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Carina Olaru (she/her/ella)
Director of Student Advocacy & Education
Carina Olaru joined Purdue University as the Director of the Latino Cultural Center (LCC) in 2016. In of July 2020, Olaru was appointed as the Director of Student Advocacy and Education. In this role, Carina advocates for all students and, particularly for undocumented students, protecting their rights and privacy when enrolled at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Fort Wayne and Northwest, and supports current and prospective students in their pursuit of academic excellence, promotes leadership development and advises student organizations. Carina is available to meet with undocumented and DACAmented students to provide support focused on legal assistance, financial aid, academic resources across campus and support at the local and state level.
Prior to joining the LCC, Carina Olaru was an assistant professor in the Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures department at Monmouth College, where she taught Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Literature. At Monmouth, she organized Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals workshops for students and members of the community. She co-founded the community organization Latinos Unidos de Monmouth that organized temporary visitor’s driver’s license workshops, as well as a 5K that raised funds to provide scholarships to local Latino high school students.
Carina received her bachelor's degree in English and Latin American and Latino Studies with a minor in Spanish from DePaul University. She studied in Mérida, México, and, as a McNair Scholar, conducted graduate-level research in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received her Master's in Hispanic literatures with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Celeste Gomez (she/her/ella)
DACA Support Specialist
se habla español
Celeste Gomez (she/her/ella) joined DACA @ Purdue February 2024 as a DACA support specialist in hopes to aid with her knowledge and forge a more comfortable path for others. While Celeste is still in search fo her true passion rest assure she is one of a kind. She is a proud first generation student with roots from Zacatecas and Jalisco, Mexico. Celeste's strengths consist of futuristic, achiever, strategic, command, and ideation. These strengths have assisted Celeste in gathering and participating in opportunities. She is on her way to become a peer mentor for Horizons and in the cohort for Avanzando Through College with more opportunities to await. In the past, she has interned for Immigrant Connections where she has garnished knowledge and can't wait to learn more!
