Tyler

The Rev. Jerome R. Milton and Pastor Gilberto Avila have been named co-chairs of the minority affairs council at The University of Texas at Tyler, President Rodney H. Mabry announced.

The council, which will be comprised of community leaders, will serve as an advisor to the President and provide a liaison between the university and the East Texas community.

“We are honored to have Rev. Milton and Pastor Avila lead this council. Our goal is to develop a resource that will help us attract the brightest and best minority students to our campus. We want our enrollment demographics to more accurately reflect that of the East Texas population. At the same time, the council will provide information, particularly to those potential students and their parents in underrepresented communities, on the value of higher education as well as educational opportunities at UT Tyler,” President Mabry said.

These efforts will help UT Tyler attract those high-ability students from underrepresented communities, he added.

Avila, Milton and President Mabry have met with principals from some of the area school districts to inform them of the council and its mission. The objective is to work collaboratively with those public schools leaders to identify potential UT Tyler students.

The co-chairs are currently recruiting up to 10 members to the council.

Avila is pastor of the Restoration Christian Center of Tyler. Milton serves as scholarship coordinator and track coach at Bishop Thomas K. Gorman High School and is the pastor of Greater New Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Tyler.

For more information about the UT Tyler minority affairs council, call 903.566.7119.

-- submitted by Beverley Golden

Pictured, l-r. are Gilberto Avilas, Rod Mabry, Jerome Milton
(Courtesy Photo)