By Catherine Gray Beuten
Integrated University Communications

(Sept. 25, 2009) Nita Gonzales is a community-builder, visionary and mentor whose impact crosses color boundaries, cultures and age groups. Gonzales, the daughter of activists Rodolfo “Corky” and Geraldine Gonzales, was honored at the 8th annual Ethnic Studies Open House for her service and her commitment to diversity and inclusion.

“She represents such strength, commitment and integrity to me,” stressed Jennifer Williams, program assistant in the Department of Ethnic Studies.

Gonzales is president and CEO of Escuela Tlatelolco – a 39-year-old Chicano school founded by her father. Escuela Tlatelolco is a national model for Chicano/Mexicano and Indigenous private education. She also is involved in the Red Earth Women’s Alliance, a coalition of women that provides a libratory model of progress from a women’s perspective. Gonzales is part of the All Nations Alliance, a coalition of more than 80 organizations from Denver and Boulder, and a member of the Chancellor’s Minority Advisory Committee at UC Denver.

Gonzales dedicated the honor to those who worked so hard to enable such a diverse, important event as the open house. “I humbly accept this in the spirit of those who went before us, so we can sit in this room . . . so we can support each other,” she said.

About 150 people attended the 8th annual event Sept. 23 that was sponsored by the Department of Ethnic Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and the office of the Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion.

AVC Zen Camacho and CLAS Dean Dan Howard addressed the participants about the history, the future and the importance of ethnic studies.

“This is the fastest growing minor in CLAS,” Howard said, noting the program has grown an average of 27 percent each year. “It is 250 percent larger than it was five years ago.”

Camacho told the students, “Those of you who are in ethnic studies classes, you’ll find you’ll use what you learn the rest of your lives.”

Howard noted that CLAS hopes to have an ethnic studies major within the next two years.

In addition to honoring Gonzales, Cecil Glenn, former chair and a catalyst in establishing the Department of Ethnic Studies, presented several students with scholarship awards for academic excellence to help offset the cost of books, noting, “These people may all like you, but I’m the one who loves you.”

Photos: At top, Nita Gonzales wears the traditional Native American blanket as she is honored by the Department of Ethnic Studies; Cecil Glenn, former chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, talks to the standing-room only crowd before presenting scholarship awards to students.