August 13, 2015
Cruz Reynoso to be inducted to HACU’s Hall of Champions at the 2015 Annual Conference
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) is proud to announce that its 2015 inductee into the Hall of Champions will be the Honorable Cruz Reynoso, professor of law emeritus at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Reynoso will be recognized on Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, during the Partnership Lunch of HACU’s 29th Annual Conference,"Championing Hispanic Higher Education Success: Empowering Students, Enhancing Collaboration," at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel, Miami Beach, Fla.
Reynoso was the inaugural holder of the UC Davis Law School's Boochever and Bird Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality. He is a former associate justice of the California Supreme Court, has served as vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, as well as a member of the Select Commission on Immigration and Human Rights.
President Bill Clinton honored Cruz Reynoso with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000, the country’s highest civilian honor, for his lifelong devotion to public service. He is a recipient of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s Hispanic Heritage Award in Education, and the American Bar Association’s Robert J. Kutak and Spirit of Excellence Awards. He was awarded the UC Davis Medal, the university's highest honor and is the recipient of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s (HNBA) Lincoln-Juarez Award. The UC Davis School of Law established the Cruz & Jeannene Reynoso Scholarship for Legal Access in his name to help students with financial needs. Reynoso received his bachelor's from Pomona College in 1953 and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1958.
Reynoso will be the seventh inductee to the HACU Hall of Champions, established to honor those who embody the mission of the Association through exemplary efforts "To Champion Hispanic Success in Higher Education." Past honorees include HACU inaugural inductee the late Antonio Rigual (2011), Tomás Arciniega (2012), Anna Solley (2013), Carlos Hernandez (2013), Chancellor Agnes Mojica (2014) and Alexander Gonzalez (2014).