School of Education dean motivates others through personal stories

Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education, doesn’t like to keep his mouth shut.

But that wasn’t always the case.

Gonzalez came to America at age 12 as an immigrant from Cuba, but he grew discouraged when his language and cultural barriers became evident.

“This is America. You better act like Americans,” Gonzalez’s vice principal told his class.

At the time, Gonzalez couldn’t understand what the vice principal said and asked a friend for a translation.

The vice principal grabbed Gonzalez’s arm, dragged him up to the front of the class, yelled at him for interrupting an adult and suspended him from school.

Gonzalez’s parents, who had sacrificed everything to come to America and understood education would be their son’s key to a bright future, were disappointed.

From that experience, “I learned to keep my mouth shut,” Gonzalez said.

But Gonzalez doesn’t keep his mouth shut anymore.

As dean, Gonzalez ensures that the next generation of students and teachers has access to the opportunities that helped him.

“I hope through my actions and words I can be a role model and a source for students,” Gonzalez said.

After his episode with the vice principal, Gonzalez stopped participating in class.
He became invisible in the education system, quietly completing vocational training and graduating from high school. His aspired to continue working at the clothing store where he had worked part-time as a student.

But a friend encouraged him to look at colleges – an option he had not explored until then.

He applied to and attended Miami-Dade Community College, where he took the remedial courses necessary to teach him the fundamentals he missed in high school.
“Once I started learning, I couldn’t get enough,” Gonzalez said. “My world was transformed with ideas.”

Gonzalez transferred to the University of Florida through his community college’s accreditation program. He went on to graduate school and secured major funding for his own research projects. He eventually joined the University of Florida faculty and worked his way up to tenure status and became chairman of the department from which he graduated.

“My success proves that it wasn’t an issue of academic ability, motivation or intellectual capacity that made me struggle in high school,” Gonzalez said.

His own experiences remind him every day of the transformitive power of education, and he wants to inspire his peers to provide opportunities for those who don’t have the ability to make it to college without help.

“One of the reasons why I’m so passionate about this issue – and why I share my story with so many people – is because what used to be a limited regional problem has become one of the greatest national challenges for this country,” Gonzalez said.

The United States’ Latino population is rapidly growing.

In the Midwest, the demographic’s growth rate is 26 percent, he said. But it also has the lowest educational attainment.

“If we fail to educate this group, we create a structural underclass of people who lose hope in being active participants in democracy,” he said.

Gonzalez’s goal as dean is to expand educational opportunities to those who might not have them. He has worked at the University for nine years, expanding the School of Education’s English as a Second Language license and working to build an articulation agreement between Ivy Tech and Indiana’s four-year universities.

Jack Cummings, professor of counseling educational psychology, said Gonzalez has also been aggressive in diversifying the School of Education faculty and welcoming minority students into the field.

“When we turn out a diverse set of graduates who go on to teach in public schools, they go on to be great role models for the children,” he said.

Gonzalez’s colleagues also said he is an excellent role model for students.

Catherine Brown, professor of mathematics education, describes Gonzalez as an energetic, caring person who appreciates the opportunities he’s been given and tries to provide them for others.

“He can be as tough as nails getting something done at the University,” Brown said, “but he certainly has a soft spot for the underdog.”