Illinois LAtino Council on Higher Education |
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2026 Plenary Speakers
 Carlos Andrés Gómez (he/him/él) is a Colombian American poet, author, keynote speaker, and educator who has shared his original work and done artist residencies at more than 1,500 colleges, universities, and independent schools in 47 U.S. states. His latest book Fractures (University of Wisconsin Press, 2020) was selected by Pulitzer Prize winner and 19th U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize. Winner of the Foreword INDIES Gold Medal and the International Book Award, Gómez has been published in The Nation, New England Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, The Yale Review, Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World (W.W. Norton & Co., 2022), and elsewhere. A star of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and the Spike Lee movie Inside Man with Denzel Washington, Carlos has spent more than two decades using poetry and storytelling as tools to engage students and educators in courageous reflection and conversation around identity, connection, care, and community.
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Karla Silva, PhD is a first-generation college graduate, Chicana, mama, and daughter of immigrants. She currently serves as the Director of Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives at the University of Arizona. Her work as a scholar-practitioner centers community-rooted, asset-based approaches to advancing educational equity and student success. Grounded in her raíces and sustained by collective resistance, Dr. Silva’s leadership focuses on building institutional and community capacity that honors the strengths, resilience, and lived experiences of historically underrepresented students and families. |
