J. Frederick Miller Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service

Mariana Ortega is the Director for La Casa Cultural Latina at the University of Illinois, and a PhD student in the College of Education with a focus on Human Resources and Development. She has a passion for serving the Latinx community both on and off campus, and gives back to our community in a variety of ways. She currently serves as Vice-President on the Board of Directors of Girls Go For It, an organization that empowers girls to pursue their passions and boldly achieve their dreams. She also serves on the Parkland College Foundation Women of Impact Committee, a grassroots giving circle of compassionate, diverse, and influential women dedicated to helping women students at Parkland College through scholarship support.

As a volunteer with the local community radio station WEPA, 90.1 FM, Mariana launched a Spanish segment, En Comunidad, and she also serves as a Champaign County Ambassador, using her own experiences as a native of Nicaragua who was raised in Florida, to help provide a sense of belonging to new residents who are also not from the Midwest.

Through her many activities, she has been instrumental in the acclimation of many students and residents into the campus and local community, and provided great support for women and people of color. In both her professional capacity and her volunteer roles, Mariana has been able to connect student and community members to each other and to different organizations, and played an impactful role in the lives of many

‍