Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month celebration highlights cultural diversity and achievement

State Rep. Rafael Anchia was the keynote speaker for UT Southwestern’s 2017 Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month celebration.

Several hundred UT Southwestern employees and students recently gathered on South Campus for the 2017 Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month celebration, a lunchtime event honoring the enduring contributions of individuals whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Before the speaker introductions, UT Southwestern President Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky underscored the institution’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, calling these tenets both a moral and a business imperative.

“We know that we will only be able to really achieve our full potential if we’re able to tap into the full wealth that diversity represents,” Dr. Podolsky said. “As we look forward to 2018 and the 75-year anniversary of UT Southwestern, I am enormously proud of the diversity of this campus community and the vitality that diversity brings to us.”

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The national recognition had its start as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was expanded during the Reagan administration to a full four-week period.

The dates were chosen to coincide with a number of independence days celebrating the break of many Latin American countries from Spanish colonial rule: Sept. 15 for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua; Sept. 16 for Mexico; and Sept. 18 for Chile. Columbus Day or Día de la Raza – a celebration of the day explorer Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492 – is the second Monday in October and also falls within this time frame.

UT Southwestern has more than 1,700 employees who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.

The program kicked off with a performance of the song Color Esperanza (“Color of Hope”) by Latin music artist Judith Ramos, who is also an inventory analyst in Materials Management at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.

Following opening remarks, Ruben Esquivel, Vice President for Community and Corporate Relations, introduced keynote speaker State Rep. Rafael Anchia, whose House District 103 includes a good portion of the Southwestern Medical District. Mr. Esquivel said Rep. Anchia is a great advocate for UT Southwestern in the Legislature.

The seven-term representative discussed Hispanic and Latino identity, noting that it is often positioned as “the other,” although Hispanics are only predated in the United States by indigenous people.

Typically, Rep. Anchia said, “discussion compartmentalizes us into white, black, and Hispanic. It’s not that simple. There are Hispanics that are black, Asian, and Caucasian-looking.”

Hispanic is not a race, he added, but a construct developed by the U.S. Census in the 1960s.

More and more in our culture today, he said, Americans are hearing divisive messages of “us and them” and “this side of the border/that side of the border.”

“As we continue to think about the concept of Latino and Hispanic as ‘otherness,’ we must understand that this entire region – depending on where the border was at any given time – has been a place where people live together, work together, and trade with each other, for centuries,” said Rep. Anchia, who is Chair of the International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.

“It won’t surprise any of you to know that the No. 1 trade partner of the state of Texas is Mexico. There is $1 billion of across-border trade every day – more than the combined trade with Brazil, Russia, India, and China.”

Latinos make up about 42 percent of the population in the city of Dallas and will soon increase to 45 percent, Rep. Anchia said.

“It’s not us vs. them. It’s just us. Just all of us,” he said. “The only people who can help us is us. I ask you to go out into the world, and continue the mission of this great institution that you all are blessed to be a part of, and help them make the world better.”

The event also recognized Hispanic and Latino Trailblazers, individuals who paved the way for future generations (see sidebar).

The celebration was hosted by the Office of the President, Office of Diversity & Inclusion and Equal Opportunity, and the Hispanic/Latino Business Resource Group (BRG). 

Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration, and the Doris and Bryan Wildenthal Distinguished Chair in Medical Science.

Honoring UTSW’s Hispanic and Latino Trailblazers

From left: Rep. Rafael Anchia, Andre Stuart, Stefani Hernandez, Dr. Mauricio Delgado-Ayala, Celina and Samuel Brito, Dr. Catalina Esperanza Garcia, and Sen. Royce West

At the conclusion of the Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month celebration, several Hispanics and Latinos who paved the way for future generations at UT Southwestern were recognized. Those trailblazers are: 

Catalina Esperanza Garcia, M.D.
UT Southwestern Class of 1969
One of the first Mexican-American females to graduate from UT Southwestern 

Onesimo Hernandez, M.D.
UT Southwestern Class of 1953
The first Mexican-American male graduate of UT Southwestern Medical School and the first Mexican-American physician on the staff of what was then called St. Paul’s Hospital
(Acknowledgment accepted by his daughter, Stefani Hernandez.) 

Mauricio Delgado-Ayala, M.D.
Professor, Neurology and Neurotherapeutics
Director of Neurology at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital and one of UT Southwestern’s longest residing faculty members, who started in 1985 

Gloria Vega, Ph.D.
Professor, Clinical Nutrition, and holder of the Dr. Scott M. Grundy Distinguished Professorship in Human Nutrition
Another long-residing faculty member (since 1981), mentor to many students, and active in the community, working to provide education on obesity and heart disease 

Samuel and Celina Brito
Longtime friends of UT Southwestern, they have hosted many Latino students in their home over the years, providing hot meals, social time, and encouragement and support

Emily Stuart
Also a longtime friend of UT Southwestern and host of Latino students
(Acknowledgment accepted by her son, Andre Stuart.)