KU's Murguia to speak at KCK high school for Cinco de Mayo celebrations

LAWRENCE -- Janet Murguia, executive vice chancellor for university relations at the University of Kansas, will be the featured speaker Friday at J.C. Harmon High School in Kansas City, Kan., as part of the school's weeklong Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

The visit will be a homecoming for Murguia, who graduated from J.C. Harmon High School in 1978. She will deliver a brief lecture to more than 475 students on the importance of education and taking pride in their Hispanic culture in the 21st century. Following Murguia's talk, the student choir and student soloists will perform songs in both English and Spanish.

The event begins at 1 p.m. at J.C. Harmon High School, 2400 Steele Road in Kansas City, Kan.

Rebecca Estes, an English teacher at J.C. Harmon, said Murguia, a former White House aide under the Clinton administration, was a great role model for the students.

"It's important for all of our students -- not just the Hispanic students -- to see how far someone from Harmon can go," Estes said.

As one of Alfred and Amalia Murguia's seven children, Janet Murguia grew up in the Mexican-American neighborhood of Argentine in Kansas City, Kan. Before coming to KU in 2001, Murguia served as deputy campaign manager and director of constituency outreach for the Gore/Lieberman presidential campaign. Prior to the campaign, she worked at the White House in various capacities beginning in 1994. She was deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of legislative affairs, serving as the senior White House liaison to Congress.

Murguia oversees public affairs and public relations at KU's campuses. Her administrative areas include the offices of university relations, governmental relations and trademark licensing; the KU Visitor Center; and KANU public radio station and Kansas Audio-Reader Network, a radio reading service for the blind and visually impaired.