El Centro Alumni Hall of Fame Inductees
The Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame was established in 1995 at the suggestion of trustee member, Charles Ogletree, '74, MA '75. Since then, each of Stanford's four ethnic community centers: Asian American Activities Center, the Black Community Services Center, El Centro Chicano y Latino; and the Native American Cultural Center have participated. Alumni are inducted in honor of their distinguished service to their communities and society at large.
Each year the award is presented by the community centers at a festive ceremony and reception during Reunion Homecoming Weekend sponsored by the Stanford Alumni Association.
For the full list of all ethnic community center Multicultural Alumni Hall of Fame awardees click here.
El Centro Chicano y Latino Multicultural Hall of Fame Inductees
2022: Miriam Rivera, '86, AM '89, JD/MBA '94
Attorney, and IT Venture Entrepreneur
2021: Joaquin Castro, ’96
U.S. Representative (TX-20)
2021: Julian Castro, ’96
Former secretary of Housing and Urban Development
2019: Alma Rosa Medina, ’92, JD ’95
Attorney
Originally from Jalisco, Mexico Alma grew up in South Central Los Angeles. An immigrant and first-generation college student, Alma earned a B.A. in Spanish with a Chicano Studies emphasis from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Alma had the honor of serving as an intern to Cecilia Burciaga, former Assistant to the President and Provost for Chicano Affairs at Stanford, for the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans under President Clinton.
As a law student Alma also interned with the National Council of La Raza, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement. She worked on asbestos, tobacco, and lead paint poisoning cases on behalf of low-income plaintiffs in Washington, D.C. Presently Alma is pro bono attorney in private practice.
Alma is a member of the Board of Directors and alumni of the Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs and whose mission is to increase access of minority students to independent schools and to act as a resource to schools in their individual efforts to address issues of racial diversity and multicultural education.
She has served several terms as alumni representative to El Centro Chicano’s Guiding Concilio and is committed to serving the Stanford community. She teaches Ballet Folkórico lessons and volunteers with a number of organizations serving her community.
Alma is married to Colin Cloud Hampson (B.A. ’90, MA ’91, JD ’94) and is mother to Woesha Anastacia Cloud (Yale Class of 2017), Asunción Cheskaga (Stanford Class of 2018), Faustino Tomás Yellowcloud (University of Washington Class of 2021), and Ramiro Maxeechoga (Stanford Class of 2022).
2018: Isidro D. Ortiz, MA ’73, PhD ‘78
Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies, San Diego State University
Isidro D. Ortiz, PhD, is Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University. He earned a doctorate in political science at Stanford. To his knowledge, he was the first Chicano to earn such a degree at the university. A native of south Texas, he was a first-generation college student who earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Texas A&I University where he became an activist in the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) during the era of the Chicano Movement. As a student activist in MAYO he exerted leadership in struggles for equal educational opportunity for Chicanos in Texas and in opposition to the Vietnam war. This activism inspired Ortiz to pursue political studies at Stanford in the early 1970s.
As a political scientist, he studies Chicano/Latino political activism and educational policy and practice towards Chicanos/Latinos. He has published articles in scholarly journals on aspects of Latino politics and co-edited three books on the developments among Chicana/os. Ortiz also teaches courses on the roles of Chicana/os in American and California political system and the experiences with oppression and resistance among Chicanos. As a political scientist, he has chaired the Committee on the Status of Chicanos in the Profession of the American Political Science Association.
For over three decades he has been an advocate for increased access to higher education for low-income students. He serves as the co-chair of the Chicano/Latino Concilio on Higher Education of San Diego County, and as a member of the board of Alliance San Diego. In addition, Ortiz has served as a mentor for first-generation students. Ortiz is a proud member of the California Faculty Association and the California Teachers Association. He was recognized in 2017 for his mentoring, activism and leadership by the National Council on Higher Education of the National Education Association (NEA) with the honor of the John Davenport Award.
2017: Delia Casillas, '74.
Community Advocate and Mentor
Delia Casillas came to Stanford University in September 1970 at a time when Chicanx/Latinx students were just beginning to be recruited and admitted in a concerted way. Delia seized the opportunity to make Stanford a better place for future students and our surrounding communities. She held leadership positions in MEChA, as the first woman chair, and helped other students gain organizing skills through their work in committees and social justice projects. Delia lived in the Roble Hall Corridor, the precursor to Casa Zapata. Having a place to live, organize, and share experiences was important to the development of the Latino community on campus. Being a female leader and the first person in her family to attend an elite, private university was also challenging at times. Delia persisted and received her B.A. degree in Spanish in 1974.
Delia has been committed to the empowerment and self-determination of the Chicanx/Latinx community through advocacy and education. She has had a tremendous impact across the Bay Area as a public school educator, court interpreter in Sonoma County, advocate for professional women in San Francisco and Berkeley, and neighborhood youth corp leader in San Mateo County.
Delia's impact during her time on the Farm included organizing the first ever Chicana/Latina conference, the “Quinto Sol” literary conference, active membership in the Women's Alliance for Health Services, leading the EPA Community Tutorial Program, co-hosting the “MEChA Hour” radio show at KZSU, serving as a founding member of the Chicana Collectiva and Stanford Ballet Folklorico. Delia has continued her commitment to creating community by being the founder of the Stanford Chicano/Latino Alumni Association, serving as one of the first Latinxs on Stanford Alumni Association Board where she advocated for more minority representation in all aspects of alumni affairs, and Co-Chairing the Alumni Multi-Cultural Planning Committee for the Stanford Centennial Celebration.
