Meet the New Assistant Director of the Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute

The Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute (JAULI) at Seton Hall University is pleased to announce alumna Cristina Cosme as its new assistant director. Heavily involved in the University community and beyond, Cosme is also the committee chair and a member of the Latinas United for Political Empowerment (LUPE) Fund, a Leadership Newark Fellow, a Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development (CHPRD) Governor’s Hispanic Fellowship graduate, Boys to Leaders Foundation volunteer and scholarship donor and the co-founder of the Esther Women’s Institute.

Cosme was born, raised and educated in Newark, New Jersey. She is a highly motivated, goal-focused and performance-driven professional with over a decade of initiating and implementing programs to engage and empower her community through the youth.

She received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Seton Hall, and served as the Institute’s program coordinator from May 2022 to September 2023. In that role, she coordinated different events, from the Institute’s annual Fall Gala to its monthly Café Con Joes series and ABC series during Black History Month, demonstrating various event planning skills and the ability to organize both large-scale events and recurring series. As a program coordinator, she successfully coordinated and implemented events in support of the Institute's mission, which is to advance, educate and transform students into the next generation of servant leaders in the ever-changing global society. 

Furthermore, she worked with more than 50 JAULI Scholars and implemented different academic and cultural initiatives to make Seton Hall a home away from home for students. During the 2023-24 academic year, the Institute awarded more than $120,000 in student scholarships. Under her leadership, there have been a record of six Seton Hall Students accepted and graduated from the Governor’s Hispanic Fellowship Program for the summer of 2023.

Under her leadership, the Institute is developing many new and upcoming initiatives including the formation of a Latin Caucus on campus spearheaded by Maria Elena Lugo, a work study student at the Institute. Starting in Spring 2024, there will be a Leadership Development Workshop Series; a Peer Mentorship Program targeting freshman and sophomore students; a JAULI Alumni Mentorship Program which seeks to pair scholars with professionals in their fields of interests; a JAULI Alumni Networking Event planned for April 2024 and a JAULI bi-weekly email newsletter, highlighting the wonderful work our Scholars are doing on campus and in their communities.

Scholarship coupled with the Institute's programming and its new and upcoming initiatives continuously help our scholars and overall Seton Hall University students succeed in their higher education.

For more information about the Joseph A. Unanue Latino Institute, upcoming events and opportunities for engagement, please visit the Institute’s website.

Categories: Arts and Culture