In celebration of the 40th Anniversary, two of the members that founded Ajúa Campos 40 years ago will be returning to Wesleyan for the first time to discuss the beginnings of Ajúa Campos and current issues facing the Latino Community.
Friday, November 20 at 6:00pm
Woodhead Lounge
Light Refreshments will be served
Brief Bio’s on two of the Founders, Roberto Rivera and Lad Santiago.
Roberto Rivera
Was supposed to be a part of the class of 73 but left Wesleyan in 1972 and transferred to the University of Wisconsin where he attained a BS in Educational Psychology in 1974. He then attended Boalt Hall School of law at the University of California. For the past 30 years he has worked in various capacities with a focus on programs that ensure educational equity and access for first generation, low-income and students of color to the University of California. He currently works for the Puente Project, a program that assists first generation students in the transfer process from California community colleges to the 4 year university systems.
Lad Santiago
Lad Santiago is of Puerto Rican descent, born and raised in New York City. He received his B.A. degree in Molecular Biology from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 1974. He completed his premedical education at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1979, he received his doctorate as a healthcare provider in South Carolina. Thereafter, he completed his postgraduate education in Preventive Medicine in Florida. He is Board Certified in Integrative Medicine and holds Diplomate status with the College of Clinical Nutrition. He served as a healthcare provider to a disenfranchised community in the City of Atlanta for many years.
In recent years as a result of his love for the arts and humanities, he underwent additional graduate education in the arts. He has been conferred an M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing, and another M.F.A. degree in Digital Cinema. Presently, he is a candidate for the Ph.D. degree in Creative and Critical Writing, American Literature, Cinema Studies, and Cultural Studies at the University of Wales – Bangor, Wales, United Kingdom.
In years past, he served as a health manpower consultant to the Office of Health Manpower Opportunity at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He was also a key organizer of the first National Latino Health Manpower Conference held in Chicago, Illinois; a national conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. He has also served as an executive director of a national Boricua health manpower advocacy organization known as the National Boricua Health Organization. He has been honored as an Outstanding Young Man of America, and has been noted in Oxford’s Who’s Who in America.
At the present time, he serves as president of the South Carolina Hispanic Leadership Council, an organization serving the health, education, socio-economic, legal/legislative, artistic needs of the South Carolina Latino community statewide. He is presently serving a three year term as commissioner and chairman of the Human Relations Commission of the City of Spartanburg. Through this commission, he is addressing issues of injustice related to social, economic, health, and educational concerns in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Currently, he is a board member of the Community Advisory Council of the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg. In this organization, he addresses the issue of inclusion and participation of the minority community in artistic endeavors such as theater, dance, visual arts, music, as well as other artistic disciplines. Recently, he served as the keynote speaker for the South Carolina Statewide Hispanic Conference held by The South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs. He recently served on a health panel at the Statewide Native American Conference also held by The South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs. He is a member of the American Association of Integrative Medicine, Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Pen American Center, and National Association of Latino Independent Producers.