Council of Trustees

Semillas’ Council of Trustees embodies the legal decision-making authority of the organization and is charged with executing the mission and vision of the organization and charter schools and honoring the proposals generated in the Governance Assemblies and by faculty. The Council of Trustees holds four regular meetings per year and special meetings as needed.

UPCOMING MEETING AGENDA:

Council of Trustees Agendas 2022-2023
Council of Trustees Agendas 2020-2021
Council of Trustees Agendas 2023-2024
The following lists Council members currently serving:
Dr. Irene Vásquez
President, Co-Founder
 of Semillas, Chair of the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at the University of New Mexico 
ivasquez@dignidad.org
Dr. Irene Vasquez received her Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has served as a member of the Council of Trustees since 2002. Some of her publications and editorial works include: “Chicana/o Movement,” New Dictionary of the History of Ideas (2004) and “Afro Latino Influences,” Encyclopedia Latina (2004). Dr. Vasquez held the position of Chair of the Chicana/o Studies Department at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Currently, she is Director of the Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies Program at the University of New Mexico. She is an Associate Professor in American Studies.
Dr. Reynaldo F. Macías
Treasurer, Professor, Chicana and Chicano Studies, UCLA
rfmacias@dignidad.org
Dr. Macias was an undergraduate student at UCLA in the late 1960's. He was part of a student group that led the effort to establish a research center and academic program in Chicano Studies, and later became the first graduate student Chair of MEChA at UCLA. Nearly thirty years later, he is the newly appointed chair of the Ceasar Chavez Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction of Chicana and Chicano Studies. A prominent education and sociolinguistics scholar, Macias specializes in bilingual education, educational history and policy analysis, literacy, language demography, teacher preparation and multicultural curricular education. He has written on Chicanos in higher education, bilingualism, language minorities, and the changing demographics in the schools. Prior to returning to his alma mater, Macias was a Professor of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara and director of the nine-campus University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute. Macias hopes to bring international prominence to the Chavez Center by supporting the country's premier program in Chicano studies.
Dr. Ernesto Colin
Professor, Loyola Marymount University
ecolin@dignidad.org
Ernesto Colín is an Assistant Professor in the Specialized Program in Urban Education at Loyola Marymount University. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in the Anthropology of Education. He has also studied at Loyola Marymount University.
Edmundo Pérez 
Zapotec Native, Parent Member, Entrepreneur, Community Advocate
eperez@dignidad.org
Mr. Edmundo Perez has been a member of the Council of Trustees since 2002. As an active member of the community of El Sereno, he also served as President and Treasurer for OPAM, an organization dedicated to serving indigenous immigrants from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. He earned a veterinary/animal husbandry and accounting degree from El Colegio Nacional de Educación Tecnica from San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Mr. Perez is currently the Treasurer of the Council of Trustees and a parent of three students enrolled at Academia Semillas del Pueblo, Semillas’ K through 8th grade charter school.
Ramon Avila
New Council of Trustees Board member
a110hurdle@gmail.com
Bio to follow.
Arturo Rojas
New Council of Trustees Board member
arturosalvador55@icloud.com
Bio to follow.
Yvette Casas
New Council of Trustees Board member
yvicasas@gmail.com
Bio to follow.
Dr. Juan Gómez Quiñones
Posthumous Emeritus Board Member, Co-Founder, Professor, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles
jgquinones@dignidad.org
Dr. Juan Gomez-Quiñones specialized in the fields of political, labor, intellectual and cultural history. He earned a B.A. in literature, M.A. in Latin-American Studies and a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles, where served as Professor of History. Professor Gomez-Quiñones as active in higher education, cultural promotion and Chicano Studies efforts. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and pursued his research at the University of Texas. He trained in social analysis at the Newberry Library Community History Program, Chicago. Dr. Gomez-Quiñones was co-editor of “Aztlan, International Journal of Chicano Studies Research” and served as President of the Council of Trustees for Semillas Sociedad Civil at Anawakalmekak. Dr. Juan Gómez Quiñones transitioned to the long life on November 11, 2020.