USDA Selects 2025 Class of E. Kika De La Garza Fellows

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities applauds the selection of 30 faculty and staff from Hispanic-Serving Institutions and three high schools from around the country as the 2025 class of E. Kika De La Garza Fellows.

Since the E. Kika De La Garza Fellows Program was established in 1998, USDA has hosted more than 400 faculty and staff, a key effort in strengthening relationships with Hispanic-Serving Institutions. HSIs are accredited and degree-granting institutions of higher education with a full-time Hispanic student enrollment of 25 percent or more. Currently, there are 615 HSIs nationally, serving more than 5.6 million students. All E. Kika De La Garza fellows are faculty or staff at HSIs or Hispanic-Serving School Districts. Most of the fellows are from HACU-member institutions (noted in bold).

The 2024 E. Kika De La Garza Education Fellows are:

• Adijat Adebola, CUNY Bronx Community College (N.Y.)
• Erik C.D. Belmal, Rio Hondo College (Calif.)
• David A. Byrd, Coastal Bend College (Texas)
• Steven Chumbley, Texas A&M University – Kingsville (Texas)
• Nicolle Fernandes, CUNY Fiorello H. La Guardia Community College (N.Y.)
• Laura Fischer, Texas Tech University (Texas)
• Pam Geddes, Northeastern Illinois University (Ill.)
• Teesta Jain, City Colleges of Chicago – Harry S. Truman College (Ill.)
• Jessica Johnson, Central New Mexico Community College (N.M.)
• Jamie A. Levitt, California State University, Fresno (Calif.)
• Sofía Macchiavelli Girón, Universidad del Sagrado Corazon (P.R.)
• Pamela N. Martinez, New Mexico State University (N.M.)
• Lindsay Peelman, Monterey Peninsula College (Calif.)
• Selena Plancarte Arizmendi, California State University Monterey Bay (Calif.)
• Lisanette Rosario, CUNY Hostos Community College (N.Y.)
• Janitza Saavedra Lugo, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez (P.R.)
• Sonali Saha, Miami Dade College (Fla.)
• Ken Sweat, Arizona State University West Valley (Ariz.)
• Rick Wiedenmann, Southeast New Mexico College (N.M.)

The 2025 E. Kika De La Garza Science Fellows are:

• Tolulope A. Agunbiade , Texas A&M University – Kingsville (Texas)
• Alicia V. Barriga, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez (P.R.)
• Jenny Fisher, Indiana University Northwest (Ind.)
• Simeng Li, Cal Poly Pomona (Calif.)
• Lin Luotao, University of New Mexico (N.M.)
• Juliana Rangel, Texas A&M University (Texas)
• Noemí Rodríguez, CUNY New York City College of Technology (N.Y.)
• Nadim Zgheib, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (Texas)

The E. Kika De La Garza Fellows Program is part of USDA’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions National Program . Through this program, USDA also partners with HACU to provide high-quality internship experiences, placing more than 3,000 interns since 1994.