FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
January 25, 2005

PHOENIX - Raul Yzaguirre will join ASU as the founding executive director of the Center for Community Development and Civil Rights and will serve as a professor of practice in the College of Public Programs. His appointment will begin Jan. 23.

After serving more than 30 years as president and chief executive officer for the National Council of La Raza, the nations leading Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization, Yzaguirre will focus his attention on building a bridge between university resources and community needs. The Center for Community Development and Civil Rights is part of ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus and will include projects based on community development, civil rights, leadership building as well as education and media.

Yzaguirre joined NCLR in 1974, and built the organization into the largest and most influential constituency-based Hispanic organization in the country. His work on behalf of Latinos and NCLR is praised in Hispanic Business magazine’s review of Latino advocates’ influence in Washington, D.C. In which NCLR is recognized “by all accounts as the most effective Hispanic organization.”

The political powerhouse will bring to ASU and the Southwest community a wealth of professional and personal relationships. Yzaguirre’s record of courting successful, diverse partnerships and financial sponsorship for Latino community projects, institutions and initiatives is unrivaled. He plans on employing university resources to secure the Center’s position as a socially embedded institution in the spirit of the New American University.

ASU President Michael Crow has lauded “Raul’s innovative thinking and strong connections with state and national Hispanic assemblies.” He says Yzaguirre’s presence will continue to promote [university] efforts and create numerous opportunities for collaboration.