The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) established the HACU Hall of Champions to honor those who embody the mission of the Association through exemplary efforts “To Champion Hispanic Success in Higher Education.” The tenth and eleventh inductees into the HACU Hall of Champions are Milton A. Gordon, Ph.D, and Eliseo Torres, Ph.D, who were honored on October 28, 2017 during HACU's 31st Annual Conference.

Eliseo “Cheo” Torres has served as Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of New Mexico, a four-year state research university, based in Albuquerque, NM, since January 2, 1996. Before he came to the University of New Mexico, Dr. Torres served as Vice President for External Affairs at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He also taught in the Bilingual Doctoral Program at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He has served as Interim President, Vice President for Student Affairs and Special Services, Director of the University’s Center for Continuing Education, and also as Assistant to the President. For two years preceding his appointment to the Texas A&M University-Kingsville staff, he was with the Texas Education Agency in Austin.

Among other initiatives, Dr. Torres has been involved as an Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME) advisor to Mexican Presidents, Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon for improving lives of immigrants in the United States.

He also teaches the Traditional Medicine Without Borders: Curanderismo in the Southwest and Mexico class during the summer semester at UNM. This popular class is cross-listed with four departments and brings practicing Mexican healers to the UNM campus.


For guidelines on how to nominate someone for the HACU Hall of Champions, click here.