The Memorial Symposium will feature speakers who will honor the life and legacy of Professor Horacio Roque Ramirez (1969-2015). Dr. Roque Ramirez was a faculty member in the Department of Chicana/o Studies who passed December 2015. His ethnographic and archival research focused on Central Americans in the US, queer Latinx community life in San Francisco, and Latino sexuality and hope in an era of AIDS and deportation. At UCSB, he developed the courses “Central Americans in the U.S.” and “Salvadoran Diasporas”, among the first within the UC system. Guest speakers include: 

 

Nubia Roque Ramirez (Horacio’s sister)

Dr. Leisy Abrego (Professor of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, UCLA)

Dr. William Calvo-Quirós (Associate Professor, American Culture, University of Michigan) 

Dr. Eddy Francisco Alvarez Jr. (Associate Professor, Chicana and Chicano Studies, California State University, Fullerton).

 

In his honor, the “Horacio Roque Ramirez Central American Studies Scholarship” was created and is being administered by the Division of Social Sciences. The purpose of this scholarship is to celebrate Central American history, culture, community, and studies at UC Santa Barbara. 

 

The inaugural recipients of the “Horacio Roque Ramirez Central American Studies Scholarship” will also be recognized at the Memorial Symposium. The two inaugural recipients include Esther Mejia (Political Science and History of Public Policy and Law) and Mayerly Ortega (History of Public Policy and Law, and Spanish). The five Honorable Mentions of the award are Andrea Amaya (Chicana/o Studies & Sociology); Jasmine Altamirano (Chicana/o Studies); Destiny Cisneros (Chicana/o Studies & Sociology); Violeta Valdez (Pre-Sociology) and Michelle Novak (Chicana/o Studies).

 

Donations in any amount to the “Horacio Roque Ramirez Central American Studies Scholarship” to support students can be made here: https://giving.ucsb.edu/Funds/Give?id=477.

 

The event is being organized by the Central American Studies Working Group, and co-sponsored by the Dean’s Office of Social Sciences, the Chicano Studies Institute, the Department of Chicana/o Studies, Latin American and Iberian Studies, Orfalea Center, Las Maestras Center, Global Latinidades Center and the Robert and Lisa Erickson Presidential Chair in English, and Eileen Boris, Hull Professor and Distinguished Professor of Feminist Studies.