Friday, December 8, 2023

UTSA professor receives COSA Distinction in the Arts medal

UTSA professor receives COSA Distinction in the Arts medal

Carmen Tafolla teaches courses in the UTSA College of Education and Human Development.

(Oct. 13, 2017) -- Carmen Tafolla, professor in The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, is one of six recipients of the City of San Antonio Department of Art and Culture’s 2017 Distinction in the Arts Medal. She will be presented with the medal for literary arts at a special celebration on Oct. 17 at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

“It feels a bit humbling to be grouped with the likes of the great artists who have received the award in the past, like Flaco Jimenez, Dr. Tomas Ybarra Frausto, Teresa Champion, Aaronetta Pierce, and Jesse Treviño,” said Tafolla. “It makes me feel a special responsibility to merit standing by their side in creating the arts that this community can feel pride in sharing.”

Tafolla is the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of poems in anthologies and textbooks. She served as the first San Antonio Poet Laureate and as the 2015 Texas State Poet Laureate.

“This award fills me with gratitude, especially when I consider the big picture of our community and its heritage,” said Tafolla. “When I think of the crafters of the arts in this area, I never think of just the current year, but of the hundreds and thousands of years in which the inhabitants of this special place have tried artistically express the beauty and the uniqueness of this place we call home.”

Currently, Tafolla teaches courses in the UTSA College of Education and Human Development on transformative children’s literature. She is also a co-chair for the upcoming National Latino Children’s Literature Conference.

“The COEHD has invested itself in meaningful changes to the lives of human beings, not just a narrow focus on improved intellectual functioning, but truly integrating learning into the well-being and development of the whole person,” said Tafolla. “My receiving this recognition by the City of San Antonio is a validation of our college’s commitment to the arts and to the community, whose voices the arts express.”

Tafolla was born and raised on the west side of San Antonio. As a child, she remembers the lack of books and films available that reflected her Mexican American culture. This, she said, is what inspired her to begin writing.

“I, along with other Mexican American kids, felt a deep hunger to see our own reflections in the mirror of society, to have some affirmation that we had not been ‘disappeared,’ that we really existed, and that our lives were worth something,” she said. “As the years passed, and the more I presented my dramatic performances and my poetry readings worldwide, the more I understood that the central theme of my work was the valuing and empowerment of our individual and cultural diversities as human beings.”

Over the last forty years, her published works have continued to gain international attention, earning her two Tomás Rivera Children’s Book awards, two International Latino Book awards, and an Americas Award. But her greatest award, she said, is the excitement she sees when people experience her work for the first time.

“For many individuals of color, and from the lower-income levels of our society, they have not seen themselves accurately represented in art, and have never had the pleasure of their own true reflection of the world that surrounds them,” Tafolla said. “I write from my heart. I write from my barrio. If I can validate a person’s life, uniqueness, struggles, and beauty through my books and performances, then I will have accomplished my goal.”

UTSA is recognized as one of the top five young universities in the nation by Times Higher Education.

Jo Ann Jones


Learn more about Carmen Tafolla.

Explore the UTSA College of Education and Human Development.

Learn more about the City of San Antonio Distinction in the Arts Medal.

Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.



UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.


Events


Spotlight

Spotlight

dtc-utsa-sign_680.png
University of Texas at San Antonio receives ‘transformational’ $40M gift

UTSA’s Mission

The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.

UTSA’s Vision

To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.

UTSA’s Core Values

We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.

UTSA’S Destinations

UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .

Our Commitment to Inclusivity

The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.