Public Affairs’ Medina receives HAHMP Lifetime Achievement Award

The Houston Association of Hispanic Media Professionals (HAHMP) honored Rice University’s David Medina ’83 with its Lifetime Achievement Award April 21 at a gala at the Hyatt Regency Houston.

As director of multicultural community relations (MCR) in Rice’s Office of Public Affairs, Medina oversees more than 100 activities each year, including college information sessions, school visits, community dialogue luncheons, lectures, film festivals, college essay-writing workshops, galas, media interviews, receptions and other events. He also edits Rice At Large, an award-winning quarterly newsletter that raises awareness of Rice’s community outreach efforts.

David Medina

“Rice University works to create a diverse community at all levels and to build bridges whenever essential and dismantle walls wherever necessary,” said Medina, who established the MCR office in 1998.

“David and his team have helped build strong relationships among multicultural communities on and off campus,” Vice President for Public Affairs Linda Thrane said. “Community outreach is the third leg of Rice’s mission, and David has helped us realize that mission by building trust and goodwill for Rice among the people who make Houston the most diverse city in the country.”

Thrane was referring to the new Kinder Houston Area Survey, which found that Harris County’s population is now made up of 41 percent Hispanics, 33 percent Caucasians, 18 percent blacks and 8 percent Asians.

MCR maintains a database of more than 1,700 community leaders to keep them informed about public events at Rice, and also a website featuring a comprehensive list of scholarships available to students in the Houston area.

On that list is a link to scholarships offered by HAHMP, which encourages young, aspiring Hispanic students to become journalists or other media professionals. Medina has served as president of the nonprofit organization twice.

A media professional himself, Medina has a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University, a master’s in Spanish from Rice and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish with a minor in journalism from Drake University. He has written news and feature stories and book reviews for Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, Houston Post, Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times Herald.

Medina has served as president of the Houston Hispanic Forum, president of Nuestra Palabra (a group for Latino writers), vice president of the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education and co-chair of the 2009 Diversity Summit in Sugar Land, Texas.

He joined Rice’s Public Affairs staff in 1991 as a staff writer and later became a senior editor. His articles have appeared in Rice’s Sallyport (now Rice Magazine), Rice At Large, Rice News and other university publications. In 1998 he founded the Rice Hispanic alumni organization, SOLAR. This year he won Rice’s C.M. and Demaris Hudspeth Endowed Award for Student Life and Clubs in recognition of his dedication to the Hispanic Association of Cultural Enrichment (HACER).

View a video from the ceremony here http://vimeo.com/40980948.