Professor Estrella Torrez Honored for Community-Engaged Creative Activity

January 30, 2023

  • Torrez earned this award for her work with the Lansing School District supporting and serving Lansing’s local Latinx and Indigenous communities.
  • “I am grateful to everyone who supported my nomination and assisted in the nomination process,” Torrez said.
  • Award recipients will be recognized at the University Outreach and Engagement Awards Ceremony held on March 2, 2023.

By Chrystel Lopez ‘23

Dr. Estrella Torrez, associate professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) at Michigan State University (MSU), has been awarded the 2023 Distinguished Partnership Award for Community-Engaged Creative Activity for her work with the Lansing School District (LSD). 

This university-wide recognition introduced in 2016 is granted to scholars and community partners whose work positively impacts both the community and scholarship at MSU. Torrez will be recognized at the University Outreach and Engagement Awards Ceremony on March 2, 2023. Register for the ceremony here. 

“It was such a surprise to receive this honor,” Torrez said. “I am grateful to everyone who supported my nomination and assisted in the nomination process. It is truly wonderful to have such a supportive community.”

Image shows Dr. Estrella TorrezThis award recognizes Torrez for her work with Lansing’s local Latinx and Indigenous communities in her role as co-director of MSU’s Indigenous Youth Empowerment Program (IYEP). IYEP is a collaboration between RCAH, MSU’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies, LSD’s Native American Program, Lansing Community College, and the Ingham County Health Department.

In her award letter, Laurie Van Egeren, interim associate provost for University Outreach and Engagement, said that the committee was “extremely impressed” with work such as Torrez’s project “MSU and the Lansing School District: Building an Intergenerational Constellation of Partnerships with Latinx and Indigenous Lansing School District Youth and Families.”

In another project, the multi-year-long “Nuestros Cuentos (Our Stories)”, Torrez worked weekly with Lansing’s Latinx students to write and publish family stories, which were eventually illustrated by RCAH students and published as books. Torrez also organized public exhibitions of the artworks through the MSU Federal Credit Union, attended by University and MSUFCU executive leadership.

“I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this award than Dr. Torrez,”  Sergio Keck, deputy superintendent of Special Populations and Programs for LSD said. “She has been a generous and supportive partner for over a decade.”

 

The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) is a beacon among Michigan State University’s heralded learning communities, named best in the nation among public schools by U.S. News & World Report for four consecutive years. RCAH’s unique “living-learning" community offers the advantages of a small-college, liberal arts education with all the opportunities of a major Big Ten university. RCAH students hone the key skills that are most in demand by employers today by examining critical issues through the lens of culture, visual and performing arts, literature, community engagement, social justice, history, writing, and philosophy. RCAH graduates’ 99 percent placement rate into careers or graduate school is the best at MSU. Find out why: Visit rcah.msu.edu, email rcah@msu.edu, or call 517-355-0210. 

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