Ran into one of my mentors and neighbor, Archie Archuleta at the Capitol today.
His bio is as follows:
Robert \”Archie\” Archuleta
President of Utah Coalition of La Raza, Utah Coalition of La Raza
Robert “Archie” Archuleta–retired educator, SLC employee in Rocky’s first administration, Latino activist and civil rights advocate. Member of several boards and committees. Presently the President of the Board of Trustees for Utah Coalition of La Raza.
Robert “Archie” Archuleta is a graduate of Idaho State College and a post graduate of the University of Utah. He retired from his position as administrative assistant for minority affairs in the Salt Lake City mayor’s office in 2004. A former elementary school teacher and administrator in the Salt Lake City School District, Archuleta is an activist and advocate in minority, poverty, peace, economic, civil rights, civil liberties and cultural issues. He and his wife Lois have five children—Jason Roberto, Florencia Lucienne, Keith Emiliano, Micaela Lisette, Letitia P.—and six grandchildren.
FROM LATINOS IN UTAH:
Archie Archuleta was born in Grand Junction, Colorado. During his youth he held down many types of jobs, including farm worker, dishwasher, laborer in construction and salesman. He attended Idaho State College and graduated with a BA in Social Sciences and Education. He did his post-graduate work at the University of Utah to become an education specialist.
From 1953-1987 he was an elementary school teacher for grades 4, 5 and 6 in the Salt Lake City School District. Archuleta also was an Adjunct professor of Sociology at Salt Lake Community College. After he retired and still to this day he works as a consultant, and lectures on Mexican American history, Mexican history, as well as on the topics of racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, and civil rights in general.
An icon of activism in Utah, he has been a member of many ethnic, political, advocacy, educational, peace, civil rights, civil liberties, poverty and labor groups and boards. He is currently President of the Board of the Utah Coalition of La Raza, member of the board and ex-Chair of the Salt Lake County Democratic Caucus as well as a member of the following boards: Centro Civico Mexicano, Center for Documentary Arts, Concerned Citizens Committee, Alliance for Unity, Utah Aging Commission and the Enriching Utah Coalition.
Archie has received numerous awards, including the Quixote Lifetime Achievement Award from the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Cualli Ohtli Award from the Mexican Consulate, the Cesar Chavez Education award from UCLR, the Charles E. Bennett Humanitarian and Civil Rights Award from the Utah Education Association, and The Chicano Scholarship Fund honored him for civic and humanitarian achievement at the University of Utah. He is married to Lois Lucille Herrmann, and has six children and six grandchildren. “ Awards aren’t the end; they are the beginning of continuing work; they spur us on.”