April 2, 2001

Maria Echaveste, former assistant and deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and the first Hispanic to hold the position, will speak at the opening ceremony for UConn's 32nd Annual Latino Awareness Month celebration.

The ceremony will be held Monday, April 2 at 5 p.m. in the Rome Commons Ballroom.

Clinton named Echaveste as his assistant and deputy chief of staff in May 1998. As deputy chief of staff, she managed policy initiatives, developed legislative and communications strategies for the White House, and coordinated the selection of senior adminis- tration appointments.

Prior to her appointment, Echaveste served as assistant to the president and director of public liaison. And from June 1993 to early 1997, she was the administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.

Echaveste received a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Call Cindy at the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center at (860) 486-1135 to attend the opening event.

In addition to the opening ceremony, other activities during Latino Awareness Month, which has the theme "Latino Faces of the Millennium," include:

• workshops on play writing by Argentine director Eduardo Rovner. The workshops, which will be conducted in Spanish and are open to the public, will be held in Arjona Building, Room 221, from 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday, April 6 and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 7;
  
  
• the Congress of Latin American Students Conference from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 7 in the Student Union Ballroom;
  
  
• the lecture "Sailors, Students, Athletes & Businessmen: Dimensions of Baseball in the Caribbean" by Joseph Arbena, professor of history at Clemson University, at noon on Monday, April 9 in South Campus Building A, Room 124. At 4:30 p.m. he will speak about baseball as part of the political process;
  
  
• the Latino UConn Pageant, to take place from 7 to 11 p.m. on Thursday, April 12 in the Student Union Ballroom;
  
  
• the conference, "Latino/as, Language and Globalization: Education, Law & the Media," to be held on Friday, April 20, at 11 a.m. in the Konover Auditorium at the Dodd Center. The conference will feature a lecture by Celina Romany, a professor of law and a human rights activist from Puerto Rico;
  
  
• Latin Fest, a candlelight nightclub cabaret, on Saturday, April 21 at Jorgensen Auditorium. The event features music by Manikomio, Eddie Santiago and Fulanito. Call the Jorgensen Box Office at (860) 486-4226 for tickets;
  
  
• a poetry reading by author Leroy Quintana at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 26 at the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center;
  
  
• the Latino Recognition Banquet from 5 to 9 p.m. on Monday, April 30 in the Rome Commons Ballroom.