Raymond Buriel Distinguished Leadership Award and Honorary Board Members

The Raymond Buriel Distinguished Leadership Award is named in memory of Dr. Ray Buriel, a founding member of the SRCD Latino Caucus, and a beloved mentor, teacher, and researcher of Latino children and families.

Procedures

The Steering Committee may appoint no more than one individual per two-year term to be a lifetime member of the SRCD Latino Caucus Honorary Advisory Board. Members of this board represent a highly committed, passionate, and distinguished leader in the field of Latino child and family developmental science; thus, it is possible that there are no appointees in a given two-year term. Members of the Honorary Board will serve as expert advisors to the Latino Caucus Steering Committee, but will not have voting rights on the Steering Committee. To become a member of the honorary board, the member must be awarded the Buriel Distinguished Leadership Award at the time of the Biennial.

Lifetime Honorary Advisory Board Members

Dr. Cynthia García Coll, University of Puerto Rico
Appointed 2017

“I was honored when asked to participate in introducing the recipient of the inaugural Raymond Buriel Distinguished Leadership Award.

Dr. Buriel contributed so much to our field, and in doing so often broke many barriers. The same is true for Dr. Cynthia García Coll.

Both Dr. Buriel and Dr. Cynthia García Coll were founding members of the Latino Caucus. Without their tireless work on our behalf, for our community to be seen and recognized as worthy of study, we might not be gathered here.

Cynthia was the first Latina to serve on the Governing Council of SRCD from 1997-2003.  

Because of her commitment to addressing the pipeline issues of underrepresented minorities within the field of Developmental Psychology, Cynthia took on the leadership of the Millennium Fellows Program.

Currently, Cynthia is serving as the editor of Child Development, the first Latino to serve in this capacity. As part of her vision, she has increased international participation among her editorial team, under her leadership the number of article focused on the development of children of color across diverse contexts has grown, and she has improved the rigor of our methods by requiring that all manuscripts provide greater detail on participants and contexts of study.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t also acknowledge that Cynthia has been a wonderful mentor to many of us in this room, shaping the trajectory of many of our careers. I wouldn’t be here without her support, guidance, and mentorship. Thank you, Cynthia, for all you have done for Latino scholars, for developmental science, and for serving as a model of leadership for all of us.”

Written by Dr. Natalia Palacios, University of Virginia