Chris Keller, head soccer coach at Wabash College since 2012, has been named Assistant Director of Latino Partnerships at the College. Keller will continue his role leading the soccer program, but take on additional duties as part of Wabash’s Campus and Community Collaboration initiative funded by Lilly Endowment Inc.
A native Spanish-speaker who was born in Mexico to a Mexican mother and Swiss father, Keller is proud of his own accomplishments as a first-generation college graduate and son of immigrants. During his tenure with the soccer program at Wabash, he has recruited and graduated many Wabash men who share similar stories.
“Coaching soccer at Wabash has been an incredible experience,” Keller said. “We are proud of our team’s makeup and diversity. I’ve prided myself in helping recruit, coach, and graduate a large number of first-generation college students, many of them of Hispanic.”
Keller has transformed the soccer program at Wabash, winning 105 games as head soccer coach and 10 or more matches eight times in 11 full seasons. He’s been named North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year three times and his teams have qualified for the NCAC tournament seven times.
His new responsibilities will expand his efforts beyond the soccer program to the College and Montgomery County as a whole.
“At some point over my Wabash journey, I felt a desire to be able to help not only my student-athletes but do more for the Latino students on campus and community of Crawfordsville,” Keller said.
Keller will work closely with the Wabash Admissions and Financial Aid offices to help first-generation, native Spanish-speaking students and their families understand the enrollment process, including the confusing process of applying for financial aid. He will also become more involved with the Wabash student group, La Alianza, and build bridges between the College and the Crawfordsville community, particularly children in the community and their parents.
“Students who come from underrepresented backgrounds shouldn’t need to lose their identities in order to
adapt to an environment,” Keller says. “The environment should adapt to them.”
Keller, whose wife teaches in Crawfordsville Community Schools, hopes to lead a Latino Advisory Council comprising teachers and staff from local schools and the College to improve engagement with students and parents to increase college attendance.
Dr. Jill Lamberton, Special Assistant to the President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Associate Professor of English, thinks Keller can have a transformative impact on the community.
“If you are not on the soccer field, it is easy to overlook Chris Keller’s leadership because he has a quiet and unassuming manner,” Lamberton said. “But he is a fierce student advocate who wants to make sure all students have every chance of earning a college degree. He pushes me to be better, and I am excited to see what he will do for our campus and local community as he assumes this role.”
In December, Wabash received a $25 million grant from Lilly Endowment to collaborate more closely with the greater Crawfordsville community to improve quality of life. The grant will help fund a campus and community engagement center, support an early childcare center, nurture and sustain the nonprofit ecosystem, and work closely with the growing Latino community.
The College will soon hire a Director of Latino Partnerships and renovate a College building to become a Latino Community Center and home to La Alianza.
“I’m grateful to be involved in this great project that can positively influence Wabash College and Crawfordsville Latino community for many years to come,” Keller said.