Sara Granda '09 Honored at Patiño Banquet
Sara Granda '09 was honored with the Lorenzo Patiño Community Service Award at the Lorenzo Patiño Awards Banquet March 13, with an impressive turnout of King Hall alumni, faculty, students, and staff in attendance. The event, hosted by La Raza Law Students Association (LRLSA), included a keynote address by Judge Consuelo Maria Callahan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and entertainment by Mariachi Jalisco.
The annual banquet honors the legacy of the late Lorenzo Patiño '73, one of the first Mexican-Americans appointed to the Municipal Court of Sacramento, and a co-founder of the University of Northern California School of Law, an institution dedicated to providing a low-cost legal education for working people. The highly respected community leader died of leukemia in 1983, but LRLSA honors his legacy each year with a banquet and with the Patiño Award, presented to a student who exemplifies extraordinary service and dedication to the Latino community and the legal community at large. The award, presented by Dean Kevin R. Johnson to Sara Granda, includes an honorarium, which is funded by the Mabie-Apallas chair.
This year's banquet included the first La Raza Alumni Reunion. Alumni present for the event included Salvador Sarmiento '07, Mona Badie '04, Wendy Casas '04, Louis Sotelo '76, Esther Beltrain '84, Daniel Guerrero '74, Rebecca Canales '08, Clarissa Guerrero '08, Fermin Villegas '06, Santiago Avila-Gomez '02, Adrian Lopez '03, Renee Reyna '06, Gustavo Garcia '05 (who travelled all the way from Mexico City), and Miguel Martin '84, founder of the annual event.
In addition to Dean Johnson, roughly half of the King Hall faculty were in attendance, including Senior Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Hollis Kulwin and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Vikram Amar, Professors Emeritus Cruz Reynoso, Martha S. West, and James F. Smith, and Professors Krystal Callaway Jaime, Raha Jorjani, Holly Cooper, Alan Brownstein, Floyd Feeney, Jennifer Chacón, Carter White, Clay Tanaka, John Oakley, Arturo Gándara, Amagda Perez, Carlton Larson, Peter Lee, Donna Shestowsky, Andrea Bjorklund, and Anthony Chavez. Also present were staff members Kirsten Hill, Associate Director of Career Services and Public Interest Career Planning, Clinical Administrator Rena Contreras, and Ginger Welsh, Associate Director of Alumni Relations.