Hispanic Alumni to be Honored at the 2007 Texas Exes Hispanic Alumni Fiesta

August 29, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas—The 7th Annual Texas Exes Hispanic Alumni Fiesta, a festive fundraiser featuring speakers, a silent auction and a performance by the Longhorn Band, will be held in Austin Friday, Aug. 31, the night before The University of Texas at Austin's season-opening football game against Arkansas State University.

The 6 p.m. event, organized by the Texas Exes Hispanic Alumni Steering Committee, reconnects Hispanic alumni to each other and to the university. Proceeds from the fiesta, which will be in the Connally Ballroom at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center, will go toward scholarships for Hispanic students attending the university. More information about the Hispanic Alumni Fiesta is available online.

The fiesta will begin with a silent auction and will include a 7 p.m. program with an update about the university from William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin. It also will feature a performance by the Longhorn Band, a presentation of Hispanic alumni scholarships, recognition of Hispanic alumni who have received the Distinguished Alumnus Award and the Outstanding Young Texas Exes Award, and a presentation from the keynote speaker, Dr. Charles Ramírez Berg, a University Distinguished Teaching Professor.

Ramírez Berg, whose areas of concentration include Latinos in U.S. films and Mexican cinema, is an author of several books and screenplays and has published fiction and poetry. He was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow and is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, the Piper Professor Award and the 2004 Chancellor's Council Outstanding Teaching Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching at The University of Texas at Austin.

For more information contact: Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.