UA News

Socorro Carrizosa and Richard Ruiz will be recognized during the club's Celebration of Exellence Reception on Friday.

The University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni Club will hold its 2009 Celebration of Excellence reception and luncheon on Friday, May 8 and will honor two outstanding UA representatives.

The club, UAHA, will acknowledge the service and commitment of Socorro Carrizosa director of Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs and Richard Ruiz professor of language, reading and culture and Faculty Fellow for the student affairs division.

The event will be held at the Marriott University Park Hotel Copper Room, 880 E. Second St. with the reception beginning at 11:30 a.m. and lunch starting at 12 p.m. The ticket cost is $30, which is not tax deductible, and the event is open to everyone.

The club was founded in 1982 to promote academic excellence among Hispanic students at the University. UAHA provides financial and mentoring support to qualified and deserving students, and develop linkages with alumni and supporters in the professional and business community. The UAHA Club has awarded 1,769 scholarships totaling over $4,012,944 since 1986.

The club's annual event is a celebration of achievement and service that will offer an educational presentation on topics that impact Hispanics and an opportunity to meet community leaders and learn more about the club.

Also during the evening, distinguished student scholars will be awarded the 2009 Outstanding Hispanic Senior and Outstanding Hispanic Graduate Student Awards.

This year's celebration features a presentation by Richard Fimbres, Governing Board Member of Pima Community College and National Vice President for the Elderly for LULAC, Building Coalitions in the Community. Fimbres is regarded as an advocate in advancing the education and prosperity of Latinos with more than 25 years of dedicated service and coalition building.

Socorro Carrizosa, who has a long history as an educator and retention specialist, is being recognized for more than 25 years of service to students at the UA.

She and the staff at Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs, or CHSA, have catapulted retention rates for Hispanic Alumni scholars along with other students who have taken advantage of the center and its retention programs.

Carrizosa serves on the UA President's Taskforce on Hispanic Student Issues; the President's Hispanic Advisory Group; UA Retention Coordinating Group; UA Academic Advising Taskforce; the Athletic Department's Hispanic Advisory Group; and the College Academy for Parents. She was also a founding board member of the Media, Democracy and Policy Initiative.

She is also being recognized for her involvement in many community service groups and organizations such as the UA Hispanic Alumni Association; the Cesar Chavez Coalition; the Tucson Hispanic Coalition; as well as a board member of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; and the Board of the Brewster Center Against Domestic Violence.

Richard Ruiz will also be recognized for his unwavering advocacy, support and dedication to student success at the UA and across the nation for more than 23 years.

Ruiz has served as the Faculty Fellow for CHSA for the past seven years. He is known for his innovative ideas, procurement of resources and uncompromising devotion to students and works as a partner in the growth and achievement of students at the Chicano Center.

He has gained international recognition for his research and scholarship in language planning and policy development. Ruiz has served as a consultant to the governments of Mexico, Australia, Guatemala, Bolivia, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba and Curaçao), Israel, South Africa, and native communities in the United States and Canada.

In recognition of his expertise in educational policy studies, Ruiz was named to the Clinton-Gore Education Transition Team.

Currently, Ruiz serves on numerous committees and task forces within the UA and at the national level with the goal of advancing equity, social justice and multiculturalism. The list includes being a member of the National Planning Committee for the Brown Plus 50 Conference; an executive board member of the National Latino Education Research Agenda; chair of the Publications Committee of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; and director of social justice for the American Educational Research Association.