Since at least 1918, Colombian students have been attending the University of Illinois. They have included accountants, aeronautical engineers, agriculturalists, agricultural engineers, architects, chemical engineers, civil engineers, dancers, dentists, economists, educators, electrical engineers, industrial administrators, industrial engineers, mechanical engineers, musicians, personnel managers, singers, and statisticians too.

Read on to learn about more early Colombian Illini!

Early Illinois – Colombia Connections

A review of the Board of Trustees proceedings (Record Series 1/1/802) yields multiple instances of emerging connections between the University and Colombia. But first, it was on April 24, 1941 when one of the first Colombian guests came to campus. Colegio del Rosario Professor Roberto Cortazar visited campus with his daughter, during his tour of the country as a guest of U.S. State Department. By 1945, the College of Agriculture was already ahead of the campus hosting South American government employees (including two Colombians) to study agriculture locally.

By the mid 1950s, Illinois – Colombian connections deepened and grew. As early as June 1954, a private individual approached the Board with a plan to fund as many as 50 scholarships for Colombian citizens. [1] Unfortunately, the plans fell through. Later that year, College of Engineering Dean William L. Everitt (Record Series 1/1/20) traveled by invitation to the University of the Andes which was already sending many students to continue their studies at Illinois. [2] Then in December that year, the Foreign Operations Administration requested the University to participate in a FOA economic development project in Colombia which required University staff members to study or work in Colombia for varying amounts of time. [3]

Students

The first Dentisty student might have been Mr. Albert Gavira who graduated in 1918. Local records pick-up again in the 1940s, with Mr. Alfonso “Al” or “Alph” Tellez, (B.S. Chemical Engineering, 1947) who might have been the sole Colombian undergraduate during the 1940s. Mr. Tellez was a member of multiple cultural organizations on campus and an athlete too. For the German Club’s 1945 Christmas show, Mr. Tellez played one of the three kings. In 1947, he was attributed as a member of the Latin American Coffee Night program which featured South American music and dancing. That same semester, Mr. Tellez was a member of the multicultural student organization Cosmopolitan Club (Record Series 41/64/8) and he played for their intramural soccer team too (April and May 1947). For summer prom, a Daily Illini writer gave Mr. Tellez the nickname “Colombian Playboy” while reporting that Mr. Tellez’s date flew her own plane from Kentucky to join him.

The early 1950s saw the first Colombian graduate students too, including Mr. Alvaro M. Trujillo (M.S. Civil Engineering, 1951) and Mr. Guillermo Castillo Torres (M.S. Physics, 1952). After graduation, Mr. Tores continued his education at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina and the University of Mainz in Germany, before joining Universidad Nacional in Colombia.

The Class of 1953 had as many as eight Colombian graduates; but, unfortunately not all students left detailed records behind. We know that there was a Mr. Ramirez Hector Fabio Gallo, (B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1953) and a Cesar Julio Granados, (B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1953). We know that Mr. Jaime Euleta Gonzalez, (B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1953) participated in a Latin Quarter Review student show at the off campus Y.M.C.A. in November 1951. We also know that Mr. Alfonso Galvis, (B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1953) lost his topcoat in November 1951, as listed in Daily Illini “Lost and Found” advertisements (November 6, 8, 9, and 10).

Mr. Carlos J. Pinzon, (B.S. Civil Engineering, 1953) and Mr. Fernando Restrepo, (B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1953) played music at the 1953 International Fair in the Illini Union. While Mr. Gonzalo Ramirez, (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1953) completed his degree quietly. And Mr. Jaime Romero, (B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1953) participated in multi-cultural dinner events across campus.

The Class of 1954 maintained an even more quiet role in student publications. Mr. Armando Cardenas, (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1954)  and Mr. Carlos Garcia-Reyes (B.S. Civil Engineering, 1954) completed their degrees quietly, while Luis F. Garcia did the same but included music as he joined Mr. Pinzon and Mr. Restrepo in the 1953 International Fair music performance.

Mr. Alfredo Lopez (B.S. Civil Engineering, 1954), Mr. Edilberto Lopez (B.S. Civil Engineering, 1954), and Mr. Hugo Ramirez, (B.S. Civil Engineering, 1954) quietly completed their degrees too, while Mr. Guillermo Tellez (B.S. Architecture, 1954) was found at the 1951 Latin Quarter review too.

Just a few years after the first few undergraduate Colombian Illini classes graduated, many Colombian Illini graduates would follow too, initially including Mr. Luis J. Aristizabal (M.S. Civil Engineering, 1956) and Mr. Andres Gabel (M.S. Surgery, 1960), followed by many more in the years to come.

Organizations

Of course, as the Colombian student population grew, the opportunities to represent and discuss diverse Colombian experiences came in time. Through the off campus Y.M.C.A., annual Colombian Nights were organized as early as 1953, to share music, images, and food from Colombia with the University community.

In 1955, the Colombian student population reached a critical mass and they established the Colombian Student Association to serve Colombian students and University community members interested too. Continuing to the present day, the CSA continues to organize annual social and cultural events for the benefits of all Illini.

Are you a Colombian Illini? Do you know someone who is? We’d like to hear from you! Please send us a message or leave a comment below. We want to include you and your story, as we celebrate the first 150 years of the University of Illinois.

Happy First 150 everyone!

References

[1] Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, June 21, 1954, page 1382, Record Series 1/1/802.

[2] Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, September 29, 1954, page 86, Record Series 1/1/802.

[3] Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, December 20, 1954, page 185-186, Record Series 1/1/802.