Support for LA-based University of Guadalajara Alumni Association

Leaders from the University of Guadalajara and the University of Guadalajara at Los Angeles (UDGLA) have met with a number of UDG graduates living in Los Angeles and other areas of California to promote the founding of an Association of Alumni and Friends of the University of Guadalajara to be based in Los Angeles. The Association would focus on promoting education, culture and relations between Mexico and the United States in benefit to the Mexican community living in this region of the US.

A preliminary informative meeting was held at the University of Guadalajara Foundation-USA on September 23 and included the participation of Dr. Max Greig, Secretary of the Foundation and Rector of UDG's center in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Samuel Schmidt, Vice President for Academic Affairs at UDGLA, and 13 University graduates. At the meeting, Dr. Greig encouraged those in attendance to support the future Association as it would work to better the educational level of many Mexicans. “Helping Mexicans earn professional qualifications will promote higher levels of education across the board. Alumni like us can be a force for social change, and an Alumni Association can be particularly effective because its members will contribute ideas that can be put into practice to help the University grow."

For his part, Dr. Schmidt considered that founding an Alumni Association will be a big plus in terms of promoting UDG academic programs and cultural activities aimed at benefiting Jalisco and Mexican natives in California. He added that it would also serve as a support mechanism for funding efforts that could help minimize tuition costs for students enrolled in the University’s programs.

Distinguished UDG graduates present at the meeting included Palmira Pérez, a graduate of the UDG School of Law who is now a TV news anchor for KWHY, Channel 22 in Los Angeles and also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and Dr. Alfredo Rodríguez García, a graduate of the School of Medicine and also a PhD in forensic science who taught for 25 at UDG and is currently the director of the forensic science program at San Diego State University. They emphasized that UDG should offer high school, undergraduate and extension and outreach activities to alumni living in the US.

"I studied with used textbooks and got a degree thanks to the University, since I could not have paid for (a private) education. I think it’s time for alumni like us to give something back to the University that gave us so much by spreading the word and working to change the image of Mexicans in this country,” said Pérez, originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco. For his part, Rodríguez García said that UDG programs can help keep many Mexicans out of prisons and away from drug and alcohol abuse. He also noted that "(T)here are many dropouts out there whose employment situation would improve if they could finally get a high school diploma. Giving them a little help with their human needs would improve their whole world."

The 13 graduates in attendance also promised to help seek out and recruit alumni in their communities to be members of the Association and remind them that the UDG Graduates and Alumni Office is there to offer them any UDG-related assistance they may require.