CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales will be honored with an Ohtli Award, Mexico’s highest honor presented to a civilian outside the country, during a celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day at the university tonight, Sept. 15.
The celebration begins at 5:30 p.m. at the university’s Lower Commons.
The 'Ohtli' which is a Nahuatl (Aztec) word signifying 'open roads' or 'pathway,' will be presented by Mexican Consul Enrique Salomón Rosas Ramírez to Morales for his work on behalf of Mexican nationals in the Inland Empire. The Ohtli was conceived to recognize and honor Mexican, Mexican-American or Latino leaders whose efforts contribute significantly to the well-being, prosperity and empowerment of Mexican communities abroad.
The celebration will feature live music and cultural performances, and lead up to the historic Cry for Freedom, “El Grito,” by Rosas Ramírez. The event is sponsored by the university’s Latino Education and Advocacy Days conference and the Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino.
Mexican Independence celebrates the acts of parish priest Miguel Hidalgo, who more than 200 years ago in the Mexican village of Dolores, rang his church’s bell and yelled his cry for freedom from Spanish tyranny in what launched the war for Mexican Independence. To commemorate Hidalgo’s historic “Cry of Dolores,” on the evening of Sept. 15, the day before Mexican Independence Day, the president of Mexico will ring the bell of the National Palace in Mexico City.
After the ringing the bell, Mexico’s president will repeat a cry of patriotism, which is known as “El Grito,” with the names of the important heroes of the Mexican War of Independence and ending with the threefold shout of ¡Viva México! from the palace balcony to the assembled crowd in the Plaza de la Constitución, or Zócalo, one of the largest public plazas in the world.
Morales, who is in his fifth year as Cal State San Bernardino’s president, was recently named as one of “The 2016 101 Most Influential Latinos” by Latino Leaders Magazine.
In leading CSUSB, Morales has focused his attention on increasing student retention and graduation rates. Morales was instrumental in the introduction of the award-winning Coyote First STEP (Student Transition Enhancement Program), an initiative to increase college readiness and graduation rates for incoming first-year students.
Under Morales’ leadership, CSUSB is working with school districts in San Bernardino and Riverside counties to increase high school graduation rates and college readiness. He and other educational and business partners lead the Southern California Initiative for Education and Prosperity, a collaborative consortium — consisting of two universities, 11 community colleges and 67 school districts, along with county and business leaders — to increase baccalaureate degree attainment. The consortium was the recipient of the governor’s $5 million Innovation in Higher Education grant.
During his more than 40-year career in higher education, Morales is one of the few higher education administrators in the United States who has held senior administrative positions at the three largest public university systems in the nation: The California State University, The State University of New York, and The City University of New York.
For more information, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.