Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization, has named a Ferris State University
junior as part of its 268-student cohort of Newman Civic Fellows, which will provide
a number of opportunities to Daniel Rivera, of Wyoming.
Rivera, who is studying Spanish for the Professions at Ferris, is president of the
newly-established Sigma Lambda Beta fraternity and past president of the Hispanic
Student Organization.
Ferris President David Eisler pointed out, in his letter of support for Rivera’s
candidacy as a fellow, that the campus student leader serves as a mentor in the university’s
Promesa program for at-risk, ethnically-diverse students and is a student representative
for the Office of Admissions, providing advocacy for Hispanic students who are in
the application process.
“Daniel is a student leader actively engaged in addressing issues of diversity, inclusion and advocacy for the underrepresented,” Eisler said. “He has personally mentored two students through the Promesa program. His leadership efforts have also created a Bilingual Sexual Assault awareness campaign and established an annual campus march in honor of Cesar E. Chavez.”
The Newman Civic Fellowship is organized by Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1,000 colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. There will be a one-year collection of opportunities for Newman fellows, including a national conference of Newman Civic Fellows in partnership with the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. Rivera and all others in the fellowship will be provided access to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.
“Addressing the issue of under-representation is about intentionally making the overlooked, visible and valued,” Rivera said, in a statement provided to Campus Compact. “Through various learning opportunities and unique exposure to spaces within my greater community, I learned the power of advocacy, the duty of civic engagement and that great change can happen through building a united and equitably-represented community.”
The Newman Civic Fellowship, named for the late Campus Compact co-founder Frank Newman,
is supported by the KPMG Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation.
PHOTO CAPTION: Daniel Rivera, a Ferris State University junior from Wyoming, studying
Spanish in the Professions, was recently named a 2018 Newman Civic Fellow by Campus
Compact, a nonprofit organization based in Boston, Massachusetts.