Tag: Hispanic Heritage Month

CMASR to host Refusing To Forget Roundtable for Hispanic Heritage Month

The Center for Mexican American Studies and Research (CMASR) will host the award-winning public history organization Refusing to Forget to mark Hispanic Heritage Month which kicked off on this weekend and will run through the middle of October.

The roundtable will bring together individuals from the Refusing to Forget project to discuss their work in bringing light to state-sponsored anti-Mexican violence in the early 20th century in South Texas and beyond. The rountable event will be held
Tuesday
12:20 p.m.
Main Building, Room 311

Refusing to Forget members who will be in attendance include:

  • Dr. Trinidad Gonzales, South Texas College
  • Dr. John Moran Gonzalez, University of Texas
  • Juan Carmona, South Texas College and Donna High School
  • Dr. Benjamin Johnson, Loyola University-Chicago
  • Dr. Christopher Carmona, Our Lady of the Lake University

The university community is invited to join the discussion and meet members of the important effort to combat the erasure of this history.

Learn more about Refusing to Forget at www.refusingtoforget.org.

For information on the event, contact Dr. Carmona at ccarmona@ollusa.edu.

OLLU marks Hispanic Heritage Month with new video 

To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, OLLU has produced a new video: “The Face of Hispanic Higher Education.” 

The video explores the roots of the university’s Latino heritage and explains the little-known but far-reaching impact of Hispanic alumni on the U.S. and the world.

OLLU stands unique among institutions of higher learning. Its President, Provost and Dean are Latino. Five Vice Presidents and dozens of professors and staff are Latino. Together, they serve a student body that is nearly 70 percent Latino. This community of color forms the Face of Hispanic Higher Education.

The video shows how OLLU came to be the nation’s first Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), an incubator of Latino leaders and bilingual pioneers. “The Face of Hispanic Higher Education” explains how the U.S. came to celebrate the contributions of Hispanics from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. Through the efforts of alumnus Gil Coronado (BA 1975), a retired Air Force colonel, Congress extended Hispanic Heritage Week to 30 days. Today, Col. Coronado is known as the Father of Hispanic Heritage Month. 

“America at large needs to be educated on who the Hispanics are,” Col. Coronado said, “how they have contributed to our nation and that we’re part of the American fabric.”  

OLLU’s new video is packed with fascinating detail. For instance, 11 Hispanic alumni have won 32 regional Emmy Awards. Three Latino graduates are playing pivotal roles in NASA’s mission to return to the moon. You will learn about all this and more in “The Face of Hispanic Higher Education.”