FEATURE STORY — November/December 2008

SHPE-mates

Ricardo Mendoza, who served as SHPE’s first president, now works as a product manager for Xerox’s cartridge development unit.

How a group of determined Hispanic students worked together and overcame obstacles to establish a student chapter of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers at UIC

By Phil Rockrohr
Photography by Lloyd DeGrane

 

When Ricardo Mendoza ’82 ENG entered the UIC College of Engineering in the late 1970s, the rumor among Hispanic students was that two-thirds of them would drop out before completing the program. For many Hispanics, “coming to college was really a shock, because they weren’t prepared,” says Mendoza, a graduate of Chicago’s Prosser High School. “They didn’t have the proper study habits, they didn’t have the right focus and they didn’t have the drive,” he adds.

Mendoza and a tight-knit group of fellow Hispanic students in engineering and computer science sought guidance, support and experience in a community familiar with their own culture.

“We didn’t have a lot of peers [studying technical academic subjects],” says Mendoza, now product manager for Xerox’s toner cartridge development and a resident of Webster, N.Y. “Many of us were the first in our families to go to a university. There were no role models. My parents didn’t even finish high school and didn’t speak English, so I didn’t have that [academic] support at home.”

In 1980, fellow UIC students Osvaldo “RC” Arce ’81 LAS, Caleb Valentin ’82 ENG and Guillermo Martinez ’81 ENG set about establishing an organization designed to help young Hispanic students pursue careers in engineering, computer science and the sciences, recalls Arce, who earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science.

 “We realized there was a need to create a place where Hispanic students could identify with other Hispanic students pursuing those careers,” says Arce, now same-day surgical coordinator at Edward Hospital in Naperville. “We saw this ... great opportunity to create this academic resource pool and to create awareness of other Hispanic professionals already working in engineering.”

NAVIGATING THROUGH THE OBSTACLES

However, finding the right student organization proved to be a complex and sometimes challenging journey.

The Association of Minority Engineers already served black, Hispanic and some white students with its UIC chapter, but Hispanic students wanted more. Then AME advisor Cecil Curtwright encouraged them to pursue additional options, despite their reluctance.

The Hispanic students were concerned that starting a new group would lead to AME breaking apart, recalls Curtwright, now UIC associate vice provost, enrollment and academic services. “That is not necessarily the case,” he recalls telling them. “I told them ‘the relationship between black and Latino students could continue.’”

Curtwright pointed out that many black members of UIC’s AME chapter also belonged to the National Technical Association, an organization founded by black scientists in Chicago in the 1920s to provide similar services for the African American community.

“Many of us were the first in our families to go to a university. ... so I didn’t have that [academic] support at home.” — Ricardo Mendoza ’82 ENG

“So I didn’t have any problems with Latino students becoming part of a Hispanic organization,” says Curtwright. “There were certainly advantages for Latino students to be part of a national organization ... which would have professional engineers [to serve] as mentors and provide internships and guest speakers.”

The Mexican American Engineering Society existed, but UIC’s student body encompassed Hispanic students from throughout Latin America, including Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

The Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers presented another option. It was founded by a group of Los Angeles engineers in 1974 to provide a national association of members who could serve as role models in the His­panic community. With networking as a key initiative, SHPE (pronounced “ship”) sought to establish student chapters at colleges and universities.

“MAES was more exclusionary,” explains Curtwright. “SHPE was a [newer] organization whose members had come from all around the country. It was more pan-Latino. I thought it was more representative of UIC’s student body.”

Unfortunately, no professional chapter of SHPE existed yet in Chicago and no infrastructure was available to help UIC students get started. But Curtwright was aware that SHPE had just announced a national organizing conference in Los Angeles to form student chapters, and he quickly secured a grant to send Valentin to the meeting.

“Valentin went out there and came back pretty enthusiastic,” recalls Curt­wright. “He got together with the others and they started from there.”

Students did not see the lack of support outside of UIC as an obstacle, says Arce. Curtwright became their first advisor and UIC engineering faculty and staff helped them organize as an official chapter.

“Cecil was such a driving force,” says Arce. “He was such a great advisor to us and really steered us in the right direction. Once we got the information we needed, we really took it upon ourselves to move forward. The bulk of support was right there at UIC—through Cecil Curtwright and the College of Engineering.”

