Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month 2024
Voces de Resistencia: Celebrating Unity, Wellness, and the Power of Immigration
The weeks between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15 mark National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to honor the culture, traditions and contributions of Hispanic, Chicanx and Latinx communities. It is also Latinx/e Heritage Month. As a federally-designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), San Diego State University is proud to celebrate the many contributions of our Hispanic, Chicanx and Latinx students, faculty, staff and colleagues.
This year, our theme, "Voces de Resistencia: Celebrating Unity, Wellness, and the Power of Immigration," highlights the collective strength found in our shared stories of resilience and the pursuit of well-being. The theme calls on our comunidad to recognize the unity that binds us, the wellness we strive for, and the enduring strength of our immigrant roots.
Through a series of events and initiatives, we will explore the intersections of wellness, unity, and immigration, emphasizing the power of these elements in shaping our identities and our futures.
Join us as we celebrate "Voces de Resistencia" and honor the stories that define our community. Let us come together to reflect on our past, uplift our present, and inspire our future through the celebration of Latinx Heritage Month.
The origins of National Hispanic Heritage Month date back to 1968 after it was established as Hispanic Heritage Week under U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. The week was expanded in 1988 to the now full month of observation. Further, Sept. 15 marks the anniversary of independence for several Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, while Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 and Sept. 18, respectively.
Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, we celebrate Latinx voices, experiences, scholars and our comunidad. We honor the rich diversity within our Latinx and Hispanic community, recognizing and celebrating the unique identities and experiences of our Afro Latinx, Black Mexican, and Mixed Latinx and African American members.
There are many departments who are engaged in this work throughout the year including: Chicano/a Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Dual Language Education, International Affairs, Latina Network, LatinX, ChicanX & Hispanic Faculty Staff Association, and the Office of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Affairs. In addition, dozens of student organizations support the success of Latinx students at SDSU.
As a proud HSI and Hispanic-Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACU) institution, SDSU continues to support growth in Latinx student enrollment and success as well as initiatives on campus to support the accomplishments of our existing students, faculty and staff. Our efforts are yielding remarkable results. Since fall 2021, the proportion of Latinx undergraduate students at SDSU has risen from 31.8% to 34% as of fall 2023. When including SDSU Imperial Valley, Latinx students now comprise the largest ethnic group in our total undergraduate population at 35.4%. We earned the prestigious Seal of Excelencia certification in 2021 and, just last year, we launched the innovative Progresando en Salud program in partnership with Bank of America and the Education Advisory Board to support Latinx students pursuing careers in health care.
Notably, Latinx faculty increased from 9% in 2016 to 18% of all faculty at SDSU in 2024, and comprise 14% of all tenure track faculty. Finally, Latinx staff make up 37.4% of all staff at SDSU.
Serving as an HSI, however, means that SDSU does more than enroll a high percentage of Latinx students. Many new initiatives have been implemented to support Latinx students, faculty and staff success and wellness over the past several years. They include the following:
- The Latinx Resource Center (LRC) celebrates its 5-year-anniversary!: Thanks to student activism and collaborations across campus, we now have a physical space and are thrilled to offer a home away from home for everyone who visits.
- Caminos en Éxito: Supported by a grant from the Aztec Parent Fund, Caminos en Éxito (CAE), provides support in the form of programming, mentorship and parent/family engagement to first-year students interested in pursuing careers in the STEM professions.
- Hispanic Serving Educator Faculty Learning Community (FLC): The Hispanic Serving Educator FLC engages faculty on practices that create classroom environments that are supportive and welcoming for Hispanic/Latinx/Chicanx students.
- University Global Seal of Biliteracy (Spanish/English): SDSU’s University Seal of Biliteracy and Cultural Competence (USBCC) is a digital badge that SDSU students can earn by participating in a cultural and linguistic immersion experience, and demonstrating working proficiency through standardized testing that covers reading, writing, listening and speaking in a language other than English.
- SDSU Latinx Historical Campus Tour (Adelante SDSU tour): In collaboration with the Office of New Student and Parent Programs, and several other campus partners, a Latinx Historical Campus Tour was launched in 2023. This walking tour is led by our SDSU student ambassadors to reflect upon, honor and celebrate SDSU’s rich Latinx history.
For more information on institutional HSI progress, please visit the HSI 2024-25 Annual Report.
2024 Events
2021 Kick-off Program
View Recording of 2021 Event
The Celebrando Nuestras Raices Planning Committee, which leads the SDSU Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Celebration, invites you to watch the inaugural Kick off ceremony and keynote.
WELCOME ADDRESS:
SDSU President Adela de La Torre, Ph.D.
SDSU Provost Hector Ochoa, Ph.D.
SDSU Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity
J. Luke Wood, Ph.D.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
We are honored to welcome Dra. Norma Elias Cantú, as the celebration's inaugural keynote speaker. Dra. Cantú is a nationally renowned and famed author, Chicana scholar, poet and the Murchison Professor in the Humanities at Trinity University in San Antonio.
Her keynote speech will be followed by a panel discussion with student, faculty and community members.
