NIU’s Center for Latino and Latin American Studies is too important to be without a director for long. But Associate Professor Michael Gonzales is a good choice to serve as the center’s acting director.

Peter Nicholls, liberal arts and sciences associate dean, and his special committee should be commended for their choice.

The Center for Latino and Latin American Studies is responsible for coordinating NIU’s minor in Latino and Latin American Studies, bringing speakers and seminars to campus and promoting faculty research through grants and other means, as well as offering counselling to Latino students.

Gonzales will be filling the position which former dierector Felix Padilla vacated in July.

Gonzales came to NIU in 1984 from the University of Utah and later in 1987, won a Fulbright Scholar award to conduct research in Lima, Peru. His experience at NIU includes serving on the Presidential Commission on the Status of Minorities and several other committees.

Let’s hope the university’s committee will continue to work in such a positive direction during its search for a permanent director and find someone who can at the very least match Gonzales’ credentials. It’s the very least the center deserves.