@NMSU
NMSU professor wins award from governor
The New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women honored Cynthia Bejarano as an Outstanding New Mexico Woman of the Year. Bejarano was recognized for her advocacy work with migrant workers and their families as well as her efforts to fight violence against women in the borderland.
"The award is a tremendous honor and was of great surprise to me. I am truly honored and humbled by this recognition, and feel that I share it with my colleagues and friends from CAMP and from Amigos de las Mujeres de Juarez," Bejarano said.
Bejarano co-founded the United States-Mexico solidarity organization Amigos de las Mujeras de Juarez, which continues to be among the most-recognized and effective woman-centered networks for producing awareness and promoting justice for disappeared and murdered women and their families on both sides of the border.
Bejarano also co-founded and continues to serve as principal investigator for the NMSU College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), a multi-million dollar initiative.
Established in 2002, CAMP serves young people who have worked in the fields or who grew up in families of migrating agricultural laborers by providing for all of the expenses related to the first year of college and providing an extensive network of ongoing support through their graduation.
"I will continue to work with others on advocacy issues around immigrant's rights and access to education, and of course in advocacy for the families and organizations that work tirelessly to fight violence along our border in the tri-state region," Bejarano said.
Growing up in Anthony, N.M., Bejarano lived the everyday violence of poverty and understood its connection to interpersonal conflict when she watched her father beaten by thwarted car thieves. Motivated to make a difference for her family and community, she headed to NMSU, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in criminal justice.
Bejarano was recognized by NMSU faculty to be a promising scholar and was awarded the Minority Doctoral Fellowship from the state of New Mexico to study at Arizona State University.
Lisa Bond-Maupin, sociology department head and director of the Women's Studies Program, submitted Bejarano's nomination to the commission.
In it, Bond-Maupin wrote that Bejarano's early scholarship focused on the perspectives and complex identities of Mexican/Latino high school students, resulting in her first book, "¿Que Onda?: Urban Youth Cultures and Border Identity."
"It is gratifying to have the opportunity to nominate Dr. Cynthia Bejarano, this very accomplished daughter of New Mexico," Bond-Maupin, a 2007 award recipient, said. "She has used the fight that grew in her early on. And we are all better for it."
Bejarano said she appreciates the recognition and looks forward to working with the commission to expose young women and men to its efforts in empowering young people to make a difference in their communities.
"We must learn to value our differences and the strengths that all community members contribute to society, and in Juarez, that a loss of one member of our neighboring city is a loss to all of us," Bejarano said.
Written by Susan Prosoco.