2016: Victor Arias, Jr., MBA '82
Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry International, CEO/Board Services, Global Leader, Diversity & Inclusion
Victor Arias, Jr., MBA '82, is a steadfast champion of Stanford's Latino students and alumni. His involvement spans the university, from admissions and student support to alumni engagement and faculty diversity. He served as vice chair of the Stanford Board of Trustees Task Force on Minority Alumni Relations and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Victor also served as Co-Chair of El Centro Chicano y Latino 25th Anniversary Mariachi Benefit Concert. He spearheaded the Anna Marie Zarate Porras Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.
In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees, the SAA Board of Directors, and the Stanford Associates Board of Governors, Victor has served on the Advisory Council of Stanford's Graduate School of Business and on the Business School Alumni Association Board of Directors. He has also provided substantial regional leadership in Chicago and Dallas working with SAA alumni clubs; sitting on the host committees for Think Again, Stanford Day In and Leading Matters programs; fundraising for the Campaign for Undergraduate Education; and serving on The Stanford Challenge Regional Major Gift Committee.
Currently, he is a co-founder with Emeritus GSB Professor Jerry Porras and other Latino alums of the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) which has established the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI). This work has developed research and programs for the expressed interest of scaling Latino businesses to create jobs and wealth for the benefit of our country and the overall Latino community.
He was recognized by his alma mater, University of Texas at El Paso, as a Distinguished Alum in 2009 and recently received the Stanford Medal from the Stanford Associates.
2015 Reymundo Espinoza, '73
Chief Executive Officer, Gardner Family Health Services
2014 Christy Haubegger, JD '92
Agent, Creative Artists Agency; Founder, Latina magazine
2013: James Montoya, A.B. 1975, A.M. 1978
Vice President for Higher Education and International, The College Board
James Montoya is best known for his work in creating greater educational opportunity and access for students nationally and internationally. He is a trailblazer in the educational arena as the youngest head of admissions at a leading liberal arts college; the first minority head of admission at an Ivy League and Sisters institution; and, the first Latino Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Stanford University, where he also served as Vice Provost for Student Affairs. Mr. Montoya currently serves as the College Board’s Vice President for Higher Education and International in New York City.
A native of San Jose, James Montoya earned a bachelor's degree with academic distinction from Stanford in 1975 and a master's degree in Administration and Policy Analysis from the School of Education. At his undergraduate commencement, James Montoya received the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award in recognition of his scholarly attainments and his outstanding contributions to undergraduate education at Stanford.
An active Stanford alumnus, Mr. Montoya has served on the Board …Stanford Alumni Association, the Stanford Athletics Board, and as a lecturer through the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. He currently serves on the Stanford Graduate School of Education Advisory Council.
2012: Annie M. Gutierrez, J.D. 1971
Retired Judge of the Superior Court in Imperial County, California
The Honorable Annie M. Gutierrez was appointed Judge of the Superior Court in Imperial County in 2002 becoming the first female judge in the county. Gutierrez had previously served as Assistant U.S. attorney in El Centro, California from 1995 to 2002 and as Deputy District Attorney in Imperial County in 1995.
Before entering Stanford Law School, Gutierrez served 3 ½ years as a lay judge in the Westmorland Judicial District, Imperial County. Lay judges were permitted in California at this time, provided they passed a test on California law. She credits a CRLA attorney who encouraged her to obtain a law degree and even contacted the Stanford Law School Dean on her behalf. As a Stanford Law School student, Gutierrez followed her passion for civil rights and justice. Together with other student activists, she wrote and presented well thought out proposals to Stanford’s University President to encourage the recruitment and admission of Hispanics into all areas of the University. Due to these diligent efforts, the number of Chicano and Latino students increased dramatically the following years.
Gutierrez received her Juris Doctor in 1971 from the Stanford Law School. In 1972 she became the first Spanish sur-named woman to pass the California Bar and … soon after opened up her own law practice in El Centro, California where she practiced civil and criminal law.
Gutierrez’ contributions to the legal field and the larger society have been vast and diverse. Between 1995 and 2004, Annie assisted countries in Central and South America and also in Africa in the establishment of jury trials and in the training of attorneys and judges. Gutierrez served as domestic policy adviser to President Carter in 1977-1978. When President Kennedy formed the Peace Corps, Gutierrez was among the first people hired. As Program Officer for two years, she developed, negotiated, directed and managed programs for five South American countries. Gutierrez has worked in all the continents except Antarctica and has back-packed alone through China, Tibet, Nepal and Pakistan.
In 1960, Gutierrez graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Pomona College and in 1961 earned a master’s degree in International Relations and Economics from Claremont Graduate School. Gutierrez has two children, Angela Marlow who teaches children with addictions and Marc Cocova, a United States marine.
2011: Frank O. Sotomayor, A.M. 1967
Senior Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism; adjunct faculty member in journalism at USC and a Fellow with the California Endowment Health Journalism Program; former editor at the Los Angeles Times.
Frank O. Sotomayor has been a journalist, mentor and an advocate for diversity in the news media and at Stanford. He was an editor at the Los Angeles Times for 35 years, including 18 as an assistant city editor. He was co-editor and a writer on the Times series "Latinos in Southern California," which won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service. Sotomayor currently is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism. He’s also an adjunct faculty member in journalism at USC and a Fellow with the California Endowment Health Journalism Program.
