Ofelia Miramontes, associate vice chancellor for diversity and equity at the University of Colorado at Boulder, was selected to receive a Latino Americans Who Make A Difference award for 2000 from the Urban Spectrum newspaper.
Miramontes is also an associate professor of education. She was cited for her efforts in developing public education programs for second language learners of English.
She was one of 11 recipients of this year聮s award, which honors Latino Americans "who are dedicated to making a better world for everyone."
When asked to identify challenges facing the Latino community and offer suggestions for meeting those challenges, Miramontes said that "providing an excellent education for Latino students and raising expectations for their success" is the most critical challenge, as well as providing scholarships for students.
Monitoring student progress and the quality of programs, providing better training for educators and encouraging the Latino community to become more politically active are some of her suggestions for how to meet the challenge of improving the quality of education.
Urban Spectrum is a monthly publication dedicated to spreading news about people of color. It is published in Denver and circulates 25,000 copies throughout Colorado.