Meet the Staff

Carina Olaru
Director, Latino Cultural Center & Director, Student Advocacy and Education
Join the Team!
We are hiring an Assistant Director.
Reporting to and working collaboratively with the Director of the Latino Cultural Center (LCC), the Assistant Director (AD) provides administrative leadership in the areas of student success, program management and operations at the Latino Cultural Center. The Assistant Director supports the Director in implementation and assessment of diversity initiatives that support diverse Latinx communities, as well s creates cultural understanding of Latinx and Latin American communities for stakeholders. In this role, the AD works with internal and external constituencies on diversity initiatives and implementation. The AD develops, leads and facilitates educational opportunities that reach students, staff, faculty, administrators and stakeholders. The AD leads the management and analyses of data, compiles annual reports, and builds presentations and reports. They have shared oversight of Center branding, marketing, and external communications. Must stay abreast of national trends in student success and issues facing Latinx communities.
The Senior Diversity administrator serves as the Assistant Director of the Latino Cultural Center (LCC). In this role, the Assistant Director works collaboratively with the Director to raise the visibility, improve operations, manage projects and increase Latinx students' retention and graduation. Responsibilities include developing yearlong cultural and educationally transformative programming, and designing student success programming focused on college knowledge and academic and professional development. Moreover, the AD is responsible for assessment and analysis of data related to programming and Latinx student enrollment, retention and graduation rates, and staying up to date on current rends affecting Latino/a/x in higher education.
The Assistant Director is effective at solving complex problems and uses data-driven knowledge to close gaps in initiatives that enhance Latinx student experience and impacts recruitment and retention, and create a more inclusive and diverse campus. In this role, the Senior Diversity Administrator fosters relationships across campus and off campus, designs educational, cultural and student success programming aimed at maximizing student potential, and takes a leadership role and serves as a stand-in for the Director when they are unavailable, and helps to manage operations of the LCC.
Responsibilities:
- Develop, implement and assess educationally transformative programs that result in cultural awareness and appreciation for diversity and cross-cultural engagement centering on Latin American and Latinx cultures. Design, implement and assess retention programming with a strong focus on enhancing the Latinx student experience. Develop data-informed strategies to meet dynamic needs of diverse Latinx student populations.
- Manage collaborations with campus partners such as admissions, counseling and psychological services, writing lab, and student activities and organizations to maintain and expand network that enhances engagement and supports success of diverse student population and development via the LCC. Lead and meet with the Latinx Student Council comprised of approximately 20 student organizations and create opportunities for learning, leadership, cultural awareness and professional development.
- Collect, maintain and manage quantitative and qualitative data, and use to assess participant satisfaction, effectiveness in addressing/teaching learning outcomes, attendance, marketing effectiveness, and participant demographics. Carefully analyze participant submissions and evaluates overall participant satisfaction, effectiveness of event, and overall marketing impact by identifying overarching themes. Create reports and presentations identifying statistical and qualitative results, trends, and suggested changes based on results.
- Shared management of the LCC brand identity, along with external communications and public relations following Purdue University branding. Train student employees in LucidPress or university approved branding and marketing strategies in print and digital platforms.
- Expand outreach efforts to maximize recruitment and retention of diverse Latinx communities. Develop and implement campus and community opportunities and initiatives that reach students, staff, faculty, administrators and local and state-level organizations. Maintain and expand ties with off-campus partners; and represent the LCC at state and national-level opportunities such as the Indiana Latino Expo and the Indiana Latino Institute Higher Education Summit, USHLI and HACU.
- Assist with development initiatives including Purdue Day of Giving. Develop projected budgets for programs and present them to Director for approval. Maintain records of past programming, budgets, assessments, volunteers.
Apply at https://careers.purdue.edu/
Requisition ID: 25353

Guillermo Morgado Rodriguez(he/him/his), joined the Latino Cultural Center (LCC) in January 2023 as the senior administrative assistant. Prior to joining the LCC, Guillermo worked for the Office of Recruitment, Retention and Diversity in Purdue Polytechnic for seven years. Guillermo brings experience in working with undergraduate students to maximize their full potential and serves as the supervisor for the LCC's undergraduate student employees.
In 2018 and in 2022, Guillermo received the Purdue University Bravo Award for Operational Excellence, showing extraordinary efforts during times of critical department need exceeding expected or required performance.
Guillermo is a licensed esthetician and truly enjoys make up! He also enjoys dancing, the outdoors, and healthy food options! He is always willing to lend a helping hand and can’t help but spread his positive attitude. While working at Purdue, he has helped many students and staff reach their potential and increases positivity wherever he goes. He is truly one of a kind.

