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October 1, 2010
Metropolitan State University of Denver
United Farm Workers leader celebrates birthday on campus
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Dolores C. Huerta has received nine honorary doctorates from universities throughout the U.S.Photo: Angela L. Torres
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Dolores C. Huerta is making a stop at Metropolitan State College of Denver as she travels the country celebrating her 80th birthday and speaking on issues of social justice and public policy.
On Oct. 7, the co-founder with César Chávez and now secretary-treasurer of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO (UFW) will deliver a keynote at “A Day in Honor of Dolores Huerta: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist.”
The event, free and open to the public, will be held at the Tivoli Turnhalle on the Auraria Campus from 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Metro State President Stephen Jordan will help introduce Huerta, who will talk at 10 a.m.
Her visit has been spearheaded by the Institute for Women’s Studies and Services (IWSS) and the Department of Chicana/o Studies. “We are very excited because she has exemplified what it means to be a social justice activist,” says Joanna Snawder, IWSS associate director.
A lifelong labor activist, Huerta has received numerous awards, among them the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights from President Clinton in l998, Ladies Home Journal’s 100 most important woman of the 20th Century, Smithsonian Institution - James Smithson Award, Kern County’s Woman of The Year by California State legislature, the Ohtli award from the Mexican government, and nine honorary doctorates from universities throughout the U.S.
The president of the Dolores C. Huerta Foundation also has her name on four elementary schools in California, one in Fort Worth, Texas, and a high school in Pueblo, Colo.
This is not Huerta’s first time visiting Metro State. She was the Richard T. Castro Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2003. The professorship fosters multiculturalism, diversity and academic excellence at the College by bringing renowned Latina and Latino scholars, artists and leaders of distinction to Metro State to conduct classes, seminars, performances and lectures for students, faculty and the larger Denver community.
Ramon Del Castillo, associate professor and chair of Chicana/o Studies, says, “For decades, she has exemplified the social justice leadership that has produced positive outcomes for the disenfranchised working class people whose voices are never heard and that do work that no one else wants to do, but who get exploited.”
For more information, contact Joanna Snawder at jsnawder@mscd.edu.
