SAN BERNARDINO – The fifth annual Latino Education and Advocacy Days summit will be held at Cal State San Bernardino on Thursday, March 27. This year’s honorary chair, or Padrino de Honor, will be civil rights activist Julian Nava, the first Mexican American to serve as U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
Nava was a civil rights activist during the height of the Chicano Movement, and he was the first Mexican American to be elected to the school board of the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1967.
He taught history at California State University at Northridge from 1957 to 2000.
Most notably, in 1980 Nava was the first Mexican-American to be appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico by then President Jimmy Carter. He is the author of several history books, as well as a memoir, Julian Nava: My Mexican-American Journey (2002)
“We are truly honored to have someone of Dr. Nava’s stature serve as the Padrino de Honor for the LEAD summit,” said Enrique Murillo, the executive director and founder of the LEAD project, and a professor of education at Cal State San Bernardino. “Dr. Nava is one of the most renowned and distinguished elder statesmen in the Hispanic community.”
Nava joins a distinguished group of LEAD honorary chairs. Previous honorees were civil rights and education activist Sylvia Mendez, philanthropist Judy Rodriguez Watson, CS-USB dean emeritus Ernie Garcia and San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales. Journalists and activists Graciano and Trini Gomez were honored at the inaugural LEAD “Feria Educativa” held in October 2011.
The LEAD summit focuses on educational issues affecting Latinos at the national, regional and local levels, said Murillo. The 2014 summit’s theme is “Latino Male Crisis in the Educational Pipeline.”
During the conference’s lunch hour, the LEAD Summit will feature a dynamic free concert celebrating diverse and beautiful music of Latin American origin. The “Mosaico Festival” concert will feature folklorico dancers, storytelling, soloists, and even the opportunity to sing along to a tune or two. The concert, which also will be webcast, is courtesy of the San Bernardino Symphony and the support of the James Irvine Foundation’s Exploring Engagement grant initiative, the Coussoulis Arena, and Jim Watson and Judy Rodriguez Watson of Watson & Associates.
For more information and to register online for the conference, visit the LEAD website at http://leadsummit.csusb.edu/