{"id":32435,"date":"2014-08-08T10:26:59","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T14:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=32435"},"modified":"2019-08-07T15:54:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T19:54:57","slug":"building-bridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2014\/08\/08\/building-bridges\/","title":{"rendered":"Building bridges"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tony<\/a>

As Wright State\u2019s associate vice president for Latino affairs, Tony Ortiz is building bridges between the university and the area\u2019s growing Latino community.<\/p><\/div>\n

L. Tony Ortiz helped build one of Wright State University\u2019s most successful academic programs.<\/p>\n

Today, however, he\u2019s all about building bridges.<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s new associate vice president for Latino affairs helped organize leaders from various Dayton-area Latino organizations into the \u201cLatino Dream Team\u201d in 2008. The group developed a strategic plan to pool community resources that would help address education, health care, economic and quality-of-life issues.<\/p>\n

According to Ortiz, more than 80 percent of students who have received scholarships from the Dream Team initiatives have used them to attend Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding that bridge to Wright State was one of the things I had hoped to achieve,\u201d Ortiz said.<\/p>\n

The university embraced the opportunity to build even more bridges by naming the 58-year-old Lorain native to his current post in October 2013.<\/p>\n

Ortiz\u2019s community activism began long before his current job, however. Wright State student Kathryn Brown, who volunteers as a mentor for Latino teens, referred to Ortiz as \u201calmost like the president of the Latino community.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of his most visible initiatives has been El Puente Learning Center, a program staffed, in large part, by Wright State students. El Puente serves children from Latino families in grades K\u20136.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl Puente has become a magnet for Wright State students who embrace service learning,\u201d Ortiz said.<\/p>\n

Those who have worked with Ortiz say he sets a good example of service mentality for those students.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony has lived the Latino experience in Ohio,\u201d said Rosa Caskey, volunteer coordinator for El Puente. \u201cWright State is young as an institution and is beginning to open doors to those who rarely dreamed that higher education was a possibility. To have Tony Ortiz in that position can only make Wright State the \u2018Right Choice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohio Gov. John Kasich named Ortiz to the Ohio Commission on Hispanic\/Latino Affairs in 2012 after meeting with Ortiz and other \u201cDream Team\u201d members in 2011. Ohio Magazine named Ortiz one of its Excellence in Education honorees.<\/p>\n

Ortiz\u2019s reputation for academic excellence grew alongside his reputation for community service.<\/p>\n

He moved to Dayton in 1980, joined the Wright State staff as head athletic trainer in 1985 and transitioned to full-time faculty member in 2008. During his time as director of the athletic training academic program, enrollment grew from six students to 80 and recent graduates enjoyed 100 percent job placement.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding that program was very rewarding, but I put in a lot of 80-hour weeks to get there,\u201d Ortiz said.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Ortiz approached Robert Sweeney, executive vice president for planning and secretary to the Board of Trustees, with the idea of establishing a more active institutional approach to Latino affairs. Sweeney endorsed the notion, named Ortiz the university\u2019s community liaison, and helped him assemble the \u201cDream Team.\u201d<\/p>\n

University statistics indicate there were 434 Hispanic American students enrolled at Wright State in the fall of 2013. Ortiz would like to expand scholarship, internship and networking opportunities and increase retention for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re all about at Wright State \u2014 being inclusive,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cSome of these programs will help much more than Latinos. If they help bring students to Wright State and give them the opportunity to get a degree, well, mission accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ortiz\u2019s new mission includes many other projects:<\/p>\n