René Zúñiga-Argüello
Graduate Assistant
ezunigaa@purdue.edu
René Zúñiga-Argüello is a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics who joined the LCC as a graduate assistant in August of 2022. René comes from Costa Rica where he grew up in Santo Domingo de Heredia, a beautiful town near the capital city of the country. There, René did his Bachelor’s degree in English Teaching at Universidad Nacional (UNA), and his Master’s in Linguistics at Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR). He and his family moved to West Lafayette in 2017 to start his PhD at Purdue.
Before moving to Indiana, he had been a researcher and Linguistics lecturer at UNA and UCR for almost a decade. During this time, he did research on creole languages spoken in the Caribbean coast of Central America, specifically Limonese Creole. He collaborated with the speaking communities to revitalize and empower the language through workshops, material development, language policy, presentations, lectures among others. His passion and work on these matters let him join the Indigenous and Endangered Languages Lab at Purdue where he develops his research project focused on motion predicates in Limonese Creole.
René is the current president of the Costa Rican Students Association at Purdue where they have become a link between the community of Costa Ricans who study, work or visit Purdue, and people who are interested in the country. After being in the US for five years, he believes that the most important for people who are far from home is to integrate into a community that makes up for the bonds they have just left back at home. It is here where he thinks the LCC comes into play as a community for all those in need of a place to be más cerca de casa.
During warmer seasons, René enjoys playing soccer whenever he can, having some friends come over for a carne asada at home, and going to a pool, river or lake (since there are sadly no beaches around) for a little swimming. In winter and fall, he likes meeting and dancing with friends at home and going snow sliding sometimes.

Moacir Fonseca Becker
Graduate Assistant
Moacir Fonseca Becker (he/him/his) joined LCC in January 2023 as a Graduate Assistant. Currently, Moacir is studying for a Master's in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University with a focus on space systems and a minor in control. Moacir was born and raised in Costa Rica and also holds a Brazilian citizenship. He was raised in a bicultural environment. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from the University of Costa Rica and spent half a year studying abroad at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Moacir has been an advocate and actor in the development of the space sector in Central America, where he has been involved in space student groups, in charge of running microgravity experiments and, most recently, the development of the first Honduran satellite.
During his free-time, Moacir enjoys surfing and scuba diving anytime he has a chance to go back to his tropical lands. He also enjoys doing calisthenics, playing basketball, drumming, working out, listening to podcasts, and meditation.

Juan Lozano
Undergraduate Student Employee
Juan Antony Lozano (he/him/his) joined the Latino Cultural Center as an undergraduate student worker in September of 2022. He is a Junior at Purdue majoring in Landscape Architecture and minoring in Spanish. Juan Is a first-generation college student that was born and raised in Indiana but comes from a Mexican background due to his parents who grew up in Guanajuato, Mexico. Juan is involved with different organizations on campus like being a general member of the Latinx Student Union, and Purdue American Society of Landscape Architects. Juan is also a brother of an international fraternity called Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Incorporated. During Juan’s free time he likes to workout at the gym, play soccer with friends, and enjoys spending time with his friends/family.

Derick Antonio Vanegas
Undergraduate Student Employee
Derick Antonio Vanegas (he/him/his) joined the Latino Cultural Center as an undergraduate student worker in September of 2022. He is a Junior at Purdue majoring in Organizational Leadership. Born to an Ecuadorian mother and a Nicaraguan father, Derick is a first-generation college student who was born and raised in New Jersey. On campus, Derick also works at the France A. Cordova Recreational Sports Center as a Wellness Ambassador based in the Wellness Suite. He is the Director of Special Events for the Latinx Student Union. Derick is a mentor and alumnus of the Avanzando Through College where he works and interacts with other first-generation college students. In his free time, Derick enjoys spending time with family and friends, singing, and playing board games.

Silvana Cuervo
Undergraduate Student Employee

Elizabeth Reyes
Undergraduate Student Employee

Giezzy Chavez-Duarte
Undergraduate Student Employee
Giezzy Chavez-Duarte (he/him/his) is a junior and joined the Latino Cultural Center through the Avanzando Through College program (2021-2022) as a participant. He is majoring in Nuclear Engineering and pursuing a radiology minor as well. Giezzy participates in the American Nuclear Society Purdue Chapter and is also an active member of Alpha Phi Omega where he is currently Historian Co-Chair for the chapter. Giezzy was born in Orange County, California and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana before coming to Purdue. His family is from Guerrero, Mexico. Giezzy enjoys playing tennis, riding around on his longboard, going to the gym, and participating in events with friends.

Kamilah Valentín Díaz
Undergraduate Student Employee
In 2022, she recently published her debut poetry collection, Moriviví: To have Died yet Lived, with Alegria Publishing. Though the pandemic took much it also gave, and it gave her the opportunity to write. At Purdue and the LCC she fulfills the role of a mentor and coordinator through the Avanazando Through College program. She is also the facilator for Spanish Conversation Tables, open to all. Not only does she write creatively but also professionally for the Office of Engagement and serves as Journal Coordinator for the Purdue Journal of Service Learning.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Kamilah is an islander at heart despite living in diaspora for over a decade. As a Boricua committed to decolonization, she finds her vehicle to resistance through art, activism, and community-building. Exploring topics of girlhood, place, space, culture, mental health, and home she hopes to challenge others to follow their calling.