ENMU-Ruidoso History Professor receives NACCS 2023 Scholar Award
RUIDOSO, N.M.—The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) presented ENMU-Ruidoso’s Branch Community College History and Humanities Professor Dr. Cynthia Orozco with the 2023 Scholar Award at their 50th Annual Conference in Denver, Colo. March 29-April 1. “Her commitment to making ‘Voces de la Mujer’ a permanent stamp in NACCS focused on structural changes in representation, scholarship and leadership,” stated the conference presenter.
Orozco is an award-winning and best-selling author, historian, museum and film consultant, and public speaker. She wrote Pioneer of Mexican-American Civil Rights: Alonso S. Perales and No Mexicans, Women or Dogs Allowed: The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, the University of Texas Press’ best-selling academic book between 2010 and 2020. Her book Agent of Change: Adela Sloss-Vento, Mexican American Civil Rights Activist and Texas Feminist won the Liz Carpenter Award for Best Book in Texas women’s history 2020 from the Texas State Historical Association. She also co-edited Mexican Americans in Texas History.
She has written over 100 encyclopedia articles including more than 80 for the Handbook of Texas. She has also written more than 100 articles and letters to the editor in Texas, N.M., and Cali. newspapers. She attended University of Texas-Austin and UCLA.
She is a two-time Ford Fellow; a Texas State Historical Association Fellow; a New Mexico LULAC Educator of the Year; and currently serves on the Executive Board of the Organization of American Historians. Governor Bill Richardson appointed her to the New Mexico Humanities Council. Orozco co-founded the Chicana Caucus of the National Association for Chicano Studies. She is a past recipient of the ENMU Ruidoso President’s Award for Teaching and Service. She also managed the Leo Martinez campaign for Congress in the early 2000s.
Orozco recently announced her retirement from the College to focus on the upcoming NACCS’s 100th Anniversary in 2029. This is her last semester to teach at the College. Her personal website can be viewed at CynthiaOrozco.com.
The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies is the academic organization that serves academic programs, departments and research centers that focus on issues pertaining to Mexican Americans, Chicana/os, and Latina/os. The Association was formed in 1972, during the height of the Chicana/o movement, calling for the development of a space where scholarship and Chicana/o students could develop their talents in higher education. For more than 30 years, students, faculty, staff, and community members have attended the NACCS annual conference to present their scholarly papers–many of which have spun into important intellectual pillars.
