6th Annual UCI Latino Excellence and Achievement Awards Dinner

Reception

Los Chagos

EVENING PROGRAM

Performance by Ballet Folklórico de UCI

Rodrigo Lazo, Ph.D. Interim Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Gala Co-chair

Jaymi Smith Associate Dean for Student Success, Graduate Division

KEYNOTE

Tiffany López, Ph.D. Dean, Claire Trevor School of the Arts

Adelí Durón Director, Latinx Resource Center Gala Co-Chair

AWARDS PRESENTER

Jessica R. Ortega, Ph.D. Senior Staff Psychologist, UCI Counseling Center

SCHOOL AWARD PRESENTATIONS

Claire Trevor School of the Arts

School of Biological Sciences

Paul Merage School of Business

School of Education

Henry Samueli School of Engineering

School of Humanities

Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

School of Law

Performance by Brown Bag Theater Company

School of Medicine

School of Nursing

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

School of Physical Sciences

Program in Public Health

School of Social Ecology

School of Social Sciences

COMMUNITY AWARDS PRESENTATIONS

Distinguished Staff Leadership Award

Outstanding Alumni Leadership Award

Outstanding Community Builder Award

Outstanding Faculty Mentorship Award

CLOSING REMARKS

Rodrigo Lazo, Ph.D.

Interim Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Gala Co-chair

Rodrigo Lazo, Ph.D.

Interim Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Professor of English, School of Humanities Gala Co-chair

Dr. Rodrigo Lazo is the Interim Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Through the Office of Inclusive Excellence (OIE) he leads a team working to promote institutional transformation in support of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Dr. Lazo’s previous positions at UCI include Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Graduate Division, Associate Dean of Humanities, and Director for the Humanities Core Program, a one-year introduction to the humanities for first-year students.

Dr. Lazo is a professor of English and is a highly regarded scholar of American literature broadly conceived across the Americas, and he teaches courses on LatinX fiction and poetry. His published books and articles include Letters from Filadelfia: Early Latino Literature and the Trans-American Elite, which won the prize for best book in Early American Literature in 2021.

Jaymi Lee Smith

Associate Dean for Student Success, Graduate Division Professor, Claire Trevor School of the Arts

Jaymi Lee Smith is the Associate Dean for Student Success in the Graduate Division where she has served since 2020. She is a professor of lighting design in the Drama department and has been a member of the faculty since 2007. She has additionally served on the Graduate Council, the Provost Leadership Council, as Head of Design, and on numerous other small committees for both policy and fellowships. Her research work as a lighting designer has taken her to theaters such as Steppenwolf, The Goodman, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare, LaJolla Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, among others. Her work has also been seen in China, Italy, Spain, Scotland, and Ireland.

Tiffany López, Ph.D.

Dean, Claire Trevor School of the Arts

Dr. Tiffany Ana López has dedicated her career to working collaboratively to advance inclusive excellence and develop DEI-centered leaders. She is currently the dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts.

Dr. López began her educational journey at a community college in Northern California, then transferred to California State University, Sacramento, where she completed a bachelor’s degree through fellowship and support programs. After a year post-graduation, participating in creative writing workshops with foundational figures Sandra Cisneros and Rudolfo Anaya, she earned a scholarship to complete her Master’s degree and Doctorate at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was then the first Cesar Chavez Dissertation Fellow at Dartmouth College.

During her tenure at the University of California, Riverside, she founded and directed the Latina/o Play Project at the Culver Center for the Arts and helped to build a transdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum for the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences first-year success program. Dr. López served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of English and mentored Latine students to graduate programs, complete their Ph.D. programs, and move into faculty positions. She collaboratively led an interdisciplinary Latine cluster hire proposal across STEM, business, education, humanities, and the arts. Dr. López is a nationally recognized voice in Latine theater and a leader in equity, diversity and inclusion in higher education.

Jessica R. Ortega, Ph.D.

Senior Staff Psychologist, UCI Counseling Center Awards Presenter

Dr. Jessica Ortega began her academic career as a student at Arizona State University and earned her B.A. degree in Psychology, Master’s degree in Counseling and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology.

Dr. Ortega joined the Counseling Center in Fall 2005, and currently serves as a Senior Staff Psychologist. As a staff psychologist, she engages with students through individual and group therapy, designs and delivers workshops/training to enhance student development and wellness, provides mental health consultation to the UCI community, provides supervision and training for doctoral-level psychology interns, and mentors students through their professional development which often includes graduate school preparation.

She is the coordinator for the UCI Counseling Center C.O.A.C.H. (Creating Options and Conquering Hurdles) Peer Program that frequently partners with other campus departments and units. Through this role as C.O.A.C.H. coordinator and supervisor, Dr. Ortega trains and mentors advanced diverse undergraduate students to serve as peer life coaches to other students on the UC Irvine campus. She serves as a liaison to Chican@/x and Latin@/x staff and faculty seeking to consult regarding their students in distress, especially those whom are underrepresented, 1st generation to college and may find seeking help through counseling a stigmatizing experience. Dr. Ortega has collaborated on outreach events with UCI and off-campus community Latin@/x staff, is a former co-chair of UCI’s CLSA (Chicano/Latino Staff Association) and former co-chair of the mentorship program for this same staff association. Her professional work embodies the empowerment of underrepresented and underserved communities, training of students to reach their potential as agents of change, and ultimately helping students strengthen their voice, spirit and leadership.

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