Interview with Maria Teresa Donate Mena

Janine Carambot Santoro

Maria Teresa Donate Mena

2021-03-18

Residence of Maria Teresa Donate Mena

Teresa’s passion for higher education is reflected through her role as an admissions director, a counselor, and as a professor emeritus. She shares that a strong sense of community was the primary magnet that brought her to settle in the Lehigh Valley and to work at Northampton Community College. Teresa played an instrumental role in the creation and sustainment of the Northampton Community College’s Hispanic Faculty Caucus, which empowered her to bring forward cultural programming and advocacy initiatives to improve the academic experiences for low-income and non-traditional students, and students were in the naturalization process. Teresa was one of the founders of the Latino Leadership Alliance of the Lehigh Valley, an organization which has had an impact in providing resources for future leaders through scholarships, assistance with college applications, and advocating for accountability what it comes to representation from the Latinx/Hispanic community.

Spatial coverage: Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, Sugar Cane Plantations, Sugar Factory, InterAmerican University, United States of America, Bethlehem, Bethlehem Area School District, Orlando, Florida, Pen Argyl, Nazareth, University of Central Florida, Northampton Community College, Northampton Community College’s Hispanic Caucus, Latino Leadership Alliance of the Lehigh Valley, Liberty High School, Ocean, and Beach.

CC BY-NC 4.0