NMSU Chicano programs to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with Las Cruces events

In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, New Mexico State University’s Chicano programs invite all campus members and the public to come together starting this week to participate in celebrations honoring the Latinx community and their cultural contributions to the NMSU.

Before National Hispanic Heritage Month begins on Wednesday September 15, Chicano Programs are hosting an open house and welcome BBQ on Friday September 10 with NMSU Black Programs outside the Garcia Center on the Las Cruces campus . Students can stop by the lawn across from Chamisa Village between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to learn about the two programs, meet staff, and enjoy hot dogs, hamburgers, vegetarian dishes, and tacos from Chachi’s Mexican Restaurant.

Chicano Programs will host “Salsa and Salsa” on September 15th from 12pm to 2pm with Black Programs, the American Indian Program and the Doña Ana Community College’s LatinX Heritage Month Committee. The event features live Zumba salsa dancing and free salsa samples from several local restaurants on the outdoor stage of the Corbett Center Student Union.

The new NMSU Vice President for Equal Opportunities, Inclusion and Diversity, Teresa Maria Linda Scholz, will also speak at the event on September 15th. This year, for the first time, NMSU is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with a diversity leader.

“I am now in Dr. Linda Scholz and think it’s a great opportunity to keep growing and becoming more visible, ”said Judith Flores Carmona, interim director of Chicano Programs. “We are now at the forefront and at the center of everything we do as an institution to advance the work for justice, diversity and inclusion.”

Flores Carmona said working with NMSU’s other diversity programs on upcoming events is a natural fit as “we embody other identities, not just our race.”

“I think it’s so important not to put people in one category,” she added. “All diversity programs are open to all students because we want to ensure that, given the diverse identities they embody, we meet student needs.”

Later this month, writer and educator Roberto Lovato will be visiting NMSU to deliver a talk as part of a Pluriversity Imaginary Collective lecture offered by Chicano Programs, Honors College, Vice President’s Office for Justice, Inclusion and Diversity, and the College of. The Stan Fulton Endowed Chair for Art and Science is sponsored.

As the co-founder of #DignidadLiteraria, Lovato advocates justice and literary justice for the more than 60 million Latinx people in the United States. He has also reported on violence, terrorism, the drug war and the refugee crisis from the USA, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and France and published the highly acclaimed book “Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs” and Revolution in America ”in 2020.

Lovato’s talk – “Stirring the Radical Imagination: The Poet Warrior Tradition of Las Americas” – will be held on Wednesday, September 22nd at 4:30 pm at Honors College with a limited personal audience. To RSVP, send an email to [email protected]. It will also be broadcast live on the Chicano Programs YouTube page.

“I want people to get out of National Hispanic Heritage Month that it’s not just about food, fun, and fiestas. There is a lot of history about who we are and the different Latinidades, migrations, stories and stories we bring with us, ”said Flores Carmona.

As the highlight of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Chicago Programs will host a special virtual talk with Otakuye Conroy-Ben on Monday, October 11th, from 2pm to 4pm to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day. Conroy-Ben, a senior sustainability researcher and assistant professor of engineering at Arizona State University, will discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM areas. For the connection link, send an email to [email protected].

Flores Carmona urges all campus members to continue learning and celebrating the Latinx community even after National Hispanic Heritage Month ends on October 15.

“It shouldn’t be just a month. I think that as an institution serving Hispanic and minority minorities, we should continually highlight our community cultural richness in everything we profess, ”she said.

For more information on the NMSU Chicano program and its upcoming events, please visit https://chicano.nmsu.edu.

Information from NMSU