Exhibit honoring past UCR Chancellor now on display.

An exhibition honoring Tomás Rivera, the youngest and first Latino Chancellor in the UC system and the namesake of the Rivera Library, opened in Special Collections & University Archives on Monday, April 11. Rivera was born in 1935 to Mexican migrant workers, and was among the first generation of Chicanos to earn a PhD. He was an accomplished author, educator, and administrator who unexpectedly died at the age of 48 while serving as UCR’s Chancellor.

The exhibition focuses on his commitment to the arts, higher education, and activism and is curated by librarians Melissa Cardenas-Dow and Stephanie Milner. It is just one of the projects supported by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) as part of Latino Americans: 500 Years of History. The opening coincides with the 28th Tomás Rivera Conference, an annual public event at UCR that focuses on core issues facing Chicanos and Latinos.