HKS Offers Fellowship Targeted at ‘Latino Issues’

The Harvard Kennedy School is launching a new fellowship aimed at students with a ‘strong commitment’ to Latino issues in honor of the late Lisa M. Quiroz ’83.

Quiroz, an alumnus of the College and the Business School, died on March 16 at 56 of pancreatic cancer. She served as Time Warner’s first diversity officer, according to a press statement released Tuesday. She also worked at Time Inc., heading both Time’s People en Español and Time for Kids publications.

Time Warner—a media conglomerate with subsidiaries like Time Inc., Warner Brothers, and CNN—will fund the fellowship.

According to the press release, Quiroz worked as a minority recruiter with the Admissions and Financial Aid office during her time at the college. Professor David R. Gergen, the director of the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, said as an executive at Time Warner, Quiroz was instrumental in having Time Warner sponsor two conferences at the Center about the “Latino future.”

“We had the great good fortune to discover Lisa several years ago and she fast became a wonderful partner for our Center,” Gergen said. “She worked tirelessly with us to strengthen the leadership development of Hispanic students and others devoted to that community.”

Quiroz had intended to join the Center for Public Leadership as a “Hauser Leader in Residence” next winter, according to Gergen.

Her plans changed after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that proved to be fatal, Gergen said. After her diagnosis, Time Warner asked how best to honor her, and she said she wanted to contribute this new fellowship to students at the Kennedy School.

The fellowship, housed at the Center for Public Leadership, will provide funding for students who have demonstrated an interest in reducing disparities in U.S. Latino and other underserved communities. The fellowship will cover tuition, fees, and living expenses for admitted applicants to master’s degree programs at HKS.

“This fellowship in Lisa's name represents a very sad but heartwarming story,” Gergen said. “Words hardly capture how much we are honored by our friendship with her and how much we will miss her.”

—Staff writer Alexandra A. Chaidez can be reached at alexandra.chaidez@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @a_achaidez.