Dr. Blandina Cardenas Flores to speak at Texas Leaders Luncheon

Texas Border Business

- Advertisement -

The RGV Hispanic Chamber in partnership with The LIBRE Initiative have joined forces to present a series of Texas Leader Luncheons featuring key Texas Hispanic Leaders that will highlight the impact of Hispanics on civic engagement and the impact they can have on public policy benefiting opportunity and the economic wellbeing for Hispanics.  The July 20^th Leaders Luncheon will feature Dr. Blandina Cardenas Flores, the former President of the University of Texas Pan American.  The Leaders Luncheon is held at Lone Star National Bank Corporate Offices located at 303 W. Nolana, 4^th floor from 11:30am to 1:00pm.

Blandina Cardenas Flores, who retired as the seventh President of the University of Texas Pan American has spent her life dedicated to the proposition that the intellectual and creative assets of all students must be developed within a high quality educational system for the common good. 

She began as a teacher of migrant pre-school children in her native Del Rio, Texas in 1968.  Within nine years she had designed an extensive array of programs that became national models, pioneering the implementation of bilingual early childhood education programs for children with severe disabilities, bilingual infant stimulation programs, programs to credential teacher aides and school-within-a-school models that provided students experiential learning and attended to their unique backgrounds.  Her leadership had engaged the National Education Association, Children’s Television Workshop, the United States Department of Justice and local, state and national efforts to advance voting rights, child and family development and educational equity and excellence.  She completed a doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and in 1977, she accepted a Presidential Appointment as Commissioner for Children, Youth and Families in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare where she managed a $1 billion budget and headed the nation’s Head Start, Child Care, Child Welfare programs and the National Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. In 1980 she was appointed to the United States Commission on Civil Rights where she served for thirteen years. 

- Advertisement -

She served as the United States Representative on the Governing Body of the Inter-American Children’s Institute of the Organization of American States, the Early Childhood Committee of the Organization for Economic and Cultural Development in Paris and represented her country at the International Organization for Families at UNESCO, as a delegate to the United Nations World Conference on Women, and on the first US Delegation of Educational Researchers to the People’s Republic of China. Her extensive work with Mexican universities and organizations earned her induction into the Orden del Aguila Azteca, the highest honor bestowed by the government of Mexico on a non-citizen.

For more than thirty years she has been a strong, clear and creative voice for expanded educational opportunity. As Director of the Office of Minorities in Higher Education at the American Council on Education she led efforts to increase the participation and success of under-represented groups in higher education. Prior to coming to UTPA, Dr. Cardenas was Dean of the College of Education and Human Development and Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 

The LIBRE initiative is a national, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization focused on advancing the economic freedom and opportunity of Hispanics to purse the American Dream.  The RGV Hispanic Chamber of Commerce promotes economic development and assists businesses to access the Hispanic market through networking, promoting education and nurturing leadership.  Both organizations strive to help the Hispanic grow both economically and socially.  

Spearheading the organizations are Eric Garza, Texas Coalitions Director for The LIBRE Initiative and Cynthia M. Sakulenzki, RGVHCC Pres/CEO.  Mr. Garza can be reached at 956-566-0529 or egarza@belibre.org.  Ms. Sakulenzki can be reached at 956-928-0060 or cynthia@rgvhcc.com.  For more information on the organizations check their websites at www.belibre.org and www.rgvhcc.com. 

- Advertisement -

The Texas Leaders Luncheon is free to the first 65 people who register at 928-0060.  A reservation is required to be admitted to this informative and inspiring luncheon.  

- Advertisement -