Regent, Author To Give Panel Discussion

Regent Don Flores		Author Lionel Garcia

Prominent Hispanic leaders Don Flores and Lionel Garcia will participate in a panel discussion on Wednesday (April 7) at 2 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Theatre. Garcia will also give a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m. in the LSC Theatre.

Flores, a member of the Texas State University Board of Regents, as well as executive vice president and editor of the El Paso Times, will discuss “Hispanic Presence in the Newsrooms: Why Should It Matter?”

Garcia, a well-known Hispanic author, will discuss “Poems and Mexican-American Literary Fiction” and will also be available after his poetry reading for a book signing.

“We’re looking forward to having the two very successful minority men on campus,” said Amber Van Roekel, assistant director of Student Activities. “Both come from very humble backgrounds and both worked very hard to get where they’re at, and I think it’s important to show students what hard work will get you.

“It’s always good to expose our students to the arts of fiction, writing and poetry,” she said.

Flores, a graduate of Southwest Texas State University, has been recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the U.S.

Appointed to a sixth-term on the Board of Regents by Gov. George W. Bush in March of 1999, he has held editing and management positions at the Tucson Citizen in Tucson, Ariz.; the New Mexican in Santa Fe, N.M.; the Visalia Times-Delta in Visalia, Calif.; and the Gannett West in Reno, Nev.

He also has worked as an editor with the Dallas Morning News and has been an editor or reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, the Abilene Reporter-News and the San Marcos Daily Record.

Garcia, born in San Diego, Texas, has written five novels, three collections, 12 short stories and five plays.
His novel, “Hardscrub,” has been described as "a bracing new novel full of Mr. Garcia's sense of humor and irony..." by the New York Times, and received several awards, including the Texas Institute of Letters Novel of the Year for Fiction Award in 1990, the Southwest Booksellers Novel of the Year in 1990 and the Dallas Times Herald Novel of Year in 1990.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, his award-winning stories have dealt mostly with Mexican-American life in the United States and were influenced deeply by the Hispanic story-telling tradition instilled in him while growing up with his extended family.

The event is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Student Services, Student Activities, the University Intercultural Awareness Committee, Texas Review Press and League of Latin American Citizens.

—End—

SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
March 30, 2004
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.