Four people were inducted Thursday into the inaugural class of the Arkansas Latino Hall of Fame.
A dinner and induction ceremony were held at the Wyndham Riverfront in North Little Rock.
The inductees are:
Andre Guerrero has dedicated his career to advancing educational equity and supporting marginalized communities, according to the hall of fame website. Beginning with his work with migrant Mexican American children in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Guerrero has designed curriculum for language minority students, served as a foundation officer, directed a graduate program in education at Antioch College and was Commissioner of Spanish Speaking Affairs for Ohio. He also served two terms as a VISTA volunteer in the 1960s. For the last 25 years of his career, Guerrero was the state director of Programs for Language Minority Students at the Arkansas Department of Education. He established an ESL Graduate Academy training that equipped over 2,200 Arkansas public school teachers with English as a second language endorsements from 2000 to 2014.
Roberto Martinez, a resident of Sevier County, moved from Chicago in 1980. Inspired by Arkansas’ slogan at the time — “Land of Opportunity” — he settled between Horatio and De Queen, embracing a dramatic lifestyle change from city to rural life, according to the website. Martinez faced challenges, but his perseverance led to significant achievements in agriculture. In 1987, his family was honored as the Sevier County Farm Family of the Year, and later that year, they won the district title. Martinez’s success inspired many, and today, Sevier County boasts the highest number of Latino farmers in Arkansas.
Fabricio Medina-Bolivar earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Cayetano Heredia University in Peru, followed by a Ph.D. in plant physiology from Pennsylvania State University. He pursued postdoctoral research in molecular biology at Virginia Tech and then joined the faculty of Arkansas State University in 2005. Currently, he is a professor of plant metabolic engineering in the Department of Biological Sciences as well as the director of both the environmental sciences and molecular biosciences graduate programs and conducts cutting-edge research at his laboratory at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. He is dedicated to promoting leadership and higher education within the Hispanic community and other underrepresented groups, according to the website.
When Lisette Yang arrived in Little Rock in 1997, the number of Latinos in the state was just a fraction of what it is now. The Arkansas Latino population surged from 19,876 in 1990 to 186,050 in 2010 to 256,847 in 2020, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. In this changing state, Yang worked to help Latinos assimilate and communicate. She began collaboration with the Arkansas Spanish Interpreters and Translators to assist with interpreting at various hospitals. For several years, she interpreted for district courts around the state. She also conducted training on Latino culture around the state. In 2005, she became the first Latino victim advocate in Arkansas, assisting over 2,500 victims. In 2012, she joined the Children’s Protection Center in Pulaski County as their first bilingual child forensic interviewer and served as an advocate for some of their Spanish-speaking clients. A few years later, she was promoted to lead/senior forensic interviewer, a role that allowed her to interview over 7,000 children/teens and to become a mentor for other less experienced forensic interviewers. Last year, she became the first bilingual Crime Victims Reparations Board administrator for the Arkansas Department of Public Safety.
The Arkansas Latino Hall of Fame, an initiative by the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, “stands as a testament to our commitment to cultural richness and community engagement,” according to the website.
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