Dr. José Castro, HOC chair

The Hispanic Oversight Committee (HOC) warmly welcomes all new and returning Hispanic/Latin@ students, faculty and staff. Appointed by the Provost, the HOC’s main function is to serve as a voice for the OSU Hispanic/Latin@ community to the university administration, and we take this responsibility very seriously. Ohio State has shown its commitment to Hispanic/Latin@ issues by way of Provost Barbara Snyder’s and Vice Provost Mac Stewart’s strong support of our initiatives.

The HOC focuses its energies on the recruitment and retention of Latin@ faculty, staff and students, and Hispanic/Latin@ cultural and academic enrichment. In this upcoming year, the HOC hopes to increase its visibility as an organized and representative voice on campus. Specific initiatives the HOC is currently working on include supporting the continued development of the Latino/a Studies program, enhancing graduate student recruitment, and obtaining increased funds for Hispanics related activities.

In order to support the HOC in making progress towards its goals, the university administration created a 25 percent faculty fellow position for a three year period. The provost appointed me to serve in this capacity. In addition, Assistant Vice Provost Dr. José Villa is working very closely with the HOC to support our goals. Over the past year, HOC has worked collaboratively with the Organization of Hispanic Faculty and Staff (OHFS) and the University-Wide Council of Hispanic Organizations (UCHO) on a variety of events and issues in order to ensure that our voice is representative of all Hispanics/Latin@s at Ohio State.

I invite every member of the Hispanic/Latin@ community to become involved and support our efforts. Please feel free to contact me at (614) 688-8233 or at castro.38@osu.edu, with suggestions as to how we can improve your Ohio State experience.