CSUSB Lead Founder, Director Receives High Honor

SAN BERNARDINO>> Enrique Murillo, a professor of education at California State University, San Bernardino and executive director of the Latino Education and Advocacy Days Summit, has been named Education Leader of the Year in 2016 by Unidos Por La Musica, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting economic self-sufficiency and upward mobility to low-income community residents through education and the power of music. Murillo, who also founded LEAD, which is housed in the university’s College of Education, was honored at the group’s Christmas Ball Gala in December at the Ontario Convention Center. The UPLM annually recognizes an individual who has demonstrated an excellent commitment to advancing education in the inland region. Recently LEAD and the UPLM partnered on the Summer Fiesta Music & Resource Fair in Ontario, attracting more than 2,500 people. “Unidos Por La Musica values our partnership with LEAD organization to further educate our communities," said UPLM president and CEO Oscar Ayon. "We admire and respect the tremendous commitment Dr. Murillo has demonstrated in the education for our Latino community.” Murillo said the honor is both fantastic and humbling. "(It is) further affirmation of the growing awareness and visibility of the programs, projects and events under the LEAD organization umbrella; and confirmation of our university’s influence in promoting our mission across all segments of our community,” Murillo said. Launched in 2009, the annual LEAD Summit focuses on educational issues affecting Latinos at the national, regional and local levels by bringing together teachers, educators, researchers, scholars, administrators, independent writers and artists, policy and program specialists, students, parents, families, civic leaders, activists and advocates. At its most recent conference last March, the annual one-day education summit was webcast to more than 1,600 viewing sites in the United States and in 39 countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, England, Guatemala, Iceland, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Spain and South Korea. Murillo has served at CSUSB since 1999 and is a full professor in the College of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Foundations. Murillo is also the founder of the National Latino Education Network, the founding editor of the Journal of Latinos and Education and editor-in-chief of the Handbook of Latinos and Education. He also serves as president of the Southern California Consortium of Hispanic Serving Institutions, representing more than 70 institutions in the region, as well as co-chair of the Binational Parent Leadership Institute. Murillo has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, a master’s degree in educational foundations from Cal State Los Angeles and a doctorate in philosophy in social foundations of education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.