Sotomayor has mentored young journalists and helped train professionals for four decades. He was a co-founder of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, which led the movement to diversify the nation’s newsrooms. He was co-founder of the California Chicano News Media Association and helped establish a key journalism job fair. He was also involved in founding the National Association for Hispanic Journalists; in 2002, he was inducted to NAHJ’s Hall of Fame.
He received a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a master's in communication from Stanford. While at Stanford in spring 1967, he and two other students met with the director of admissions and advocated for recruiting efforts to admit more Chicanos, who made up one-third of 1% of the student body. That meeting launched recruiting efforts of Latinos.
Sotomayor also studied at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow. He also worked at the Arizona Daily Star, Philadelphia Inquirer and Pacific Stars and Stripes. He authored “Para los Niños, Improving Education for Mexican Americans” and co-edited the book “Frank del Olmo: Commentaries on His Times.” Sotomayor was born in Tucson, son of a Mexican American gardener and a housewife. He was married to the late Meri Sotomayor and has two children, Teresa and Stephen.
2010: Ricardo F. Muñoz, A.B. 1972
Founder, the UCSF Depression Clinic; director, Clinical Psychology Training Program, the Latino Mental Health Research Program, and the Internet World Health Research Center at UCSF.
Ricardo F. Muñoz immigrated at age 10 from Chosica, Perú, to the Mission District of San Francisco, with his parents, Luis Alberto Muñoz and Clara Luz Valdivia de Muñoz. He was accepted to Stanford in 1968. He did his senior honors thesis with Albert Bandura, whose ideas (social learning/social cognitive theory, self-efficacy, personal agency) are still the major influence in his work as a psychologist. He earned his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He learned about community psychology and prevention of mental disorders under the mentorship of James G. Kelly, and did his dissertation under the supervision of Peter M. Lewinsohn, on behavioral and cognitive approaches to the treatment of depression.
Six days after completing his Ph.D. in 1977, he returned to the Mission District to begin work at San Francisco General Hospital as a professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Over the last 33 years, he founded the Depression Clinic (to provide cognitive-behavioral therapy to primary care patients in Spanish and English), became Chief Psychologist, and now directs the Clinical Psychology Training Program, the Latino Mental Health Research Program, and the Internet World Health Research Center.
He has over 100 publications, including six books (among them: Control Your Depression; Controlling Your Drinking; The Prevention of Depression: Research and Practice; and Social and Psychological Research in Community Settings: Designing and conducting programs for social and personal well being). He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. He has served on review groups for the National Institute of Mental Health and two Institute of Medicine committees which published reports on the prevention of mental disorders.
His current work focuses on using evidence-based Internet interventions to reduce health disparities worldwide. He has conducted randomized controlled trials testing Spanish- and English language Internet interventions to stop smoking and to prevent or manage depression. Well over 800,000 visitors from over 200 countries have come to his sites, and over 60,000 of them have signed informed consent and become official participants in his studies. He plans to continue developing such interventions for many health problems and in several of the most commonly used languages worldwide.
Muñoz is married to Pat Marine Muñoz. They have two children, Rodrigo Alberto (Stanford A.B., 2005) and Aubrey Elizabeth Luz (Stanford A.B. 2008, M.A. 2009).
2009: Vicki L. Ruiz, A.M. 1978, PH.D. 1982
Dean of School of Humanities Professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies at UC Irvine.
For Vicki L. Ruiz, history remains a grand adventure, one that began at the kitchen table listening to the stories of her mother and grandmother and then took flight aboard the local bookmobile. A first generation college student, she attended Gulf Coast Community College and then transferred to Florida State where Stanford alum Jean Gould Bryan encouraged her to pursue a PhD. A graduate student in the summer of 1978, she traveled to Guadalajara to interview labor and civil rights activist Luisa Moreno. On the last day of her stay, she blurted out, “I know what I’m going to do for my dissertation. I’m going to write about you.” Moreno shook her head and said, “No, no. You are going to write your dissertation on the cannery workers in southern California. You find these women.” A few months later Ruiz did after meeting Ed Escobar, the son of a key union leader, at El Centro Chicano.
Under the mentorship of Albert Camarillo and Estelle Freedman, she completed the PhD in 1982. After teaching at UT El Paso, UC Davis, the Claremont Colleges, and Arizona State, Ruiz has been a professor at UC Irvine since 2001 and was appointed Dean of Humanities in 2008. An award-winning historian, she has published seventeen books including Cannery Women, Cannery Lives and From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. She and Virginia Sánchez Korrol co-edited Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, named a 2007 Best in Reference by the New York Public Library. Active in student mentorship projects, summer institutes for teachers, and public humanities programs, Ruiz was a recess appointment nominated by President Clinton for the National Council of the Humanities. She is past-president of the Organization of American Historians and the American Studies Association. Ruiz serves on the national advisory boards for the Stanford Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
She is married to Victor Becerra and the mother of two adult sons Miguel and Daniel Ruiz.
2008: Frances A. Cordova, A.B. 1969
An internationally recognized astrophysicist and President of Purdue University and former Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.
2007: Jose Roberto Juarez, A.B. 1977
Dean of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and a board member of the Journal of Law & Religion.
A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Texas School of Law, Dean Juárez has served as the dean of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law since July, 2006. The Sturm College of Law has approximately 1200 law students. As dean he leads 65 full-time faculty and a staff of 100 persons, and manages a $32 million budget.
