About Project Team

Jesus Espinoza

Jesus is the Student Success Librarian at the University Library. He provides information literacy instruction to first year and undergraduate students and work on student outreach efforts. Jesus oversees the Peer Information Consulting program which offers peer research support to students across campus. 

Jesus’ research interests include outreach in academic libraries, DEIA and anti-oppression in libraries, and information literacy and social media. He has also written on assessment, linguistic oppression in libraries, outreach to transfer students and mentoring.

Jesus has a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois and a B.A. in English from San Jose State University.

George Gottschalk

George Gottschalk (he/him) is the Director of Acquisitions at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is a Past President of the American Indian Library Association, a lifetime member of REFORMA, and other professional associations.

Louis Muñoz, Jr.

Luis Carlos “Louis” Muñoz Jr. is a proud child of three countries and cultures: the United States, Puerto Rico, and… New Jersey! Although Puerto Ricans in the U.S. are not considered immigrants, Louis identifies his family’s experiences as such, especially since they were often the only Persons of Color in many of the neighborhoods they lived in in his hometown of Chicago and later New Jersey. A first-generation college graduate in his family, Louis earned an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Essex County College in NJ and later a Bachelor’s in History from Excelsior College in NY, graduating summa cum laude. 

After working in a variety of careers throughout the country – Army soldier, kindergarten teacher, college financial aid counselor, and fitness instructor – Louis decided to pursue librarianship as a career based on the recommendations of various librarian friends in-laws. He joined the Master of Library Science program at Pratt Institute in New York, and was fortunate to become part of a unique grant program between Pratt and Brooklyn Public Library primarily focused on recruiting minority students, attending classes while working as a Librarian Trainee at BPL. Louis stayed at BPL for almost eight years, mostly working at the Central Library helping other immigrants in the Multilingual Center and becoming a Mentor and featured Presenter in the special Multicultural Internship Program, a three-year grant that involved over 150 high-school students.

After leaving Brooklyn Public Library and living in New York, Louis worked at some of the City University of New York (CUNY) campuses in Manhattan and Queens. Since 2015, Louis has been working as a Reference and Interlibrary Loan Librarian in Morristown, NJ, as well as doing outreach to the Latino community there. In his spare time, Louis is a huge “history nerd” and is pursuing a second Master’s in History from Pace University, and he enjoys working with friends in various professional organizations, traveling across the country and around the world, and spending time with his family and with his cat Motor, who will probably become part of our panel. We look forward to a great session and conference with you all!

Ray Pun

Ray Pun (he/him) is an academic librarian in the Bay Area, CA. He is a life member of Reforma as well as other library associations. Ray has published and presented extensively in the field of librarianship.

Tina Rollins

Tina D. Rollins is the director of the William R. and Norma B. Harvey Library at Hampton University. She completed her MLS degree at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). In addition to her full time duties, Rollins also serves as an adjunct online instructor for The School of Information Studies at Syracuse University.

At Hampton, she has created initiatives to improve information literacy, outreach services, and professional development. The initiatives have led to increases in library programming, grantsmanship, fundraising, and faculty and staff communication. The library is successfully rebuilding its brand and building cross-campus collaboration and partnerships. These opportunities create a wealth of potential resources to improve library services and research efforts throughout the university.

Rollins has committed herself to bringing awareness to the lack of diversity within all facets of the LIS field. She has successfully received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support these efforts. Her research interests include the following: Information Literacy Services, Diversity within the LIS Field, Organizational Management and Library Leadership.

Tina Rollins holds various memberships in both regional and national organizations related to the field. She is a board member of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Library Alliance. Additionally, she volunteers in literacy outreach organizations and initiatives in the region. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Management with an emphasis in Higher Education from Hampton University.  She resides in Newport News, VA with her husband.​​

Denisse Solis

Denisse Solis (she/ella) was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She began her library career as a cataloger for Florida International University. She earned a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Kent State University in 2017 and later accepted a position with DU in 2018 as the University Libraries’ first Residency Librarian. As a member of various committees in professional organizations such as the American Library Association (ALA) and REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking she strives to ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion in the profession. She is also an editorial board member for the open-access journal, In the Library with the Lead Pipe.

Her research focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) issues in librarianship stemming from personal and professional experiences as a Spanish Speaker, first-generation college student, and first-generation American of Nicaraguan descent. Now, as the Interim Digital Collections Librarian, she works to ensure institutional accountability and representation in our special collections, specifically those in the DigitalCollections@DU platform, among other responsibilities.

Tess Tobin

Tess Tobin is a retired Associate Professor from New York City College of Technology, the City University of New York. For fourteen years, she was the Personnel and Administrative Services Librarian overseeing Human Resources, Facility Planning and Technology. Tess has dedicated much of her professional career to REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. She served as President of REFORMA National from 2017-2018 and was President of the REFORMA Northeast Chapter from 2009-2010. She has also worked internationally with the Library Services to Multicultural Populations Section for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) from 2007-2015, serving as Chair from 2011-2015. She continues to work with REFORMA advocating for free access to information and equitable library and information services for all members of the community. Tess has also been a proud member of the Las Comadres and Friends National Latino Book Club since 2008. As the Membership Liaison Coordinator she enjoys promoting the book club’s mission to promote the work of Latino authors to every book lover, to bring our community to bookstores, and to support our writers.