For immediate release
National fundraiser to benefit Hispanic
students;
feature tribute to Miami Dade College president
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities will host HACU’s 2nd Annual “Celebra Educación” Fundraiser and Dinner in Miami, Florida, to benefit Hispanic college students’ programs and scholarships.
The national event will also feature a tribute from the leadership of the Hispanic higher education community to Miami Dade College District President Eduardo Padrón, who presides over the college with the largest Hispanic enrollment in the country.
The 2nd Annual “Celebra Educación” Fundraiser and Dinner will be held the evening of October 15th, at the Miami Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Miami – the site of HACU’s18th Annual Conference October 16-19, 2004.
A portion of the proceeds from the Dinner and Fundraiser will benefit HACU’s student programs and services, including scholarship and internship programs for students attending HACU member colleges and universities. HACU represents more than 350 campuses that serve over two-thirds of all U.S. Hispanic higher education students, and an international membership representing leading higher institutions in Latin America and Spain.
At the event, a special award will be presented to Padrón, a founding member and past chair of the HACU Governing Board.
“The Hispanic higher education community applauds the extraordinary accomplishments of Dr. Padrón as a national leader in opening the doors to college for our country’s largest ethnic population,” said HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores. “We welcome this opportunity to celebrate a true champion of Hispanic higher education.”
Miami Dade College, which enrolls more than 160,000 students at its six campuses and additional outreach centers, ranks first nationally in associate’s degrees awarded to minorities and to Hispanics, and holds the number one ranking for overall degrees awarded.
Padrón, a renowned national advocate for underserved populations in higher education, is a past recipient of the Chief Executive of the Year award from the Association of Community College Trustees. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the highest distinctions from the countries of France, Spain, and Argentina.
He has received presidential appointments from
three U.S. Presidents and has served on the boards of the American Council on
Education, The College Board, Carnegie Foundation, U.S. Congressional Hispanic
Caucus Institute and League for Innovation in the Community College.
Padrón’s recent report, “A Deficit of Understanding: Confronting
the Funding Crisis in Higher Education and the Threat to Low-Income and Minority
Access,” attracted wide attention to its finding that inadequate funding
for higher education institutions and cutbacks in student financial aid are
taking a disproportionate toll on poor and minority students.
“Higher education is the cornerstone of democracy. Yet, in the world’s richest democracy, college is increasingly inaccessible to the poorer people in American society,” Padrón wrote in the national report, released in March at HACU’s 2004 Capitol Forum on Hispanic Higher Education in Washington, D.C.
The 2nd Annual “Celebra Educación” Fundraiser and Dinner will precede the nation’s only national Hispanic higher education conference. Special sessions at HACU’s 18th Annual Conference will showcase the latest demographic trends, evolving national and international public policy issues, and “best practices” in Hispanic higher education.
For more information about HACU’s 2nd Annual Celebra Educación event, contact HACU at (210) 692-3804. Ext. 3224. For more information about HACU’s 18th Annual Conference, visit www.hacu.net.