Diana Gonzales Worthen

Party

Democrat

Past Service

Seniority

97

Religion

Catholic

Occupation

Educator, Principal Investigator and Director of Project ELEVATE

About Rep. Gonzales Worthen

Rep. Diana Gonzales Worthen is serving her first term in the Arkansas House, representing District 9 which covers East Springdale. For the 95th General Assembly, she serves on the House Education Committee and the House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee.

Rep. Gonzales Worthen is the first Latina legislator in the state's history. She has over 35 years of experience as an educator in public schools and higher education where she has made significant contributions as an Educator, Principal Investigator, and Director of Project ELEVATE. She has directed four five-year U.S. Department of Education grants and received a two-year Engineering Awareness Project for girls from the Kappa State Education Foundation of Delta Kappa Gamma.

Rep. Gonzales Worthen's academic accomplishments include earning a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Arkansas, where she was a Holmes Scholar. She holds advanced certifications in education, including a Secondary Principal Certification and an English as a Second Language (ESL) Endorsement. Her earlier degrees include a Master of Arts in Teaching (Science Education) from the University of Texas at Dallas, a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Houston, and an Associate of Arts from Blinn Jr. College.

Throughout her career, Rep. Gonzales Worthen has been deeply involved in civic organizations. She has held leadership roles such as Founding President of the Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas, President of Arkansas-East Bolivia Partners of the Americas, President of the Washington County Democratic Women and Chair of the Hispanic Caucus of the Democratic Party of Arkansas. She is also a co-founder of OneCommunity which provides educational and leadership programs to strengthen immigrant and diverse families. She has also served on numerous boards including Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Washington County Historical Society and committees focused on equity, education, and community development.

Rep. Gonzales Worthen has been widely recognized for her contributions to education and public service. Her honors include the NWA Black Democratic Caucus Minority Teacher Lifetime Achievement Award, a Women Making History Award from the Washington County Women in History Coalition, and the Arkansas Afterschool Ambassador designation from the Afterschool Alliance. She has also been recognized by the American Red Cross serving NWA for initiating the Alternative Learning Environment Service-Learning Blood Drive and she also received the Emerging Trailblazer Award from the Phi Alpha Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority for her outstanding community service and leadership. In recognition of her contributions to the mission of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), a monetary gift was made by the Fayetteville Branch to the AAUW Educational Foundation in honor of her and the Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas.

In connection with her work in education and NGOs, she has traveled to and worked with people in Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador.

She resides in Springdale with her husband of more than 40 years and is the mother of Dr. Laura Worthen, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow at UAMS.