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The College of Arts and Sciences has appointed Tere Paniagua ’82 as the executive director of cultural engagement for the Syracuse Hispanic community. Paniagua will be responsible for developing and maintaining cultural connections between the University and Syracuse’s Hispanic community by addressing the interests and concerns of the Hispanic community through programs and activities of La Casita Cultural Center and Punto de Contacto-Point of Contact.

In this new position, Paniagua will invigorate and manage the administrative, artistic, fundraising and operational engagement activities relating to the Hispanic community through various programs at SU, including La Casita and the Point of Contact Gallery, as well as cultural events generated by the Department of Languages, Literature and Linguistics and the Latino-Latin American Studies Program, among others.

La Casita is a vibrant cultural, artistic and educational center supported by SU’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the Chancellor. The center is committed to promoting and documenting the arts and culture of Central New York’s Latino/Latin American community through collaborative programming in the visual and expressive arts, education and community activism.

Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact Inc., a nonprofit arts organization in residence at Syracuse University, creates opportunities for the exploration of diversity and the exchange of ideas through the verbal and visual arts. The organization is supported by grants from SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at SU (CMAC) and the NY State Council on the Arts.

Serving as the managing director/associate editor of Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact, Inc., since 2002, Paniagua has also developed and taught courses in The College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and the Soling Program, including “Conceptualization & Production in Contemporary Verbal and Visual Arts,” and “Hispanic Journalistic Practices,” which received the 2010 Chancellor’s Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship.

Paniagua was born in Puerto Rico and has lived in Syracuse since 2001. Prior to coming to Syracuse, she worked as a journalist and editor, receiving numerous awards for her work, including Overseas Press Club awards, the 1994 Ozzie Award for Publication Design Excellence and the 1992 Asociación Internacional de Hombres de Empressa Young Entrepreneur Award. She holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.