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Victor Vega, a national authority on Latino-African culture, will give the keynote speech for Hispanic Heritage Month 7:30 p.m. today, in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights auditorium.
Free and open to the public, the lecture will address a variety of issues, ranging from the roles of Latino and black organizations at U.S. colleges to the intellectual conditions and cultural contributions of Latino-African societies.
Vega is associate professor of human development at Middlesex County College in Edison, N.J., where he also gives instruction in African-American Studies. A Puerto Rican of African descent, Vega is founder and executive officer of the National Latino-African Federation, which promotes the Latino-African experience to diverse global markets. He received a Ph.D. and masterâs degree in African-American Studies from Temple University, a masterâs degree in human development from Farleigh Dickinson University, and a bachelorâs degree from Syracuse University.
Vega became interested in Latino-African culture in the late 1960s. At Syracuse, he was swept up in the emancipation political movement and served as a student activist in the Puerto Rican Organization and Black Student Union. After graduation, he embarked on a career as an educator and community organizer at Aspira of New York, a Puerto Rican educational agency.