Centro Kicks Off 30th Anniversary Celebration on September 19 With Award Presentations to Congressman Jose Serrano and Community Leaders

Union Leader Dennis Rivera Gives Keynote Address

Date: September 15, 2003
Contact: Marisa Osorio, marisa.osorio@hunter.cuny.edu
Phone: (646) 235-2391

The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (Centro) will begin its 30th anniversary celebration with award presentations to U.S. Representative Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) and community leaders. Dennis Rivera, president of 1199/SEIU New York’s Health and Human Service Union, will be the keynote speaker and also announce the donation of his personal papers to Centro’s archives.

The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 19 at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, located on 68th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues.

"Centro is an integral part of New York City’s Latino memory," said Dr. Felix V. Matos Rodriguez, Centro’s director. "We could not think of a better way to start our 30th anniversary celebrations than to honor individuals who have such a tremendous impact on the educational, political, and cultural advancement of our community."

Rivera’s union represents more than 200,000 health care workers in the greater New York City metropolitan area. Rivera is also the president of SEIU New York State Council, which represents more than 350,000 members throughout New York. Rivera has been active in union organizing since the 1970s in Puerto Rico. He moved to New York City in 1977, became president of Local 1199 in 1989 and under his leadership, the union has been instrumental in numerous local and national political campaigns.

"Rivera’s individual accomplishments alone are worthy of celebration and recognition," said Matos Rodriguez, "but for Centro, having him as a keynote speaker exemplifies our commitment to documenting and validating the contributions of working-class individuals, who have historically constituted the bulk of the U.S. Puerto Rican and Latino communities. Also, the announcement that Dennis Rivera will be donating his personal papers to our collection is an indication of Centro’s reputation as the premier repository of Puerto Rican and Latino history in New York."

Former Centro Director Frank Bonilla will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award by Rossana Rosado, publisher and CEO of El Diario-La Prensa, the oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States.

Bonilla was the founding director of CUNY’s Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños and led Centro until 1993. His current research, writing and advocacy efforts are focused on promoting Latino academics and policy research capabilities.

The Evelina Lopez Antonetty Award for Distinguished Public and Community Service will be presented to Serrano by CUNY’s Vice Chancellor for Budget and Finance Ernesto Malave.

Lopez Antonetty was a trailblazer in the Puerto Rican community. In 1965, she founded United Bronx Parents out of frustration with what she saw as the public school system’s lack of responsiveness to needs of Puerto Rican and other minority children. The organization focused on educational reform and programs to train parents to participate and take leadership roles in education.

She served as executive director of the organization until her death in 1984. Centro’s library and archives are named in her memory.

Serrano is a ranking Democrat on the subcommittee on commerce, justice, state, the judiciary arm of the House Appropriations Committee. He represents the 16th congressional district in the Bronx.

Born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Serrano was seven when he and his family moved to the South Bronx. Before being elected to Congress, he had a distinguished 16-year career in the New York State Assembly. He was elected to the Assembly in 1974, and was re-elected and continued to represent the same Bronx communities until his election to the U.S. Congress.

City Councilman Joel Rivera will give Irma Zardoya the Antonia Pantoja Award for Distinguished Work in Education. An educator and advocate for Latinos and Puerto Ricans in New York City, Pantoja was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She earned a teaching degree at the University of Puerto Rico and moved to New York where her struggle for the education rights of Puerto Ricans began.

In 1961, Pantoja founded ASPIRA, an organization that provides guidance to young Puerto Ricans and Latinos seeking to further their education; the organization also promotes leadership by increasing these young people’s awareness of their own culture. Pantoja was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996.

Just before her death last year, Pantoja’s papers were donated to Centro’s archives.

Zardoya, born and raised in the Bronx, has devoted her adult life to changing and improving education in New York City. Now regional superintendent of Region I, which includes school districts 9 and 10 in the Bronx, Zardoya has been a deputy superintendent, principal, teacher and educational assistant. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and was recently given the Education Award at the 10th Annual New York State Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force Conference.

The Clemente Soto Velez Award for Distinguished Work on Culture and the Humanities will be given to Pregones Theater by author Nicholassa Mohr.

Soto Velez was a poet, journalist and patriot who is widely recognized as a mentor to Latino artists in New York City. He co-founded the Puerto Rican avant-garde poetry movement Atalaya de los Dioses and of various civic and cultural organizations in New York including the Puerto Rican Merchants Association, created to help bodega owners protect their rights as pioneering entrepreneurs. His papers are in Centro’s archives.

Since 1979, Pregones Theater has worked to create innovative and challenging art rooted in Puerto Rican traditions and popular artistic expressions, with the aim of offering Latino and other communities a creative outlet. It was founded in 1978 when a group of Puerto Rican artists living in New York City gathered to fill an artistic void since there were too few Puerto Rican theater classics on the city’s stages. Rosalba Rolon, Luis I. Melendez and David Crommett were the founding members.

The Bronx-based ensemble, which has grown to be one of the leading Puerto Rican/Latino theaters in the United States, draws on both literary and popular Puerto Rican works. From migration tales to indigenous mythologies to subway stories, the company’s repertoire covers a broad range of Latino experiences and identities.

Banco Popular is the presenting sponsor for all of Centro’s 30th anniversary activities, including the awards ceremony. El Diario-La Prensa, Washington Mutual, Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, and the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico are also sponsors.

Centro is the only university-based research institute in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience. Centro is also the oldest and largest Latino research and archival institution in the Northeast. Its library and archives are the principal Puerto Rican studies research collection in the country and the most extensive Latino research and archival facility in the Northeastern United States. It is also the only library and archives in the state of New York exclusively dedicated to Puerto Rican and Latino documentation. Centro, a CUNY-wide center, is celebrating its 30th anniversary during the 2003-2004 academic year.

About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.

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