HACU CEO HONORED BY HISPANIC MAGAZINE 

San Antonio, TX – The president and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Dr. Antonio R. Flores, will be honored with the Education Award from HISPANIC magazine. 

The award will be presented during the magazine’s annual Hispanic Achievement Awards on August 18, 2005 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California.

Each year HISPANIC magazine recognizes the achievements of Hispanics in the United States.  Recipients are chosen for their dedication to community service work and career-field accomplishments in categories such as Business Entrepeneur, Community Development, Education, Entertainment, Family, Leadership and Government.  

Antonio R. Flores, Ph.D., is responsible for the overall leadership of HACU, the only national educational association that represents Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), colleges and universities with a Hispanic enrollment of at least 25%, and other higher education institutions committed to Hispanic access and success. Since his taking over HACU’s presidency in 1996, total membership has grown from 161 colleges and universities to over 400, the number of HSI members has more than doubled, International membership has increased from 7 to 43 in seven countries in Latin America and Spain, and a new category of Partner Institutions has been created, now numbering 46 institutions in 27 states. The Association’s operating budget has doubled from $4.1 million in 1996 to $9 million in 2004. 

A leading advocate for Hispanic higher education on Capitol Hill, Flores has seen federal appropriations for Hispanic-Serving Institutions under the competitive Title V grant program of the Higher Education Act grow from $12 million in FY 1996 to $95 million in FY 2005. HACU’s National Internship Program, which places Hispanic students in paid internships with federal agencies and major corporations, grew from 288 interns in 1996 to over 600 in recent years and has been nationally recognized as the largest Hispanic internship program in the country. 

Flores has been a strong voice for the importance of diversity in higher education from the Hopwood decision in Texas and Proposition 209 debate in California to the Supreme Court decisions in the University of Michigan cases. His entrepreneurial spirit is reflected in creative partnerships with other MSI associations in the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education, with the Kellogg Foundation in an MSI Leadership Fellows Program, with NSF and NIH in furthering science education initiatives for Hispanic students, and with IBM, the Verizon Corporation, and others in addressing the digital divide between HSIs and other colleges and universities in educational technology.

Prior to his position at HACU, Flores served as director of programs and services for the Michigan Higher Education Assistance Authority and the Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority. His statewide responsibilities included policy analysis and development; legislative affairs; administrative leadership for programs; technical assistance and outreach services for all Michigan colleges and universities; program evaluation and research; and overall management of 15 professional staff.  

HACU, which has its national headquarters in San Antonio, represents more than 400 colleges and universities, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), which collectively serve more than two-thirds of all Hispanic higher education students in the United States.  HACU’s international membership includes leading higher education institutions in Latin America and in Spain. 

For more information about HACU, contact HACU Director of Communications Cynthia Vela at (210) 576-3242 (cvela@hacu.net), or visit www.hacu.net.

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