Alexander Gonzalez has another seat to fill.

Along with being Sacramento State’s president, Gonzalez has been appointed chairman of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, a leading advocacy program that provides major resources, including financial aid and internships, for Hispanic students.

“We are very excited about Dr. Gonzalez and look forward to his leadership,” said John Moder, the organization’s chief operating officer.

Gonzalez will serve a one-year term, which was decided on Oct. 17 in a conference by the governing board. His new position is completely voluntary. Gonzalez was previously vice-chairman and replaces Miguel Palacious of Pima Vista Community College.

In a statement, Gonzalez said he was honored to have a new role with a respected national association with an “international reach.”

“As a nation, we must embrace every opportunity to support these institutions. They will educate the next generation of innovators and leaders,” Gonzalez said in a statement.

Frank Whitlatch, news service coordinator at Sac State, said that Gonzalez will be the face of the organization and that his new role is an extension of his current job here at Sac State.A major event that will happen in April, which Gonzalez will be largely a part of, will be the Annual Capital Forum in Washington D.C. that is a collective effort by the Hispanic association to lobby lawmakers to increase funding and discuss issues for students, Whitlatch said.

“Our major focus is to work with schools and try to improve a quality education for mostly Hispanic students,” Moder said.

The organization provides about 600 internships for students with federal agencies and some with major corporations to help students learn from experience, Moder said.Moder said Gonzalez’s new role will be to oversee operations with an 18-member governing board that consists primarily of college presidents, plan effective strategies for academic achievement, help change policy and steer the organization into the right direction.

With those responsibilities, the governing board works to get money from the federal government, and is currently working on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act that helps students with student loan money and is a major interest for the organization because under title five, $95 million is set aside for Hispanic serving institutions, Moder said.

For this upcoming year, Moder said that the biggest aspiration was for the reauthorization and to increase the $95 million budget.

“Our request is $175 million and that’s what we are pushing for,” Moder said.

The Hispanic Association of College and Universities was founded in 1986 with 18 institutions and has now burgeoned to 90 in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Latin America and Spain.

In 1992, the organization rallied and got Congress to recognize campuses with majority Hispanic student enrollment as Hispanic Serving Institutions, which led to federal funding for those campuses.

According to the organization’s Web site, the Hispanic association’s Office of Program Collaboratives coordinates projects funded by federal agencies, corporations and foundations in conjunction with Hispanic Serving Institutions.-The programs fund faculty development and research opportunities, and precollegiate math, science, engineering and technology programs.-

The programs also included model college preparation and financial aid awareness programs for middle school students and parents to prepare students for a college career.

“It’s obviously exciting for the entire campus having him in a high profile position,” Whitlatch said. “They have a high reputation and raise the visibility for Sac State.”