President Barack Obama nominated ASU professor Raúl Yzaguirre to be the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic on Monday afternoon.
Yzaguirre is the executive director of the University’s Center for Community Development and Civil Rights, which is headquartered at the Downtown campus.

Yzaguirre, a Mexican-American who grew up in South Texas, has long been known for his involvement with the Latino community. He served as the second president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights and advocacy organization and during his term the organization expanded from 17 to 300 affiliates, including members from every Hispanic-American subgroup and offices in cities across the country, according to his personal Web page and a 2004 article from Hispanic Business Magazine.

He was most recently in the news when his office released a 92-page report called “The State of Latino Arizona,” detailing the issues facing Latinos in the state, as well as their impact on local politics and the economy.

Earlier this month, he was recognized by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for his involvement with the American Dream Academy, an outreach program seeking to improve dropout rates and foster healthier parent-child relationships.

Yzaguirre’s appointment to the position will depend on confirmation hearings by the U.S. Senate.