In honor of International Education Week (Nov. 15-19), the Padnos International Center is hosting guest speaker, Rebecca Padnos Altamirano. The breakfast speech will be Monday, November 15 from 10-11 a.m. in 204 Kirkhof.
Padnos Altamirano is the granddaughter of Stuart B. Padnos, founder of GVSU's Barbara H. Padnos International Scholars program, which started in 1999. Rebecca's experience overseas was part the motivation for the funding of the scholarship program. This scholarship program is named in honor of his late wife and was established to provide study abroad stipends, primarily in the arts and humanities, for an extended time, enabling GVSU students to have an in-depth experience in another country.
Padnos Altamirano graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College. After graduation, she won a fellowship and traveled to South America and studied weaving in the Andes Mountains. She spent her time learning the traditions of artisans in small indigenous villages. She was so immersed in the culture of Ecuador that she met her future husband there. She married Antonio Altamirano, a native of Quito, in July, 2001.
Upon returning from South America, she got her master's degree in education from Stanford University. Working on the front lines of education reform, she is a founding educator at East Palo Alto High School, a small charter school established in 2001 in partnership with Stanford University and Aspire Public Schools, the largest non-profit charter school cooperation in the country.