Dean Juárez began his legal career in 1982 at the Gulf Coast Legal Foundation, where he practiced poverty law. As a staff attorney in the San Antonio office of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF) from 1983 to 1987, Dean Juárez litigated class actions in employment, education, voting rights, and immigration. He directed MALDEF’s Los Angeles office from 1987 to 1990.
Dean Juárez joined the faculty of St. Mary’s University School of Law in 1990 and became a tenured Professor of Law in 1995. He received the 1996 Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in teaching from the St. Mary’s University Alumni Association, and received the Marianist Heritage Award in 1997. He served as associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at St. Mary’s University School of Law for two years.
His research interests include employment discrimination, language rights, legal history, race, and law and religion. He teaches courses in civil procedure, civil rights, conflict of laws, constitutional law, federal courts, professional responsibility, and remedies, and offers a seminar on language rights. Fluent in English and Spanish, he regularly teaches courses on the law of the United States at law schools in Mexico.
Dean Juárez currently serves on the board of directors of the Journal of Law & Religion. He was co-President of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), the largest membership organization of law professors in the nation from 2004-2006. He has served as the Chair of the Section on Employment Discrimination of the Association of American Law Schools. Hispanic Business Magazine named him one of the Top 100 Influential Hispanics in 2006.
2006: Elena V. Rios M.D., A.B. 1977
President and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association.
Dr. Ríos serves as the president and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, (NHMA), representing Hispanic physicians in the United States. The mission of the organization is to improve the health of Hispanics. Dr. Ríos also serves as President of NHMA’s National Hispanic Health Foundation affiliated with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, to direct educational and research activities.
Dr. Ríos also serves on the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the Partnership for Prevention Board of Directors, the American Medical Association Commission to End Health Disparities, and is Co-Chair for the Hispanic Health Coalition. Dr. Ríos has lectured and published articles and has received several awards on health policy, including awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Congressional Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American Caucuses, American Public Health Association Latino Caucus, Association of Hispanic Health Executives, Minority Health Month, Inc., and Hispanic Magazine.
Prior to her current positions, Dr. Ríos served as the Advisor for the Regional and Minority Women’s Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health from November 1994 to October 1998. In 1992, Dr. Ríos worked for the State of California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development as policy researcher. In 1993, Dr. Rios was appointed to the National Health Care Reform Task Force as the Coordinator of the Outreach Groups for the White House. Dr. Ríos also served as the President of the Chicano/Latino Medical Association of California, Advisor to the National Network of Latin American Medical Students, member of the California Department of Health Services Cultural Competency Task Force, Stanford Alumni Association and Women’s Policy Inc. Board of Directors, and the AMA’s Minority Affairs Consortium Steering Committee.
Dr. Ríos earned her BA in Human Biology/Public Administration at Stanford University in 1977, MSPH at the University of California School of Public Health in 1980, her MD at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1987, and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose and the White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles in 1990, and her NRSA Primary Care Research Fellowship at UCLA in 1992.
2005: Francisco Cancino, A.B., 1959
Legal leader and advocate for education, employment and voting rights.
Francisco Cancino graduated from Stanford’s School of Law in 1956, with a Bachelor of Arts in PreLegal Curriculum. In June1963, Mr. Cancino earned a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego, School of Law, and was admitted to The State Bar of California in 1965. He is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar and has served on the California State Bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners. Mr. Cancino was Special Assistant of the Director of the Office of Civil Rights (USDHEW), where he investigated and litigated charges of racial and ethnic discrimination made against the Boston School system; as a result, that system lost all federal funding when it failed to end the discrimination. He organized national meetings of educators at which model bilingual programs were developed from the US Department of Justice; subsequently, federal courts ordered Del Rio and Beeville Texas school systems to use those models to remedy discriminations against Latinos.
Later, serving as an Administrative Law Judge (USDEHW), Mr. Cancino issued the first decision under Executive Order 11246 debarring Philadelphia contractor from federally funded projects for failing to hire minority workers. Subsequently, he served as Special Counsel for the US Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development, which coordinated its work with the Judiciary Committees of the US Senate and the House of Representatives.
Mr. Cancino was the Director of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) West Coast Litigation Center. The supervised 55 attorneys who litigated cases to enforce federal civil right statutes (Title VII 1964 CRA, ADA ADEA) in federal district courts in the nine western states. Mr. Cancino was a founding member of (1978) of the California State La Raza Lawyers Association (LRLA) and the Hispanic National Bar Association. During 1988-2000, he was California State LRLA’s Judicial Affairs Chair (he instigated a Section V, Voting Act case which resulted in the appointment of the first two Chicano state trial judges in the history of Monterey County, CA). In 2002, San Francisco LRLA honored him as Lawyer of the Year “for his leadership, dedicated service, and contributions to the community.”
In California, Mr. Cancino has served in the Board of Directors of Santa Clara County Legal Aid Foundation, Martin Luther King Hall Foundation (UC Davis Law School), Latino Educational and Cultural Foundation of Marin County; San Joaquin Valley Ivy League Project, Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, and Stanford Club of San Francisco. He served on the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation’s team of selectors for the Gates Millenniums Scholars Program (2000-2004). He has been a moot court judge at the Stanford, Boalt, and Hastings Law Schools.
Mr. Cancino continues to advocate for Latino and other students from communities of color, enabling them to learn about and successfully apply to, Stanford and Ivy League institutions and later helps them with the career development.
2004: Luis Nogales, J.D. 1969
Founder and managing partner of Nogales Investors and a board member of Edison International, KB Home, Arbitron Inc., The Getty Trust, and the Mayo Clinic Trust.
