Sylvia Fuentes came to NIU in 1989 as a timid, young student. Today, she is an educator with perhaps one of the most influential voices on campus.

As the director of University Resources for Latinos, Fuentes helps NIU’s thriving Latino population in several different ways.

“My job is to work with the Latino and Latina students,” she said. “Our goals are to retain our students, develop programs for them while they are here, recruit and disseminate any information about the university and URL in particular.”

Spending time with students is her favorite part of the job.

“Working with students and developing programs that I know will keep them here and help them graduate is the best part of my job,” she said. “My least-favorite part of my job is that I don’t have enough time in the day to do all the big work.”

Robert Dudek, a freshman business major and Fuentes’ assistant, appreciates the work Fuentes does.

“She’s a very nice lady,” he said. “I wouldn’t have a job without her in the first place. She hired me on the spot out of nowhere. They [at the center] will help you out with anything you need. If you have any questions, all you need to do is just ask the director.”

When she first arrived here more than 10 years ago, Fuentes was the one asking the questions. That has since changed.

“I am not as timid anymore and not afraid to speak my mind,” she said. “I am much more comfortable than when I first came here where I think a lot of things used to scare me because of the cultural aspect. You know, how sometimes we are taught we shouldn’t speak our minds. I have gotten much better at that.”

Fuentes originally was sent to major in elementary education, but she eventually was pulled toward higher education.

“It was quite by accident,” she said. “When I started my career path years ago, I was actually in elementary education. I then decided I didn’t want to work with little kids. I then got really involved and interested in higher education and what was happening with our students and the graduation rate. All of it fascinated me.”

Associate Provost Admasu Zike is glad that Fuentes made the switch.

“She is a very hard-working person and very committed to the program she runs,” he said. “She’s worked with Latinos and Latinas for a very long time, but she learns new things quickly.”

Fuentes is proud of the inroads made by the Latino community during her time at NIU.

“It’s more diverse and they are embracing that diversity more than when I first got here,” she said. “Latinos are heavily involved. The student trustee [Jesse Perez] is a Latino. The vice president of the Student Association [Jaime Garcia] is Latino. We have numerous Latina women on the SA.”

Fuentes is even more hopeful about the future.

“I am really excited about the future and I hope as Latinos and Latinas we work closer together with the larger NIU community,” she said.” We need to work together because we are a very multi-cultural society. Being monolingual is already something that is affecting the United States in the global view of things. With the influx of immigrants we have, we need to learn to work together because the faces are only going to get more different. They are constantly changing.”