Charles R. Martinez, Jr., Chair
4th Congressional District
Term: 7/1/17-6/30/21
Charles.Martinez@ode.state.or.us
Dr. Charles R. Martinez, Jr. is a clinical psychologist, professor, and department head in the Department of Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership at the University of Oregon, where he also directs the Center for Equity Promotion. He served as the University of Oregon Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity from 2005 to 2011, and also served as a senior scientist at the non-profit Oregon Social Learning Center where he founded and directed the center’s Latino Research Team beginning in 1999. He has served as a publicly elected member of the Eugene, District 4J School Board and is currently serving as a Governor appointed member of the Oregon State Board of Education representing Oregon's 4th congressional district.
His substantive interests center on identifying factors that promote healthy adjustment for families and children following stressful life events, (e.g. changes in family structure, socioeconomic status, physical and/or emotional health, acculturation, and immigration status), taking into consideration the cultural contexts in which families operate. He has led numerous NIH and internationally funded research projects designed to examine risk and protective factors involved in linking acculturation to education and behavioral health outcomes for Latino children and families and to develop and test culturally specific interventions for at-risk families in the U.S. and in Latin America. His main areas of published work include substantive and methodological topics related to cultural issues in prevention science, Latino education and behavioral health disparities, links between acculturation and discrimination on substance use and academic failure prevention, culturally specific family based interventions, the role of biosocial stress markers on family outcomes, and family process. He is a nationally known consultant on organizational diversity issues, cross-cultural research, and community engagement. He teaches courses in equity, multicultural education, leading for diversity, prevention science, and Latino family health and education. Dr. Martinez has received numerous national, state, and local awards for his work, including the “Community, Culture, and Prevention Science Award” and the “International Collaborative Prevention Research Award” from the Society for Prevention Research.
Anthony Veliz, Vice-Chair
5th Congressional District
Term: 3/15/17-3/14/21
Anthony.Veliz@ode.state.or.us
The son of farmworkers, Veliz has always understood the importance of an education. He carried his passion from the classroom to the community where he lives and works today. In the beginning Veliz served as a former school board and city councilor where he earned the trust of the community and worked with diversity, he then became the Director of Parent & Community Relations for the Woodburn School District.
Veliz has an array of work experiences in both the public and private sectors. His work as the former Community Relations Manager for the Beaverton based giant NIKE provided him both local and national perspectives. As the Director of College Access Programs while at Chemeketa Community College, Veliz was able to assist first generation, low-income and migrant students.
Today, Veliz is the founder of the annual Hispanic Heritage Month Breakfast and Networkin’it, a diversity and inclusion professional after-hour networking event. Anthony earned a master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Portland State University in Portland, OR.
Kimberly Howard, Second Vice-Chair
3rd Congressional District
Term: 7/1/16 - 6/30/20
Kimberly.Howard@ode.state.or.us
Kimberly Howard heads Education Initiatives as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility Team at Portland General Election and serves as Program Officer for the PGE Foundation. Prior to coming to PGE Kimberly was the Trust manager of the Oregon Cultural Trust for five years, managing director at Portland’s Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center before that and education/outreach director for Artists Repertory Theatre. She current serves on the boards of The Center for Performance and Civic Practice, Portland Playhouse and Oregon Humanities. She has previously served on the board of Business for Culture & the Arts and currently represents Oregon on the Western States Arts Federation's Regional Multi-cultural Advisory Committee. Other committee work includes the CTE-STEM Employer Coalition, Oregon Learns and the Ninth Grade Counts Taskforce for All Hands Raised. Howard is an accomplished actress, with credits in New York, the Williamstown Theatre Festival and several Portland theaters. She has been an ensemble member of Sojourn Theatre for several years and received a Drammy Award (Portland’s version of the Tony Award) for her work in its production of Tartuffe: The Visitor. After attending Wellesley College, Howard received her BA from Pacific Union College, where she majored in business. She holds an MFA in acting from Columbia University and has taught theater at Walla Walla University.