Luis Nogales was a co-founder of MEChA both at Stanford and in the nation. He became Stanford’s first Assistant to the President for Mexican American Affairs one day after graduating from the Stanford Law School in 1969. As a student leader and member of the President’s senior staff, he was instrumental in institutionalizing the enrollment and participation of Latino students, faculty and staff at Stanford. He left Stanford when he was selected a White House Fellow; he continued his involvement with the University by serving on the visiting committees of the Law School, the Libraries, and the Haas Center for Public Service, which he chaired. Later he became the first Latino member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees. Although, he was often the first Latino to hold a position, his motto has been to neither be the only, nor the last. Mr. Nogales has had a full and active career in the private sector and public service. He served as CEO of United Press International and President of Univision, among senior operating positions; in addition, he has served on the board of directors Levi Strauss & Company, The Bank of California, Lucky Stores, Golden West Broadcasters, Arbitron, K-B Home, Coors, and Kaufman & Broad, S.A. France. He also served as Senior Advisor to the Latin America Private Equity Group of Deutsche Bank working in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. On corporate boards he has been an advocate for diversity of the workforce and senior management. While assuming leadership positions in the private sector, Mr. Nogales continued participating in public service by serving, among other activities, as a Trustee of the Ford Foundation, The Getty Trust, The Mayo Clinic Trust, and Stanford University. He also served on the board of directors of the Inter American Foundation, The Inter American Dialogue, The Pacific Council on Foreign Policy and The Mexican and American Legal Defense Fund, (MALDEF) where he served as president of the Board. He was co-founder of the Los Angeles Chicano City Commissioners Caucus when he served as City Commissioner. He was also a founding member of the California Commission on Higher Education and was appointed by President Clinton to the Commission on Federal Capital Investment. He was founding chairman of the California Channel. In 2001, Luis Nogales and his wife, Rosita, donated $1 million to MALDEF to defend the rights of immigrants. In that same year, Mr. Nogales established a scholarship endowment at San Diego State University where he attended as an undergraduate. Currently, Mr. Nogales is founder and managing partner of Nogales Investors, a private equity investment firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York. He continues to be active in politics, social mobility reform, and corporate governance. Mr. Nogales grew up in the agricultural valleys of California, based in Calexico, working as a farm worker.
2003: Jim Plunkett, A.B. 1971
Former professional football player who has won the Heisman Trophy, two Super Bowl titles and a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award
The "golden arm" from the Golden State, Jim Plunkett began his football career in high school in San Jose, California, set new records in college football, and completed a stellar 17-season ProFootball career. Along the way, he garnered a Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, an NFL Rookie of the Year Award, a Super Bowl MVP Award and two Super Bowl championship rings. Born in San Jose, California on December 5, 1947, Jim Plunkett attended San Jose schools until his enrollment at Stanford University in September of 1966. In the three seasons with Stanford, his total offensive records included most pass attempts, 962; most pass completions, 530; most net yards passing, 7,544; most touchdown passes, 52; most plays total offense, 1,174; and most yards total offense, 7,887. His net yards passing and most yards total offense are NCAA records. When he connected for 22 of 36 passes for 268 yards against Washington, he broke the career passing mark of 7,076 yards held by Steve Ramsey of North Carolina. In his last college football game, Plunkett directed Stanford to a 27-17 upset victory over Ohio State in the 1971 Rose Bowl. Jim was named the Rose Bowl's most valuable player. In addition to his athletic prowess, Plunkett earned his A.B. degree in Political Science at Stanford University in 1971. It was during his undergraduate years that Jim, who is of Mexican descent, opened the eyes of many working class Chicanos to the possibility of a Stanford education. He inspired, instilled confidence, and provided the drive for youth to set high academic and leadership standards in preparation for a college education. Jim Plunkett began his pro-football career as the first selection in the 1971 NFL draft. As quarterback of the New England Patriots, he compiled a brilliant freshman record as starting quarterback passing for 2,158 yards and winning Rookie of the Year honors. He was traded in 1976 to the '49ers and in 1980 went with the Oakland Raiders. In 16 NFL seasons, Jim completed 1,943 passes for 25,882 yards, 164 touchdowns and a 52.2% completion rate. He ranks 20th all-time in the NFL with 3,701 passing attempts. In the Raiders Super Bowl XV victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, Jim was voted the game's MVP, passing for 261 yards and three touchdowns, including an 80-yard touchdown pass to Kenny King. In his two Super Bowl appearances, Jim threw no interceptions, a Super Bowl record. In 1980, Jim was voted Comeback Player in the NFL while guiding the Raiders to wins in 13 of their final 15 games, including four playoff games and a Super Bowl victory. Jim Plunkett retired after a spectacular 17-season Pro-Football career. He is extremely active at Stanford University where he has raised scholarship funds through his golf tournament for the past 25 years for the Stanford Women's Golf team, Women's Volleyball team, and the Stanford Football team. He is also an avid supporter of the Peninsula Center for the Blind. Jim and his wife, Gerry, have two children, Jim Jr. (20) and Meghan (18).
