* Teresa Archuleta; Oxnard College Administrator

Teresa Monteon Orozco Archuleta of Ventura, an educator, Oxnard College administrator and longtime champion of women’s and minorities causes, died Wednesday after a decade-long battle with breast cancer.

She was 46.

“It’s a true loss to the community,” said Oxnard Mayor Manny Lopez, who along with his wife, Irma, was friends with Archuleta for more than 20 years. “She was someone who should have had many, many more years to contribute to society.”

Known for her boundless energy and ability to put aside her health problems, Archuleta was the Equal Opportunity Program director at Oxnard College for 18 years.

She helped students negotiate the web of collegiate bureaucracy as she encouraged and mentored them on reaching their maximum potential, Lopez said.

A Mexico native born Nov. 15, 1951, she was the oldest child of Agustin and Aurelia Orozco. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Cal State Northridge and her master’s at Cal State Sacramento.

“I remember the first time she came into my office--it was on her 23rd birthday,” Lopez said, adding that the idealistic young grade-school teacher already was concerned with women’s issues.

She co-founded the Ventura County Latina Breast Cancer Support Group for the American Cancer Society. She was a member of the Assn. of Mexican American Educators and Las Mujeres.

Before her tenure at Oxnard College, she held teaching, counseling and administrative positions in Oxnard Elementary School District and at Cal State Sacramento and Cal State Northridge.

She is survived by her husband, Bob of Ventura; daughter, Amanda of Ventura; parents, Agustin and Aurelia Orozco of San Diego; sisters, Leticia Rios and Mary Cruz of Chula Vista, Gloria Contreras of Valinda, Lourdes Villa of San Diego and Jenny Magallon of Lancaster; brothers, Jose Orozco of Ramona and Peter and Agustin Orozco of San Diego; and four grandchildren.

Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. today at All Saints Episcopal Church, 144 South C St., Oxnard. Burial will follow at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park in Camarillo.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Teresa Orozco Archuleta Scholarship Fund at Oxnard College, 4000 S. Rose Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033.

Conrad-Carroll Mortuary of Oxnard is handling arrangements.