Tiffany López is an inspiration not only on the University of California, Riverside campus, but regionally and nationally as well. She is dedicated to creating awareness of cultural history, and providing insight into the intersection of art and creative production’s role in personal and social change.

López is a professor in the UCR Department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production, and Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS). She has been teaching at UC Riverside for nearly two decades, and her dedication to introducing students to Chicana/Chicano and Latina/Latino history and culture has been a driving force in her work.

As part of the UCR Library's Latino Americans: 500 Years of History programming series in March, López will lead a scholarly discussion and give a dramatic reading from the Segundo Jueves Latina/o Play Project. She will read an excerpt of "Y No Se Lo Trago La Tierra" by Tomás Rivera, past UCR chancellor and the first Mexican-American chancellor in the UC system.

The Play Project is a series of performances including dramatic readings, plays, music, and dance from Latina/o cultural writings and works that López has developed as living, shared artwork using the medium of theatrical performance. A Segundo Jueves Latina/o Play Project performance will be presented at the Culver Center in April, 2016.