NORTHRIDGE : 2 CSUN Alumni to Receive Awards

Mission Hills activist Irene Tovar and Santa Paula high school teacher Tony Gaitan have been selected as the recipients of the first-annual Outstanding Alumni awards from La Raza Alumni Assn. of Cal State Northridge.

“Our objective is to recognize the achievements of alumni who have remained active in the community here,” said Josefina Aguilar, president of the association. Aguilar said the dormant alumni group was revitalized last year to raise scholarship money for Latino students at CSUN.

Recently, the organization lent its support to protesters agitating for a Chicano studies department at UCLA, and Aguilar said it aims to promote activism in the Latino community throughout Los Angeles. Tovar, who twice ran unsuccessfully for a City Council seat in the 7th District, has roots that go back to the early days of the Chicano studies department at CSUN. She graduated from the school in 1969, the same year the department was formed following large protests by students and faculty.

Tovar helped found San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services and the Latin American Civic Assn. Recently, she was one of two members representing the Valley on the board of directors of Rebuild L.A.

Gaitan, a 1975 graduate of the CSUN Chicano studies department, is director of special projects for Santa Paula Union High School. He has taught migrant children for 17 years and organizes a yearly leadership conference for Latino high school students at CSUN each year, said Aguilar.

El Proyecto Del Barrio, a social-service organization based in Arleta, will also be recognized for its work in providing AIDS education, drug rehabilitation, health care and counseling to Latinos, Aguilar said.

The awards will be presented at a fund-raising banquet June 26.