2002: Félix F. Gutiérrez, A.M. 1972, Ph.D. '76
Visiting Professor of Journalism at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California
A native of East Los Angeles, Dr. Félix Gutiérrez earned a master's degree in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1976 in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. He is a Visiting Professor of Journalism at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and former Senior Vice President for the Freedom Forum and Newseum in Arlington, VA. Scholar. Dr. Gutiérrez' scholarship and publications have focused on racial diversity and the media. He is the author or co-author of four books and more than 50 scholarly articles or book chapters, most on racial diversity or technological change in the media. His co-authored book, Race, Multiculturalism and the Media: From Mass to Class Communication was awarded the 1996 Gustavus Myers Award as Outstanding Book on Human Rights in North America. Educator. The son of two 1930s Chicano college student activists who became schoolteachers in East Los Angeles, Dr. Félix Gutiérrez earned a bachelor's degree in social studies in 1965, a secondary teaching credential in 1966 from California State College Los Angeles and a master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 1967. Unable to find a teaching or journalism position, he took an administrative position at Cal State LA. In 1969, he became Stanford's third Chicano administrator when named Assistant Dean of Students as the university prepared to enroll its largest group of Chicano students. He quickly became a role model, leader, friend, and inspiration to students. As a graduate student from 1970 to 1974 he wrote the proposal for the Chicano Fellows program. In 1974 Dr. Félix Gutiérrez became an assistant professor of journalism at California State University Northridge. In 1979, he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California School of Journalism. In 1989, he was named dean of student academic services and special programs, reportedly the highest position ever held by a Latino at USC, and served in that position until joining the Gannett Foundation in 1990. Advocate. Disappointed by his own failure to find newsroom work in the 1960s, Dr. Gutiérrez has focused his advocacy on recognizing the communication traditions of all races and opening doors for all to the nation's newsrooms. From 1978 through 1980 he was the first executive director of the California Chicano News Media Association. After working in the early 1990s in the Washington, D.C. area as vice president of The Freedom Forum's predecessor organization, The Gannett Foundation, he returned to Northern California in 1993 as executive director of the new Freedom Forum Pacific Coast Center and directed that center's education, professional and public programs through 2000. In 2001 Dr. Gutiérrez was Senior Vice President of the Newseum, The Freedom Forum's interactive museum of news. Felix is married to Dr. María Elena Gutierrez, an educational researcher and Stanford's first Chicana administrator. They have three daughters: Elena, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Anita, former Associate Publisher of City Limits magazine in New York City, and Alicia, Stanford JD and MBA '02, Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in New York City.
2001: Yvonne Aida Maldonado, M.D. 1981
Associate Professor in Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University; Pediatric researcher
Born in Los Angeles, California, Dr. Yvonne A. Maldonado received her MD at Stanford University in 1981. She completed a pediatric residency in 1984 and a pediatric infectious diseases fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1986. Subsequently, Dr. Maldonado spent two years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control. In 1988, Dr. Maldonado joined the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine where she is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics. She was Board certified in Pediatrics in 1988, and has been a member of the American Board of Pediatrics since 1988. Professor Maldonado has published a number of research articles and reviews relevant to many aspects of pediatric infectious diseases. She has served on the Pediatrics Review and Education Program (PREP) Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics as the Infectious Diseases expert on that Committee and on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Dr. Maldonado also founded and directs the Stanford Infectious Diseases and Immunology Center, a d-iagnostic and treatment outpatient clinic for children with acquired or congenital immunodeficiencies. She was the Stanford site principal investigator for the Northern California Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group from 1988„1994 and is currently the principal investigator for the NIH-funded HIVNET/HPTN HIV clinical trials site in Zimbabwe. Dr. MaldonadoÍs research has focused on the epidemiology of perinatal HIV infection, and the molecular epidemiology of immune responses to viral vaccines in children, including an oral poliovirus vaccine immunogenicity study which she conducted among Mayan populations in the rural highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. She is currently working on perinatal HIV prevention clinical trials in Zimbabwe, the molecular mechanisms of neuroreversion of poliovirus vaccine and the ontogeny of T and B cell immune responses to measles vaccine in young infants.
2001: Rachel F. Moran, A.B. 1978
Professor of Law at University of California School of Law
Rachel F. Moran was born in Kansas City, Missouri and subsequently lived in Kansas City, Kansas; Calexico, California; and Yuma, Arizona. She attended public schools in Yuma from the fifth grade through the end of high school. In 1976, Ms. Moran received her A.B. in Psychology with Honors and with Distinction from Stanford University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa her junior year. She obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School where she was an Editor of the Yale Law Journal, Runner-up in the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Prize Competition, and Teaching Assistant to the Associate Dean. Rachel F. Moran is now the Robert D. and Leslie-Kay Raven Professor of Law at the University of California School of Law (Boalt Hall). At Boalt, she teaches Torts, Education and the Law, and Bilingualism and the Law. From 1993-96, she served as Chair of the Chicano/Latino Policy Project at the Institute for the Study of Social Change. In 1995, she received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the Berkeley campus. She has published and lectured extensively in the areas of affirmative action, desegregation, and bilingual education. Professor Moran has recently finished a book on interracial intimacy and is coauthoring a casebook on educational law and policy. She has been a Visiting Professor at UCLA School of Law, Stanford Law School, New York University School of Law, the University of Miami School of Law, and the University of Texas Law School.
