In a world of globalization, Gerardo Gonzalez thinks that an education will produce the leaders of the next generation.

Gonzalez, professor of counseling/higher education at Indiana University, was asked to speak at the South Campus on Saturday. He spoke to the faculty and students in WKU’s Educational Leadership Doctoral Program about the importance of an education in every student’s life.

Joseph Cangemi, who teaches in WKU’s program, said he was pleased that Gonzalez came to speak.

“His program is doing what we want to do,” Cangemi said. “It is the number one doctoral program in the country and is considered the mother of all doctoral programs that produce college presidents.”

Gonzalez shared stories from his own life to help emphasize his points. He is a native of Cuba and moved to the United States when he was 12.

“Latinos were considered trouble-makers in South Florida, so I kept quiet in class to keep from being seen as trouble,” Gonzalez said.

Because he kept quiet, the teachers thought that he was a mediocre student and that he wasn’t college material, he said.

“It is important that, as educators, we see every student as college material,” he said. “If we don’t have the same high expectations about each student, it can discourage them.”

Kevin Thomas, a doctoral student from Bowling Green, said the session was interesting.

“His message really shows how through globalization, people are no longer working in their backyard. Rather the world is their backyard,” Thomas said. “We have students that are working in Kentucky after they graduate and some that are working in China, Russia, and other places.”