Texas Southern University is a public historically black university (HBCU) in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive HBCUs in the nation with over 10,000 students enrolled and over 100 academic programs. TSU is a leading producer of college degrees to African Americans and Hispanics in Texas and ranks fourth in the United States in doctoral and professional degrees conferred to African Americans. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and it is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, United States is a comprehensive Catholic university. Founded in 1947 by Basilian Fathers, it serves as the only Catholic university in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It is endorsed by The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.
Henry Gabriel Cisneros is an American politician and businessman. He served as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 1981 to 1989, the second Latino mayor of a major American city and the city's first since 1842. A Democrat, Cisneros served as the 10th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the administration of President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. As HUD Secretary, Cisneros was credited with initiating the revitalization of many public housing developments and with formulating policies that contributed to achieving the nation's highest ever rate of home ownership. In his role as the President's chief representative to the cities, Cisneros personally worked in more than two hundred cities spread over all fifty states. Cisneros' decision to leave the HUD position and not serve a second term was overshadowed by controversy involving payments to his former mistress.
Ernesto Cortés, Jr. is the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) co-chair and executive director of the West / Southwest IAF regional network. The IAF provides leadership training and civics education to poor and moderate-income people across the US and UK. Cortés has been instrumental in the building of over 30 grassroots organizations known for developing and training community leaders.
Raul Humberto Yzaguirre is an American civil rights activist. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza from 1974 to 2004 and as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic from November 2010 to May 2013.
Richard Alfred Tapia is an American mathematician and champion of under-represented minorities in the sciences. In recognition of his broad contributions, in 2005, Tapia was named "University Professor" at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the University's highest academic title. The honor has been bestowed on only six professors in Rice's one-hundred-five-year history. On September 28, 2011, President Barack Obama announced that Tapia was among twelve scientists to be awarded the National Medal of Science, the top award the United States offers its researchers. Tapia is currently the Maxfield and Oshman Professor of Engineering; Associate Director of Graduate Studies, Office of Research and Graduate Studies; and Director of the Center for Excellence and Equity in Education at Rice University.
Tomás Rivera was a Chicano author, poet, and educator. He was born in Texas to migrant farm workers, and worked in the fields as a young boy. However, he achieved social mobility through education—earning a degree at Southwest Texas State University, and later a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) at the University of Oklahoma—and came to believe strongly in the virtues of education for Mexican-Americans.
Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, Inc. (ΚΔΧ), also known as K-D Chi or The Penguins is a Greek letter, intercollegiate Latina sorority in the United States. KDChi is a 501(c)(7) organization that prides itself on graduating all of its members, community service to the local and national community, professional networking and producing leaders that continue to give back to its own members and the surrounding communities.
Luis Jimenez or Luis A. Jiménez, Jr. was an American sculptor of Mexican descent. He was born in El Paso, Texas, and died in New Mexico. He studied art and architecture at the University of Texas in Austin and El Paso, earning a bachelor's degree in 1964. His post-graduate work was at Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, D.F. in 1966. He became an accomplished artist and taught art at the University of Arizona and later the University of Houston.
The National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) was established in 1982 as the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy (IPR) in New York City, United States as a non-profit and nonpartisan policy center focusing on critical Latino policy issues.
Angelo Falcón was a Puerto Rican political scientist best known for starting the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy (IPR) in New York City in the early 1980s, a nonprofit and nonpartisan policy center that focuses on Latino issues in the United States. It is now known as the National Institute for Latino Policy and Falcón served as its President until his death. He was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University School of Public and International Affairs (S.I.P.A.).
Arnulfo Duenes Trejo was a writer and Professor of Library Science at the University of Arizona. He was a leader in the movement to increase library collections of Latino literature and Spanish-language materials in the United States. He was also instrumental in efforts to train more Latino and Spanish-speaking people as professional librarians.
Rodolfo Francisco Acuña, Ph.D., is an American historian, professor emeritus, and one of various scholars of Chicano studies, which he teaches at California State University, Northridge. He is the author of Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, which approaches the history of the Southwestern United States that includes Mexican Americans. It has been reprinted five times since its 1972 debut. The sixth edition was published Dec. 1, 2006. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times,The Los Angeles Herald-Express, La Opinión, and numerous other newspapers. His work emphasizes the struggle of the Mexican American people. Acuña is also an activist and he has supported the numerous causes of the Chicano Movement.
Steven L. Miller is a businessman who has been a prominent leader in the American oil industry, serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors, President, and C.E.O. of Shell Oil Company from 1999 to his retirement in 2002. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he was born in 1945, and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1967. He currently resides in Houston, Texas, where he promotes volunteer work through his company, SLM Discovery Ventures.
Gloria De Leon has been involved with the National Hispanic Institute since its establishment and has served as the organization's Executive Vice President since 1982. Born in McAllen, Texas, De Leon attended McAllen High School and later entered the University of Texas Pan American where she received her Bachelor of Science in Social Work. After her undergraduate coursework, De Leon served in various management positions in both the state and federal government.
The Honorable Mickey Ibarra served as Director of The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs under the Clinton administration. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of a Mexican immigrant father and an American mother.
Dr. Havidán Rodríguez is the 20th president of the University at Albany, SUNY. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and has had a distinguished career in higher education as an academic administrator/leader, scholar, and educator.
Brown, Not White: School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston is a 2005 book by Guadalupe San Miguel, Jr., published by the Texas A&M University Press. Brown, Not White discusses Chicano activism in Houston, Texas during the 20th century.
Juana María Bordas is a Nicaraguan–American community activist specializing in leadership development and diversity training. She is a founder of several Denver, Colorado-area organizations promoting Latino and Latina leadership, including the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, and Mestiza Leadership International, where she currently serves as president. She has authored two books and is a motivational speaker and workshop presenter for conferences and businesses. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.