Youth, need and determination carried students the rest of the way. “It was the right time,” Arce says. “We were young and energized. We didn’t think about the national organization being way out in L.A. We were more worried about getting enough students interested. We knew it had to be done and we got it done.”

SHPE UIC members from the 1980s gathered on campus this past August. First row, left: Osmel (Ozzie) Hernandez-Toledo, Gary Argueta, Ricardo Mendoza, Osvaldo (RC) Arce, Fran­cisco “Frank” Sanchez and Luis Diaz. Second row, left:  Maria (Marisol) Hernan­dez, Nilsa Argueta, Graciela (Grace) Leyva Guererro and Arturo Guererro.

 

SHPE ANCHORS AT UIC

In 1980, Arce, Valentin and Martinez founded SHPE’s UIC chapter under the name Latino Association Supporting Engineering Careers, and became its first officers. In 1981, at the request of the national association, LASEC formally changed its name to SHPE UIC. Men­doza was elected the group’s president.

“That’s when the organization took off,” Arce reflects. “Membership really started to take off. Students started to gather around the organization and it started to grow.”

SHPE members visited Chicago high schools to promote engineering and inform the Hispanic community of the support available at UIC. On campus, SHPE conducted fund-raising events such as bake sales; wrote grant proposals to companies and the University; and invited faculty and professional engineers to speak at SHPE workshops.

Eventually, the UIC chapter raised enough money to offer scholarships and host social events, says Arce. Membership quickly grew from the three founding members to 12 members at its first official meeting in 1980; 50 members in 1981; and 120 in 1982. Today, SHPE UIC has an annual membership ranging from 120 to 150 students.

Looking back, Osmel “Ozzie” Hernan­dez-Toledo ’84 ENG, vice president of development and quality for Fine Art Lamps, is amazed by the value and depth of the programs SHPE provided. This included workshops and presentations by professional engineers and UIC faculty and staff on topics such as interviewing, meeting planning and leadership skills.

Hernandez-Toledo and his wife, Mari­sol, ’85 ENG, MS ’94 ENG, who now live in Plantation, Fla., still use the decision-making tools they learned in a SHPE workshop 25 years ago. “We had one of the professors come in and [demonstrate] a process [for making] decisions in a very logical way,” explains Hernandez-Toledo.

SHPE UIC members helped Marisol obtain scholarships and internships, and they helped her navigate UIC’s engineering curriculum. “We ate together, studied together and spent a lot of time together,” says Marisol, who launched Decorating Make­over, a design company, after a 21-year career in engineering. “We just be­came very good friends.”

SHPE-MATES FOR LIFE

Arriving from similar walks of life and sharing the same struggles, SHPE members experienced extraordinary bonding. Two couples eventually married and a core group of 10 to 15 early members forged intimate friendships that still bring them together socially every few years.

“It was a group of people who were very much like you—with the same goals, same values, studying the same thing,” remarks Hernandez-Toledo. “Even though UIC was a commuter school, the organization kept this clique of us together. We formed such strong friendships that we never lost touch. It’s proved to be very rewarding, from a personal point of view.”

SHPE gave struggling young students hope, opportunities and resources. “We were all rooted in the same cause,” says Arce. “In the process, we became a family.”

This sense of community informed their lives so strongly that the founding SHPE UIC members created the Midwest Regional Chicago Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the first professional chapter in Chicago, shortly after graduating in 1982.

“As a result of the professional organization, we kept networking,” says Arce. “We realized that networking was an important tool for job searching and career growth in engineering and the sciences.

“What we started here at UIC was just the beginning,” he continues. “It was sort of the seed that became what I call the tree of opportunity, growth and family. That culture existed at UIC and it became our culture after we graduated.”

Arce believes the founding members of SHPE UIC have achieved their goal. “SHPE is a place Hispanics can go and share information, resources and dreams,” he says. “If you can associate with people in your culture, you know there is hope and opportunity and resources for you to use and go to.”

Although typically soft-spoken, Arce is openly proud of the legacy that he and the core group left at UIC. “We did something to better our world and society,” he says. “I feel good about it.”