The UAHA president's letter summarizes recent UAHA events and highlights the organization's scholarship program. It discusses two successful recent events, the UA Hispanic Heritage football weekend and UA Homecoming Pachanga tailgate. It also announces that in the past 25 years, UAHA has awarded nearly $4.4 million in 1,998 scholarships to deserving students. For the current year, UAHA has awarded 234 scholarships totaling over $400,000. The letter promotes the upcoming 25th Annual UAHA Scholarship Dinner on December 4th and encourages membership renewals and donations to support the scholarship program.

1. www.arizonaalumni.com/uaha Fall 2009 | 7
Letter from UAHA President
It is my pleasure to address you for our fall issue of the
UAHA Noticias. Many of you are new UAHA members and we
welcome you to the growing UAHA familia! We have started
the semester with great events such as the UA Hispanic
Heritage football weekend and UA Homecoming Pachanga
tailgate where many alumni and students celebrated our
heritage and the love of our alma mater. Some of you even
Outstanding Graduates: Cristina Santamaria, marched in the UA Homecoming parade with our “UA Bug” Volkswagen float.
W. Patrick Bryan, Zayoni Torres and Nancy These events are great opportunities for friends to gather and to raise funds for
Hernandez
our scholarships.
graduated with his Bachelor’s degrees in Through generosity from individuals such as you, thousands of awards have
Studio Art and Spanish & Portuguese in 2006. been presented by the UAHA during the past 25 years. The UAHA’s scholarship
He was awarded as a Master’s student in the endowment has provided scholarship support to students who may not have
Center for the Study of Higher Education. otherwise attended college. To date, the UAHA has awarded 1,998 scholarship
Cristina Santamaria is a doctoral student awards for a total of $4,400,000. For 2009-2010, the UAHA is proud to announce
in the department of Special Education, that it has awarded 234 scholarships. To meet the needs of our growing Hispanic
Rehabilitation, and School Psychology and is communities in Arizona, we intend on growing the number of students the UAHA
receiving her degree in learning disabilities scholarships and assists annually. To do this, we must increase our scholarship
with an emphasis in Bilingual/Multicultural fundraising efforts.
Education. One of our largest fundraisers is the Annual UAHA Scholarship Dinner,
“Portraits of Excellence”. This will be our 25th Anniversary and the Dinner will be
held Friday, December 4, 2009 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa with a
Membership 6:00 p.m. reception, 7:00 p.m. dinner, and end of evening dance. In addition, the
UAHA is pleased to honor the accomplishments of Rick Gonzales of The Gonzales
REMINDER: TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP. Law Firm, P.C. and Marty Cortez of the Leadership & Retention Program for the
University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni Club memberships University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni Club (see www.arizonaalumni.com/uaha)
are based on the calendar year and are set to expire De-
Our scholarship program works closely with the efforts of the Chicano/
cember 31. Now is the time to sign up for 2010, whether
it’s a renewal or if you’re joining for the first time.
Hispano Student Center. This year, the Center was set to close and transition
Our membership program is strong and as our into a “Community Center” under new direction. Many Hispanic UA alumni and
network expands, we seek to better serve our alumni community advocates came together to discuss and communicate the need for
and touch the lives of more students. We are proud to the Center to not only stay in place, but also receive support to grow. This is a
introduce some exciting changes to UAHA’s membership nationally recognized center and staff with a graduation rate of 90% for UAHA
program and now offer several options for you when scholarship recipients. It has culturally competent models such as Success Express
you join or renew. Among the new options are Lifetime, and our Leadership & Retention programs that address the needs of our Hispanic
Joint, Friendship, and Student memberships along with a students at the UA. The Center was saved and maintained through a collaborative
General UAHA membership. Each University of Arizona community effort. The UAHA will continue partnering with and supporting the
Alumni Association (our umbrella organization) member Center to help maintain and grow its vital presence.
is eligible for a $10 discount off UAHA dues. We are also
Thank you for your support and for the opportunity to attend to the needs and
working hard to obtain benefits that our members can
enjoy. concerns of the UAHA alumni and scholarship students.
Please accept our invitation to join UAHA or renew Cordialmente,
your membership today. Your participation is greatly
appreciated and is for a great cause. Simply complete
and return the membership form on the back of this
newsletter. You can also sign up through our website at
http://www.arizonaalumni.com/uaha. If you Humberto Stevens
have any questions, please feel free to contact us at
(520) 626-9327.