The Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick is pleased to announce the recipient of this year’s Dra. Maria Josefa Canino Arroyo Leadership Award.
Fifty years after the establishment of the Program in Puerto Rican Studies at Livingston College in 1970, the department created this award to honor Dr. Canino’s bold leadership, the exceptional students who demanded equality and representation in their education, and the past, present, and future of student activism at Rutgers. Dr. Canino is Professor Emerita in Public Administration at Rutgers University. She holds a doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) in Administration, Planning and Public Policy from Harvard University. Her leadership of the department from 1970-1974 and 1979-1980 continues with a lifetime of work as scholar and social advocate of education and public policy.
The Dra. Maria Josefa Canino Arroyo Leadership Award award celebrates a graduating senior in Latino and Caribbean Studies who has demonstrated transformative leadership at the university, local, and global levels and who embodies the intellectual activism central to Latinx Studies.
This year’s recipient is Rigo Salvatierra, who is graduating in May 2026 with a Major in the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies, a Major in Political Science, and a Minor in Sociology in the School of Arts and Sciences. Among Mr. Salvatierra’s many significant achievements, he is a recipient of the Llyod C. Gardner Fellowship and a Beinecke Scholarship. He is the third student in Rutgers history to receive the latter award. As an undergraduate, Mr. Salvatierra has amassed notable research experience including with LCS’s Prof. K. Sebastián León on a project investigating the impact of food corporations on immigration and labor policies in the meatpacking industry. Faculty in LCS speak highly of his research skills. Indeed, Mr. Salvatierra is shaping to be an emerging scholar of international relations. He is currently completing his honors thesis in Political Science examining the relationship between Catholicism and political violence. In addition to his academic achievements, Mr. Salvatierra has taken on leadership roles in several Latino and Latin American student organizations on campus, including UndocuRutgers and Central American Student Union. He has further contributed to student life as a resident assistant, a peer mentor, and an sustainability ambassador in the Rutgers Office of Climate Action. A first-generation college student and the child of Guatemalan immigrants, Mr. Salvatierra is a role model to many LCS students with similar life experiences. We are delighted that his merging of social justice issues with academic research underscores one of the department’s longstanding commitments to pursuing scholarship that is in the interest of marginalized Latino and Caribbean communities.
The leadership award will be presented at the LCS graduation celebration on May 6th. Congratulations Mr. Salvatierra on this recognition and your graduation!