author, publishing a bilingual children's book so that kids could learn colors, notes, and days of the week in two languages at once. It is the same instinct as the rest of his work: build a place where more than one part of a child can be at home.
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Leadership at NIU
Home Away from Home
The Latino Resource Center is the cultural and academic home for Latina/o/x students at Northern Illinois University. Luis states the mission plainly: attract the best Latino students to NIU, support them all the way through graduation, and help them use what they learned to make a difference in the world.
Adela de la Torre Latino Honor Society
Recognizing Latina/o/x students whose academic work deserves to be named, celebrated, and carried forward.
Cultural Programming & Latino Heritage Month
A calendar of gatherings, performances, and conversations that keep culture present on campus all year long.
De Mujer a Mujer
Latina student leadership built woman to woman — mentorship, dialogue, and space to lead out loud.
Toward HSI Designation
Working alongside the university on the path to Hispanic-Serving Institution designation and the support it unlocks.
25 Years of the LRC Building
The Latino Resource Center building opened in 1999. In 2024 the community gathered to mark its 25th anniversary.
“Our goal is to attract the best Latino students to NIU, to support them through graduation, and to help them use what they have learned to make a difference.”
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The Book · 2011
Chasing a RainbowPersiguiendo un Arcoíris
- Published:
- 2011
- Length:
- 32 pages
- Languages:
- English & Spanish
On a rainy spring day, Larry and his family discover how a rainbow is made. Along the way they learn the colors of the spectrum, the notes of the musical scale, and the days of the week — every page in both English and Spanish.
Illustrated by Pam Israelson. Edited by Provi Rivas De Tosellet.
A father writing so children can hold two languages and one sky at the same time.
Impact
The measure of this work is rarely a number. It is three things, repeated year after year.
Belonging
A student who feels at home stays. The center exists so that no one has to choose between who they are and where they study.
Persistence
Recruitment is only the beginning. The work is walking with students all the way to the degree, and past it.
Bilingual Pride
Two languages are not a division to be resolved. They are two doors into the same sky.
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Gracias por visitar
For speaking invitations, questions about the Latino Resource Center, or a note about the book, a message is always welcome.
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