Department Endowment

Chicano Studies

ChicanA/o Studies Department Endowment

Department Endowment

For more than 60 years, Gracia Molina Enriquez de Pick has been an educator, feminist, philanthropist, mentor of students and community activist for women’s equality, indigenous communities, and workers’ rights. As an early champion for bi-lingual education, Molina de Pick helped to develop an academic program at San Diego Mesa College that gave birth to one of the first Chicano Studies Department in the nation.

In March, 2013, Mrs. de Pick gifted $80,000 to San Diego Mesa College for the creation of an endowment supporting the San Diego Mesa College Chicana/o Studies Department -- which she helped to found in 1970. It is believed to be the largest of its kind awarded to support a Chicana/o Studies program at a community college. The Gracia Molina de Pick/Chicana and Chicano Studies Department Endowment Fund also supports an annual student scholarship and a lecture series that honors her legacy.

Tribute to Gracia Molina de Pick Committee Members 2013:

Olivia Puentes-Reynolds | Dr. Charles Zappia, Dean, San Diego Mesa College School of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Multicultural Studies | Chicana/o Studies Department: Dr. César López, Chair, Prof. Manuel J. Vélez, Prof. Alessandra Moctezuma | San Diego Mesa College Foundation: Lina Heil, Dan Gutowski.

Tribute to Gracia Molina de Pick

The San Diego Mesa College Chicana/o Studies Department and the San Diego Mesa College Foundation hosted a tribute to renowned educator, activist, philanthropist and feminist, Gracia Molina de Pick, on Thursday, August 8, 2013 at 5:30 P.M.

This special evening was filled with friendship, the sounds of mariachi, Mexican antojitos, a silent auction, and comments from individuals whose lives have been touched by the passion, teachings, philanthropy and activism of Gracia Molina de Pick. Proceeds from the event supported the design, fabrication and installation of gallery signage, a plaque, and a biographic narrative for the Gracia Molina de Pick Glass Gallery at San Diego Mesa College. The six-panel glass gallery, located in the rotunda of the Humanities, Languages and Multicultural Studies Building, features a series of displays. The first exhibit was dedicated to Gracia and debuted in Spring 2014.

Tribute event poster for GMdP

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT GRACIA MOLINA DE PICK

Guide to the Gracia Molina de Pick Papers - Housed online by the Online Archive of California (OAC), University of California. https://oac.cdlib.org/

Biographical Information about Gracia Molina de Pick

Letter About Endowment by Prof. Rita Sanchez

FOR UPDATES ON EVENTS BY THE SAN DIEGO MESA COLLEGE CHICANO AND CHICANA STUDIES DEPARTMENT FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA