Meet our writers

We are an extended family and we take advantage of opportunities to work together.

  • Gary M. Stern

    +60 articles

    Gary Stern, a contributing writer for HO  has written hundreds of articles that have appeared in such leading publications as The Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily, USA Weekend, Crain's New York Business, Electronic Business, and Tennis. 

  • Frank DiMaria

    +60 articles

    Frank DiMaria is a freelance writer living South Carolina. When he’s not writing he teaches computer science and digital literacy in a middle school in Fort Mill.

  • Gustavo A. Mellander

    +50 articles

    Dr. Mellander was a university dean for 15 years and a college president for 20.

  • Mary Ann Cooper

    +50 articles

    Whether the subject is health care or movies, women's issues or trends in television, Mary Ann has written about it or spoken about it. She is the author of more than 100 book projects including “Natural Cures for Common Diseases,” “101 Ways to Pamper Yourself,” and "Easy Ways to Lower Your Cholesterol." She was a nationally syndicated columnist for 30 years and contributing writer to an eclectic group of magazines including Hispanic Outlook, Women's World, Television Week, GRAND Magazine, Boxoffice Magazine, Looking Good Now Magazine, and American Media Special Magazines.  

  • Peggy Sands Orchowski

    +40 articles

    Peggy (Dr. Margaret) Sands Orchowski Ph.D. has been the credentialed Congressional Correspondent for the Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education magazine in Washington DC since 2006.  Her new book “The Law That Changed the Face of America: the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965” was published by Rowman & Littlefield in September in time for the 50th anniversary of its signing.

  • Enrique Del Risco

    +40 articles

    Enrique Del Risco Arrocha, also known as Enrisco, was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1967. He has a degree in History from the University of Havana and a doctorate in Latin American Literature from New York University (NYU), where he currently works. as a teacher in the department of Spanish and Portuguese. He was a finalist for the Cintas Foundation Fellowship for Creative Writing -for the project “Trilogía cubana del Hudson” (2011), and has received the following awards: Prize of the Contest Trece de Marzo 1993, Prize of Short Story magazine “Revolución y Cultura” 1994, Villa Awards de Madrid 1996 and V Ibero-American Cortes de Cádiz Award 2008, for the works: Shrunken Works (1992), Loss and recovery of innocence (1994), Crocodile tears (1998), Leve Historia de Cuba (2007), and ¿Qué Will they think of us in Japan? (2008).

All our writers

David A. Fuentes

David A. Fuentes is associate dean and professor of teacher education in the College of Education at William Paterson University. He serves as Principal Investigator and Inaugural recipient of the United States Department of Education’s $1.6 million Augustus F. Hawkins Award. He also serves as Project Director for the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development $564,000 GAINS award supporting Apprentices enrolled in Teacher Registered Apprenticeship (T-RAP) at WP. He is a member of the Board of Directors at the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) and the 2024 AAHHE recipient of the Mildred Garcia Founders Award.  

Lorna Rivera, PhD.

Dr. Lorna Rivera is the Director of the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development & Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Boston.Her work focuses on education and the social determinants of health. Rivera is co-editor of the new book, Critical Perspectives on Latino Education in Massachusetts, UMass Press, 2025.  

Sanjuana Rodriguez, Ph.D.

Dr. Sanjuana Rodriguez is an Associate Professor of Reading and Literacy Education and Co-Director of the Academy for Language and Literacy at Kennesaw State University. Her research interests include early literacy development of culturally and linguistically diverse students, diverse children’s literature, and the experiences of Latinx pre-and in-service teachers.  

Jennifer Bailey

Jennifer Bailey is a college lecturer on technology. She runs regular meet-ups that allow students and educators to learn and share their knowledge about AI while also familiarizing themselves with the newest technological innovations.  

Magdalena Martinez, Ph.D.

Magdalena Martinez is an associate professor at Rowan University in New Jersey. Prior to her academic position, she served as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs for the state of Nevada, where she worked closely with college and university presidents on policy, equity, and access issues.   

Curtis L. Garcia, Ph.D

Curtis L. Garcia, Ph.D., is a Professor and Director of the School of Education. Dr. Garcia joined the faculty of Adams State in 2014 and has served as project director a number of federal and state grants - totaling more than $7M focused on teacher recruitment, retention and quality. He also founded Project SERVE, a program aimed at supporting early recruitment of diverse educators in southern Colorado. Dr. Garcia’s research focuses on teacher mentoring and evaluation, issues in rural education, and issues related to multicultural education and equity in schools.   

Melissa L. Freeman, Ph.D

Melissa L. Freeman, Ph.D., is the Chair of the Educational Leadership Department and LEAD program. She is also the founding director of the HEAL program where she secured a nearly $300K grant from the US Department of Education, FIPSE fund to provide the seed money to start the program in 2009.  She also served as a Project Director on the Title V PPOHA grant from 2014 to 2020. Dr. Freeman has presented and authored numerous presentations and publications related to Latino/a Student Success including her co-edited monograph “College Completion for Latino/a Students: Institutional and System Approaches” in New Directions for Higher Education.  

Maria Juarez

Maria Juarez, the Youth Organizing Director for Levante Leadership Institute at Student Action with Farmworkers- is of Mexican descent and comes from a farm-working background. Originally from Idaho, she earned a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Idaho. With a family working in agriculture, she has been a part of SAF since her participation as a summer intern in the Into The Fields program in 2021

Dr. Mitzi Ramos

Dr. Mitzi Ramos is the LARES Associate Director of Graduate Student Professional & Career Development. She holds a B.A. in English and Spanish from WIU, an M.P.A. from SIUC, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from UIC. She is a DFI fellow, ILACHE Leadership Award recipient, and a Chicago Latino Caucus Foundation’s Leadership Academy fellow.  

Dr. Adrianna Nava

Dr. Nava is an Applied Research Scientist at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), and 2021-2024 President of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). Dr. Nava earned her MPA from Harvard University, a PhD from the University of Massachusetts Boston, an MSN from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BSN from Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing.  

Norma Poll-Hunter, PhD

Norma Poll-Hunter, Ph.D. serves as Senior Director, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Albany, SUNY, and her BA in Psychology at Lehman College, CUNY.     

Tony Payan, Ph.D.

Tony Payan, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He is also a professor of social sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. His main lines of research are related to issues that affect the U.S.-Mexico border and binational relations. He is the author, co-author, and editor of nearly twenty books on issues that affect the binational relationship, as well as of numerous book chapters and academic articles. To learn more about the Center, visit https://www.bakerinstitute.org/center/center-us-and-mexico.   

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