Performance transports Starr County crowd in space, time

May 5, 2011 No Comments
Pics 3

It might have been just as unseasonably cool in early May more than 700 years ago during pre-Columbian times. As the smell of incense envelopes you, you hear the rhythmic drumming, the haunting calls and the sounds of the organic instruments vibrate your body to the core of your soul. That’s the experience that a crowd of more than 120 community members and students were treated to at South Texas College’s Starr County Campus Amphitheater. Simply put, they experienced Huehuetl. Sponsored by STC’s Mexican American Studies Program, in partnership with the college’s Student Activities … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, Arts, College News, Community, Featured

Dudes look like ladies, for good cause

April 7, 2011 No Comments
Participants proudly display their shoes.

South Texas College’s Mexican American Studies Program joined forces with Mujeres Unidas for a second year to help raise awareness about sexual and domestic violence in a unique way – getting Valley men to walk in women’s shoes across campus. And it was certainly a site to behold as more than 25 men marched across the college’s Pecan Campus in true fashionista style in flowered flip flips, leopard print pumps and silver stilettos. But they weren’t alone. They were joined by millions of other American men in taking a stand on this important issue by participating in the annual Walk a … Read More …

Filed Under: Around Campus, College News, Community, Featured

Author, historian remembers Mexican-Americans’ role in 150th Anniversary celebration of the Civil War

April 4, 2011 No Comments
Historian and author Jerry Thompson’s book “Vaqueros in Blue and Gray” recalls the story of the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who fought in the U.S. Civil War.

By: Victor Gomez, STC Mexican American Studies Program Instructor and Esther Garcia, STC Library Specialist The Mexican American Studies Program and Library Services at South Texas College will commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the U.S. Civil War with a special presentation by historian and author Jerry Thompson. He will speak on April 11 at 2:30 p.m. at STC’s Mid-Valley Campus Library located at 400 North Border in Weslaco and again at 6 p.m. at the college’s Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room located at 3201 West Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission to both events is free and open … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, College News, Community, Featured

Mexican-American writer encourages aspiring writers during lecture

April 1, 2011 1 Comment
Award-winning Mexican-American author Barbara Renaud Gonzalez concluded the inaugural Jovita Gonzalez Women’s History Month Lecture Series at South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library in McAllen. STC Guitar Instructor Jaime Garcia accompanies Renaud Gonzalez during her reading.

Award-winning Mexican-American author Barbara Renaud Gonzalez concluded the inaugural Jovita Gonzalez Women’s History Month Lecture Series at South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library in McAllen with a lively and energetic reading from her book titled, “Golondrina, Why Did You Leave Me?” The series was sponsored by STC’s Mexican American Studies Program and the Department of Library Services. “It’s overwhelming and life-thrilling,” said Renaud Gonzalez about her participation in the lecture series named in honor of Roma native Jovita Gonzalez, an important Mexican-American … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, College News, Community, Featured

Powerful opening to NACCS conference

March 7, 2011 No Comments
From left to right, the 2011 National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Regional Conference opening keynote panel on “The Longoria Affair” included film director and writer John Valadez, Marianne Bueno of The University of North Texas, Felix Longoria’s sister-in-law Sara Posas and Wanda Garcia, the activist daughter of civil rights pioneer Dr. Hector P. Garcia.

Who would have thought that a phone call from Three Rivers, Texas in 1949 would spark the Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement? No one was more surprised than Sara Posas, the sister-in-law of Pvt. Felix Longoria. She was a special guest-speaker at the opening of the recent National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Regional Conference held at the South Texas College Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room. The opening night of the 2011 NACCS Conference kicked off with the standing room only film screening and roundtable discussion of “The Longoria Affair.” The discussion … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, College News, Community

Conference celebrating Chicana/Chicano activism returns to STC Feb 24 to 26

February 17, 2011 1 Comment
A keynote panel discussion during the 2008 National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Regional Conference held at the South Texas College’s Pecan Campus. The 2011 NACCS conference will be held on Feb. 24 to 26 at the STC Pecan Campus and the McAllen Convention Center.

For the second time in three years, South Texas College’s Mexican American Studies Program will host the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies Tejas Regional Conference at the Pecan Campus on Feb. 24 to 26. Admission is free and open to the public. The theme for the conference is “De Diosa a Hembra to Chicana: Celebrating the Last 40 Years of Chicana Activism” and is also title of the keynote panel, which will offer a discussion of the events surrounding the landmark 1971 First National Chicana Conference. Although the focus of the conference centers on analyzing and … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, College News, Community

Civil rights author brings in packed house to conclusion of STC’s Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration

October 21, 2010 No Comments
Dr. Cynthia Orozco speaks to a packed house at the STC Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room.

Dr. Cynthia Orozco didn’t know that a 20-page college paper she wrote on the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 1978 would lead her on a 30-year odyssey. A journey culminating in her 2009 book titled, “No Mexicans, Women or Dogs Allowed: The Rise of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement.” Fittingly, another trip took her to South Texas College recently, where her presentation on her book and her thoughts on Mexican-American civil rights concluded the college’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. To start her presentation, she showed the audience signs reading, … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, College News

Local historians honored by STC’s Mexican American Studies Program

October 18, 2010 No Comments
From left are George and Virginia Gause and STC Mexican American Studies Program Instructor and Hispanic Heritage Month Coordinator Victor Gomez.

Community service is a labor of love, done without expectation of economic gain or reward. But when you dedicate your heart and soul to something, it usually doesn’t go unnoticed, which is why George and Virginia Gause received the Premio Sol de Aztlán Award from South Texas College’s Mexican American Studies Program. The Gause’s are historians, librarians and curators of public programming in the Rio Grande Valley. Long-time employees at The University of Texas-Pan American Library, the couple was recognized for their 30 years of dedication to recovering the history of the Lower Rio … Read More …

Filed Under: Academics, Around Campus, College News, Community