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From left to right: UAHAcommittee members Maria ElenaMoreno and Oscar Miranda, UAHAService awardees Mercy A.Valencia and Dr. Francisco Garciaand UAHA president HumbertoStevens.

UA honors student and UAHAOutstanding Hispanic Seniorawardee Joanna Jaramillo and herfamily.

UAHA Celebrates Students, Scholarship and Community

During the UA Hispanic Alumni Club's

annual luncheon, four UA students wererecognized and awarded $1,000 for theiracademic excellence.

By Rebecca Ruiz-McGill, University Communications May 7, 2010

In a celebration of students, scholarship and

community, the University of Arizona Hispanic

Alumni Club held its Celebration of Excellence

Luncheon on Thursday.

The annual event drew more than 100 attendees

and members who help the club in its mission to

provide financial and mentoring support including

help in developing networks with alumni and supporters in the professional and

business community to qualified and deserving students.

To date the club, known as UAHA, has awarded 1,998 scholarships to UA students

for a total of nearly $4.5 million. The multimillion dollar accomplishment began

humbly with the sale of green corn tamales made

by club members.

The UAHA club was founded in 1982 to promote

academic excellence among Hispanic students at

the University.

Four distinguished student scholars were

recognized with the 2010 Outstanding Hispanic

Senior and Outstanding Hispanic Graduate

Student Awards.

"Each year the club selects students from a pool

of 30 to 35 applications. We find the best of the

best and award the four finalists with $1,000 for their scholarly accomplishments

in excellence," said Oscar Lujan, UAHA program coordinator.

Irene Alvarez a doctoral student in pharmaceutical sciences, and Jessica De La

Ossa, a master's student in geography and development, were the graduate

student honorees, and Androuw Carrasco, an honors student in physiology, and

Joanna Jaramillo, an honors student in media arts and communications, were the

club's undergraduate honorees.

Carrasco thanked his mother and his mentors, UA associate dean of graduate

studies Mara Teresa Vlez and Chicano Hispanic Student Affairs director Socorro

Carrizosa, for "their encouraging e-mails and empowering words."

The UAHA club also acknowledged the service and accomplishments of Dr.

Francisco A. Garca, Distinguished Outreach Professor of Obstetrics and

Gynecology and Director of the Center of Excellence in Women's Health at the UA,

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and Mercy Valencia, a doctor of education and retired UA assistant vice president

of real estate administration.

Garca also holds appointments in the Mexican American Studies and Research

Center at the UA, the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the UA

College of Pharmacy. He is recognized internationally for his community-based

health literacy and education initiatives.

Garca, the keynote speaker, talked about his passion for medicine, specifically in

women's health. Women's health, he said, was the key to a thriving societywherein the higher educational attainment women achieve, the more successful

the society will be as "they are portals to family, children and the larger

community."

Valencia was also recognized for her achievements to the UA and her commitment

to the club, students and the community.

Valencia, a native Tucsonan, retired from the UA after a 30-year career. She was

responsible for the University's $3 billion real estate portfolio and annual leasing

activities exceeding $8 million per year. She was also responsible for the

allocation of space for the campus and the Facilities Inventory System, which

monitors the approximately 14 million square feet of university properties.

Valencia continues to be frequently called upon to serve as an expert on public

property sales or acquisition issues.

She thanked the club, recalling its humble beginnings while speaking on the notion

of community amid the new laws on immigration in Arizona citing contributions by

Hispanic community members within the city, state and nation.

Her community service activities include memberships in the Arizona-Mexico

Border Commission (1991-2010), the Arizona Residential Utilities Consumer Board

(1999), both appointments by the Arizona governor. Past Board of Directors

Presidencies include the Hispanic Professional Action Committee, the UA chapter

of the Arizona Association of Chicanos in Higher Education; the Brewster Center

for Domestic Violence Services; and the Parent Connection Advisory Board.

Valencia also served previous terms on the Pima Community College Foundation

Board of Directors; the UA Hispanic Alumni Board of Directors and the Tucson

Unified School District Blue Ribbon Committee's Student

Achievement/Desegregation Issues Subcommittee. She was also a founding

member of the Tucson Hispanic Coalition. Current civic activities include the Pima

County Real Estate Research Council, Arizona List, Reading Seed Program, Tucson

Airport Authority Board, Tucson Diocese Sexual Misconduct Review Board and the

Society for College and University Planners.

The University of Arizona Office of University Communications

888 N. Euclid Ave. Room 413, Tucson, Arizona 85721 :: Contact

Copyright 2010 Arizona Board of Regents

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