Last June 29th and 30th, 2023, the Hispanic Educational Technology Services Consortium (HETS) celebrated its Board of Directors summer meeting, hosted by Dr. Tomás Morales, President of California State University San Bernardino at the Chancellor’s Office of the CSU System in Long Beach, California. More than 35 of HETS member institutions were represented at the meeting, both in-person and virtually, along with its new members: Kingsborough Community College from New York; California State University, Dominguez Hills, former member institution rejoining HETS; Laredo College from Texas; and a new corporate member: EdutechLoft.
As part of the agenda, the HETS Board welcomed its new members and discussed the 2022-2023 HETS Status Report Summary. Likewise, they recommended new initiatives as part of the Strategic Plan and the Collaboration Opportunities item, led by Dr. Carlos Vargas-Aburto, HETS Secretary and President of Southeast Missouri State University. Also, Board members approved the 2023-2024 Proposed Budget and selected the winter and summer meeting dates and hosts. The winter meeting will be on January 11 and 12, 2024, at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, and the summer meeting on June 27 and 28, 2024, at Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia in Medellin. The one scheduled for June 2024 will be HETS’ first international meeting.
During the two-day meeting, HETS held its corporate session and four out of its 10 corporate partners attended the meeting and presented opportunities for collaboration, including Campus Care, COBIMET; uPlanner; and its new member EdutechLoft. Also, a special event featuring Dr. Samuel Sudhakar, Vice President of Information Technology & CIO and Dr. Mihaela Popescu, Professor of Digital Media presented the Digital Equity Initiatives at California State University San Bernardino. Their presentation reached faculty, administrators, and the academic community from Puerto Rico, the United States, and Latin America (a recording of this presentation is available at the HETS website).
HETS Board also agreed to hold its Best Practices Showcase concurrent with the Board of Directors winter meeting in Puerto Rico at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, on January 11 and 12, 2024. At the end of the meeting, HETS recognized the outstanding career of President Dr. Thomas A. Isekenegbe from Bronx Community College on his retirement this June 2024 and welcomed Dr. Rafael Ramirez Rivera as the new President of Inter American University of Puerto Rico, which is also the host to the HETS offices in San Juan, PR.
HETS would like to express its deepest gratitude to President Tomás Morales and his staff for their valuable collaboration and warm welcome to the Chancellor’s Office at Long Beach, California. For more information about HETS and how you can join or support its work benefiting students, faculty, and administrators, visit hets.org, follow HETS on social media (@hetsorg), or send an e-mail to info@hets.org.