2000: José R. Padilla, A.B. 1974
Executive Director of California Rural Legal Assistance
Born in Brawley, California, a small rural community in Imperial County, José R. Padilla graduated from Stanford University in 1974 with an A.B. in Psychology. In 1978, he was awarded a Juris Doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law. Mr. Padilla was admitted to the California State Bar in 1979, and is a current member of the American Bar Association. The central theme guiding Mr. Padilla's life, both professionally and personally, is the principle of community service and contribution. He has spent his entire legal career, which now spans some 22 years, as a poverty rights lawyer for California's low income rural communities. José started his legal career immediately after graduating from Boalt as a staff attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) Inc. in its El Centro Office located in the Imperial Valley. He later became Directing Attorney of that office. In 1984, José was appointed Executive Director of CRLA and continues to serve in that capacity. CRLA is viewed as one of the premier legal aid programs in the country. As its Executive Director, José is charged with the administration of a $7 million state-wide law firm that provides a 40 attorney work force, serving the rural poor in 23 California counties. CRLA's legal work emphasizes the defense of the rural farm worker community in cases involving pesticide exposure, housing, labor, education, civil rights, immigration and environmental justice. As Director he has ensured that the rural poor have a voice in the state legislature on issues related to labor, immigration, housing and education. Before becoming CRLA Director, as a legal aid lawyer practicing poverty law in rural California, José helped develop a community-based low-income credit union, a bilingual community radio station and an immigration center to assist Central American refugees in political asylum matters. He also co-drafted the state's Migrant Education Law. He has testified before a number of government commissions on bilingual education; Latino and other minority voting rights; race and poverty; and restricted legal aid. Mr. Padilla serves on a number of national boards including the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (Washington, D.C.), the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the Pesticide Education Center Inc. (San Francisco), and the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford. In 1992, José was the recipient of the California La Raza Lawyers Association's Cruz Reynoso Community Service Award. In 1994, he received the Unity Award from the San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association and the Minority Bar Coalition. José and his wife, Deborah Escobedo, have been married for twenty years. Deborah is an education rights attorney for Multicultural Education Training & Advocacy (META) Inc.
2000: Xavier Becerra, A.B. 1980, J.D. 1984
California Congressman
Born in Sacramento, California, in 1958, Congressman Xavier Becerra graduated from Stanford University in 1980 with an A.B. in Economics. In 1984, he earned a Juris Doctorate from Stanford's School of Law. Congressman Xavier Becerra has represented California's 30th Congressional District since 1992. He currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Subcommittee on Trade. As a member of Congress, Representative Becerra has championed the rights of the disadvantaged through advocacy and legislation. He works tirelessly to defend the interests of his constituents and residents of the greater Los Angeles area. Prior to his election to Congress in 1992, Representative Becerra served one term in the California Legislature as the representative of the 59th Assembly District in Los Angeles County. He is a former Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice. Currently, Representative Becerra serves on the following Boards: Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP), Pitzer College, Close Up Foundation, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI), and National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). Representative Becerra is married to Dr. Carolina Reyes, a Stanford alumnus, and currently a Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a Senior Scholar with the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The couple has three daughters, Clarisa, Olivia and Natalia.
1999: María Echaveste, A.B. 1976
Assistant and Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton
Maria Echaveste was born in Texas, but grew up in the central and coastal valleys of California. In 1976, she received an A.B. in anthropology from Stanford University, and in 1980, a Juris Doctor from the University of California at Berkeley. On May 29, 1998, Maria Echaveste was named Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff. As Deputy Chief of Staff, she manages policy initiatives, develops legislative and communications strategies for the White House, and coordinates the selection of senior Administration appointments. Prior to her current duties she held the post of Assistant to the President and Director for Public Liaison from February 7, 1997. Ms. Echaveste previously served as Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, from June of 1993 to early 1997. She was responsible for the management and policy direction of programs related to a variety of Federal laws, including minimum wage and overtime, child labor and family and medical leave. In her role as Administrator, she worked extensively on the Department of Labor's anti-sweatshop initiative. The effort, entitled "No Sweat," received a 1996 Innovations in Government award, sponsored by Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and the Ford Foundation. Before joining the Department of Labor, Ms. Echaveste was deputy director of personnel during the Clinton 1993 transition and was the national Latino coordinator for the President's 1992 campaign.
1999: Professor Arturo Islas, A.B. 1960, A.M. 1965, Ph.D. 1971
English Professor, first tenured Chicano faculty member at Stanford University
Born in El Paso, Texas, on May 24, 1938, Dr. Arturo Islas entered Stanford in 1956 as an undergraduate. He earned his A.B. degree in 1960, an A.M. in 1965, and a Ph.D. in 1971, becoming the first Chicano in the United States to earn a doctoral degree in English. Professor Islas taught at Stanford for 20 years until his death on February 15, 1991. His contributions to undergraduates, the Chicano/Latino community, intellectual discourse, and society in general are vast. In 1976, he became Stanford's first tenured Chicano faculty member. This same year, he was honored with the Dinkelspiel Award for Outstanding Service to Undergraduate Education, an award he earned many more times. Professor Islas was an active member of the Chicano/Latino community and advocate for students. He helped shape many of the support systems that were fundamental to students, such as the Chicano Fellows Program and the Stanford Center for Chicano Research of which he was Co-Director. He also taught courses that addressed the needs and interests of Chicano students, such as Chicano Literature, and Creative Writing for Bilingual Students. His courses on American Literature were very popular as well. His course on Hemingway and Fitzgerald enrolled over 300 students. Through his prize-winning novels, The Rain God (1984) and Migrant Souls (1990), and La Mollie and the King of Tears (1996, published posthumously), Professor Arturo Islas continues to share with us the uniqueness of the MexicanAmerican border culture and the richness of life.
