Erika Camacho honored by Hispanic Women’s Corporation

When the Hispanic Women’s Corporation held its 26th National Professional Development and Leadership Institutes last month at the Phoenix Convention Center, one of the six individuals selected as 2011 Award Winners was New College faculty member Erika Camacho.

New College’s Erika Camacho (right) was presented her 2011 Hispanic Women’s Corporation Latina Leadership Award by Linda Mazon Gutierrez, HWC’s president and CEO. (Jose Munoz photo)

An assistant professor of mathematics in the Division of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Camacho received the National HWC Latina Leadership Award for her work mentoring and supporting students. Other award recipients honored during the event were Lucia Navarro from CNN en Espanol; radio and television personality Yarel Ramos; Daniel Hernandez, the University of Arizona student credited with saving Congresswomen Gabrielle Gifford’s life when she was shot in Tucson; Dulce Matuz, president and founder of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition; and poet, writer and performer Mayda del Valle, who has recited her poetry at the White House.

“I was truly honored to be acknowledged in the same ceremony as these individuals,” Camacho says. “To me this is a testament that what I have sacrificed is not in vain and the spirit of Jaime Escalante’s commitment to making a difference, which has lived in me since our lives crossed, is thriving and still making an impact in others.”

The reference to Escalante, the legendary high school math teacher who was portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the film “Stand and Deliver,” is a heartfelt one for Camacho. She was one of the hundreds of students whose lives were forever changed when Escalante became their math teacher at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles.

“Jaime was like a parent,” Camacho says. “He had high expectations and wouldn’t allow you to make excuses.”

Because of the support she received from Escalante and others, Camacho feels a moral obligation to serve in a mentorship role to her own students and help create opportunities for them to advance.

Camacho’s love for mathematics, engendered by Escalante, led her to focus on the field of applied math. Among her current areas of research focus is the use of differential equations to model physiological processes. One project involves working to understand interactions of photoreceptors in the eye with the goal of gaining insight into certain degenerative diseases.

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