As Wichita State University (WSU) looks to become a Hispanic Serving Institution Dr. Edil Torres Rivera is continuously working to improve and expand the Latinx offerings available at WSU. Dr. Torres Rivera is a professor of Counseling and director of Latinx Studies in the department of Intervention Services and Leadership in Education (ISLE) at the College of Applied Studies (CAS) at WSU, but his work in Latinx Studies is campus-wide.

Dr. Torres Rivera is currently developing a minor in Latinx studies, a Latinx Mental Health certificate, as well as developing decolonized curriculum.

The graduate certificate in Latinx Mental Health Counseling covers extensive linguistic, historical, social, and cultural dynamics of the Latinx community, as well as specifics related to counseling and to the health professions. These courses will equip students to understand the needs of this growing community in Kansas and beyond.

“The idea is to look at education from a decolonized viewpoint, which is deconstructing how colonization, racism and oppression come ‘hand to glove’ and looking for ways to address these issues in education to help create critical thinking among our students,” Dr. Torres Rivera said.

One of the courses using decolonized curriculum that Dr. Torres Rivera has developed is Counseling Latina/o/x: A Cosmic Race. The course has been well received by students. “I was very lucky that WSU offered this class in the same semester that I was working as a community liaison for a research project focused on the Latino Community in Wichita,” Karelyn Feliz Garcia said. “The opportunity of being in class talking about the implications of ethnicity in mental health helped me to understand the relevance of being culturally competent in our careers. It enhanced the way I saw myself as an educator, and how I could make a difference in a diverse environment.”

The Latinx population among WSU faculty is estimated to be 4.3% (according to data from the provost’s office), while the population of Latinx students at WSU is 17%. Dr. Torres Rivera is part of an initiative at WSU that is attempting to bridge the gap in the disparity between the pre-dominantly white faculty and the student population so that WSU’s faculty may better reflect the student population. As part of this initiative WSU’s Latinx Cluster recently hired Alberto Wilson II as visiting assistant professor in the History department at WSU.

Throughout 2021 Dr. Torres Rivera presented papers and workshops on Latinx culture and decolonization at the Annual Convention of the Puerto Rican Counseling Association in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Life University in Marietta, Georgia; the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision in Atlanta, Georgia; Antioch University in Seattle, Washington; and New Jersey Counseling Association in Newark, New Jersey.

In addition to his roles at WSU, Dr. Torres Rivera is a Professional Counselor Advisory committee member of the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board and will begin serving as president of the American Counseling Association beginning this July.