Promotions and Special Events

McDonald’s named Rudy R. Méndez vice president of diversity for McDonald’s U.S.A. Méndez will oversee workforce diversity in more than 13,000 restaurants in the United States. This 22-year veteran of the fast-food industry helped establish the corporation in Latin America and the Caribbean. He was also human resources director for the Middle East, Greece, Turkey and India. Méndez, a native of Chicago, sits on the board of trustees of City Colleges of Chicago and is an executive board member of McDonald’s Hispanic Leadership Council.

Elisa González-Rubio was named partner of the San Antonio-based marketing firm Promotional Management Group. The former vice president of sales and marketing has also worked as brand manager for H-E-B Food Stores in San Antonio, regional manager for Hispanic consumer markets for Coca-Cola, and marketing senior manager for Southwest Airlines in Dallas. González-Rubio received the Bronze Pyramid Award from Promotional Products Association International, and was named Top Hispanic Manager by Hispanic Magazine in 1999.

Sarita E. Brown, president and CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute, was awarded the 2003 Outstanding Contribution to Higher Education Award by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators during its annual conference. Brown became president of the HSF Institute in January 2001 after serving as executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans during the Clinton administration. The Organization of Paralyzed Veterans of America presented its 2003 Barrier-Free America Award to Argentine-born architect César Pelli, who designed the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Pelli, who was dean at Yale’s school of architecture, was also awarded the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1995. He designed the Petrona Towers—among the tallest buildings in the world—in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Chicano theater and film legend Luis Valdez won the César E. Chávez Spirit Award from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Valdez was recognized for founding the award-winning and internationally known theatrical troupe El Teatro Campesino in 1965. In 1977, Valdez wrote Zoot Suit, which was the first play written by a Chicano to be presented on Broadway, and later wrote and directed its film version for Universal Pictures. He is also known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed film La Bamba in 1987. He is a member of the National Endowment for the Arts, a founding member of the California Arts Council, and a drama professor at California State University at Monterey.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao appointed José A. Lira director of the Department of Labor’s Office of Small Business Programs. Lira was the president of Lira & Associates, a Texas-based business development, consulting and marketing group specializing in minority-owned small businesses. He also served as the director of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency from 1990-1993, and was national administrator of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The University of Miami has named Dr. Nilda Peragallo dean of its nursing school and permanent researcher of its school of medicine. Peragallo, who was born in Chile, is a renowned HIV and AIDS researcher. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing; president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses; and
was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Nurse
Scholar while teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.

Ricardo Stanton-Salazar, University of Southern California associate professor of education and sociology, has been named a resident fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. He will be at the center from January to May 2004. As a fellow, he will work to improve community-based and school-based programs to prevent juvenile delinquency.