1998: Ellen Ochoa, M.S. 1981, Ph.D. 1985
First Latina astronaut
Inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 9, 1998. Born in Los Angeles, California on May 10, 1958, Dr. Ellen Ochoa received her Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, 1981 and 1985, respectively. Dr. Ochoa is the first Latina astronaut and is currently in the space program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She became an astronaut in July 1991 and completed her first space flight in April 1993. During the nine days aboard the space shuttle Discovery, the crew studied solar radiation activity on the Earth's climate and environment. Before joining the space program, Dr. Ochoa investigated optical systems for performing information processing. She now claims three patents in optical processing. In addition to her scientific accomplishments, Dr. Ochoa feels it is important to contribute to the community. She shares her experiences about space travel with school children throughout the country. Dr. Ochoa is also a classical flutist, a private pilot, and enjoys attending plays or hiking with her husband, Coe Fulmer Miles.
1998: Ernesto Galarza, A.M. 1929
Activist, scholar, and organizer
Inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 9, 1998. Born in Jalcocotán, Nayarit, Mexico, on August 15, 1905, Dr. Ernesto Galarza came to the United States when he was 8 years old. In 1929 he received a Master's degree in Latin American History from Stanford University. After his graduation, he married Mae Taylor. Dr. Galarza received his Ph.D. in History from Columbia University in 1944. Dr. Galarza was known as an activist, scholar, and organizer. As a youth, Dr. Galarza worked as a farm laborer in Sacramento. He later dedicated his life to the struggle for justice for farm workers, the urban working-class Latinos, and to changing existing educational philosophy and curricula in the schools. During the 1950's, Dr. Galarza helped build the first multiracial farmworker union which set the foundation for the emergence of the United Farm Workers Union. In 1979, Dr. Galarza was the first U.S. Latino to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is best known for his books on farm workers and agribusiness in California. His works include: Strangers in our Fields (1956), Merchants of Labor (1964), Spiders in the House and Workers in the Fields (1970), Barrio Boy (1971), Farm Workers and Agribusiness in California (1977), and Tragedy at Chualar (1977).
1997: Dr. Francisco Bravo, M.D. 1936
Surgeon
Inducted into the Hall of Fame on September 26, 1997 and born in Ventura, California, on April 2, 1910, Dr. Francisco Bravo received his M.D. degree from Stanford University's School of Medicine in June 1936. During his lifetime, Dr. Bravo achieved recognition not only as a surgeon, pharmaceutical chemist, and civic and business leader, but also as a ceaseless fighter for the education of Mexican American students. He established the Bravo Clinic in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles and served as family physician to innumerable Chicano/Latino families, tending to their illnesses, performing needed surgeries, and delivering their newborn babies. Dr. Bravo also established a scholarship fund to help Chicanos complete their medical school education. Dr. Francisco Bravo served in the Pacific during World War II. At home he served as the first Chicano on the Police Commission for the City of Los Angeles. He helped found and served as president of the Pan American National Bank located in East Los Angeles. Dr. Bravo died on May 3, 1990 after which the Los Angeles Unified School District named the Francisco Bravo, M.D., Medical Magnet High School after him in honor of his contributions to the community.
1996: Margarita Espinosa, A.B. 1927, M.A. 1928
Principal of Castilleja School for young women
Inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 11, 1996. Born on March 11, 1906 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Margarita Espinosa enrolled as a transfer student at Stanford University in 1924. She graduated with an A.B. in English in 1927 and M.A. in Spanish in 1928. Upon graduation, Margarita was immediately hired by Castilleja School to teach Spanish. While teaching at Castilleja, she served on the board of the Peninsula Center for the Blind. In 1940 she was named Assistant Principal of Castilleja School and then Principal in 1941. She served as principal for thirty years and was the driving force behind the successful economic survival of the school and its tradition of educational excellence for young women. Margarita Espinosa retired in 1971 and joined the Peace Corps. She was sent to South Korea, where she was a professor at Ewha University, the largest women's university in Asia. After two years, she returned to her home in Palo Alto. In 1994, Margarita received the Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Senior Center in Palo Alto where she currently resides.
1996: Helen Gertrude Dominguez, A.B. 1920
First Chicana/Mexicana to graduate from Stanford
Inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 11, 1996. Born in Los Angeles, CA, December 17, 1898, Helen Gertrude Dominguez is the first Chicana/Mexicana to graduate from Stanford. Ms. Dominguez began her Stanford career as a transfer student from Occidental College in September 1918. She was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and graduated with an A.B. in English on June 21, 1920. She married William John Hall on March 26, 1924. Before retiring, Helen worked for the school system in Pasadena, California. She died on May 2, 1987, leaving no known living relatives.
1995: Professor Emeritus, Aurelio Espinosa, A.B. 1927, M.A. 1928
Stanford University Professor Emeritus, Spanish and Portuguese
Inducted into the Hall of Fame on October 13, 1995. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 3, 1907, Professor Espinosa has devoted his lifetime to educational activities. He earned his A.B. and M.A. degrees at Stanford University in 1927 and 1928, respectively and his doctorate in 1932 at the University of Madrid. In addition to teaching at Harvard University and the U.S. Military Academy, Professor Espinosa was the Executive Head of the Department of Modern European Languages (later the Department of Spanish and Portuguese) at Stanford from 1955-1972. He became Emeritus Professor of Spanish and Portuguese in 1972. The author of numerous studies in Hispanic linguistics and folk literature, he has also published, as author or co-author, several widely-used textbooks for the teaching of Spanish. He is a member of Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española and of the Order of Alfonso X el Sabio, and a Corresponding Member of the Real Academia Española and the Hispanic Society of America.