Pulitzer Prize winner to give talk on culture, education

By Julie Rausch

Robert Montemayor, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and marketing consultant, will give a free lecture from 8:30-10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 4, in the Hughes Metropolitan Complex.

The lecture is sponsored by the College of Education and coordinated by its professional development committee whose theme is understanding Hispanic culture and how to better prepare educators to work in a society with a growing Hispanic population.

According to new projections for the Census Bureau, the Hispanic population is expected to triple from 31.4 million in 1999 to 98.2 million in 2050. Hispanics could become the nation’s largest minority group going from 12 percent in 1999 to 24 percent in 2050.

Montemayor will share personal stories about his Hispanic background and culture and how demographic changes impact education, health, economics and social welfare nationally, statewide and in communities.

Montemayor was most recently employed by The McGraw Hill Co., as senior vice president, circulation and consumer marketing.

Montemayor’s journalism career with the Dallas Times Herald and later the Los Angeles Times emphasized reporting on U.S.-Mexico relations. His awards included a George Polk Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Writing Contest honorable mention. He was nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes in 1977 and 1978 for investigative work on alleged civil rights violations of Latinos in Texas and in 1980 for foreign reporting. In 1984 he was a member of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Meritorious Public Service.

In 1986 Montemayor earned a master’s degree in marketing from the UCLA Graduate School of Management. For the following 10 years, he held various management positions simultaneously at the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s Business and the National Business Employment Weekly.

Montemayor also will talk to invited educators later in the day.