Norma Elia Cantú currently serves as the President of the American Folklore Society and is the Murchison Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, where she teaches Latinx and Chicanx Studies. Her award-winning Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera, is taught in numerous universities in the US and in Europe. She translated Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/la Frontera into Spanish. She recently published the co-edited anthologies meXicana Fashions: Politics, Self-Adornment and Identity Construction and Teaching Gloria E. Anzaldúa: Pedagogies and Practices for our Classrooms and Communities, Cabañuelas, a novel and Meditacion Fronteriza: Poems of Love, Life and Labor.
DISCUSSION PANEL
Beatrice Zamora
Mexicayotl Indio Cultural Center, Chicano Park Steering Committee, Community Advisory Council of the Centro Cultural de la Raza
Beatrice Zamora is a native San Diegan involved in advocacy, social justice and education. Beatrice was born in Historic Logan Heights in San Diego and raised in Los Angeles. Her family roots are from Arizona, New Mexico and Guanajuato, Mexico. Beatrice promotes cultural arts and social justice for several under-served communities in San Diego. In 2015, Beatrice retired from a distinguished career in the California Community Colleges where she held positions as faculty and college dean.
She keeps active teaching and preserving indigenous dance and traditions of Mexico as a practitioner and leader in the Danza Azteca-Chichimeca tradition for over 40 years, serves on several community boards including, The Mexicayotl Indio Cultural Center, The SD and Imperial Valley ACLU, The Chicano Park Steering Committee, The Community Advisory Council of the Centro Cultural de la Raza, The Kanap Kuahan Coalition, The Kumeyaay & Original Peoples Alliance and the Community Advisory Committee for the SD Union Tribune. Beatrice is co-owner of Tolteca Press, established in 2020 with her husband, Dr. Mario Aguilar. She authored an award-winning bilingual children’s book, The Spirit of Chicano Park/El espíritu del Parque Chicano in April, 2020. In 2021, Beatrice authored her second children’s book, Am I Blue or Am I Green? Verde o Azul. Cúal soy yo? Beatrice’s work in education and in the community focus upon equity and social justice.
Efren Lopez, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English at San Diego State University, Imperial Valley
Dr. Efren Lopez is an Assistant Professor of English at San Diego State University, Imperial Valley. His research interests include Chicanx Literature, Critical Ethnic Studies and the Public Humanities. Raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Efren earned a Ph.D. in English from UCLA in 2021.
Fabrizio Lacarra Ramirez
English Major, Theatre and Film Minor, Creative Writing, San Diego State University
Fabrizio Lacarra Ramirez is a full-time student at San Diego State University (2021) currently working towards his Bachelor’s Degree in English with a Minor in Theater, Film and New Media and a Certificate in Creative Writing. He is an emerging creative writer whose work has been published in literary journals Applause (Issue 31) and pacificREVIEW (2020). He also works under Pam Lach as a student assistant for the Digital Humanities Center at SDSU and with Dr. William A. Nericcio as an intern for the SDSU Press. Fabrizio is interested in how different types of media coexist and communicate with one another and how texts develop new contexts when examined together.
2022
Autonomy without borders/Autonomía sin fronteras:
For Latinx Heritage Month 2022, we present the theme Autonomy Without Borders/Autonomía Sin Fronteras. Our goal is to highlight the strength and resistance of our communities to human-made barriers such as laws governing bodies, access to basic human rights, the ongoing over extraction of resources affecting the globe and specifically land that resides in indigenous communities and so forth. In alignment with our mission and vision, we are called to highlight social issues that affect our communities across the nation and the diaspora.
Dear SDSU community,
The weeks between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15 mark National Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month, a time to honor the culture, traditions and contributions of Hispanic, Chicanx and Latinx communities. As a federally-designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), San Diego State University is proud to celebrate the many contributions of our Hispanic, Chicanx and Latinx students, faculty, staff and colleagues.
Though Sept.15-Oct. 15 is an annual time to celebrate Latinx voices and experiences, there are many departments who are engaged in this work throughout the year including: Chicano/a Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Dual Language Education, International Affairs, Latina Network, LatinX, ChicanX & Hispanic Faculty Staff Association and the Office of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Affairs. In addition, dozens of student organizations support the success of Latinx students at San Diego State University.
All members of the SDSU community are invited to participate in the following program and events:
- September 26: Supporting Latinx Students will be hosted by the Center for Inclusive Excellence in partnership with the LRC and the Office of HSI and Regional affairs. Participants will leave with tangible ways to support both students in the classroom and other campus environments. The event will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Advance registration is recommended.
- October 13: Closing Ceremony for the Hispanic/Latinx Heritage month and Pachanga will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Goldberg Courtyard, Student Union. This will be a community celebration with joy, music, food and dancing and you are invited to join in the festivities.
- October 14: The Latina Network Annual Luncheon, Juntas Podemos: Unidas in Uncertainty will be hosted in SDSU Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center, Fowler Family Ballroom from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Given the recent overturn of Roe V. Wade, the violence that has erupted in our communities across the nation over the years, the wage gap and work inequalities Latinas face, uncertainty is incredibly palpable, especially in our underrepresented populations. The event features keynote speaker, Dra. Inez González Perezchica, MANA de San Diego Executive Director. Tickets are required to attend.
For questions, contact Renzo Lara, Latinx Resource Center director, at [email protected] or Emilio Ulloa, Associate Chief Diversity Officer for HSI and Regional Affairs, at [email protected]
