Portrait of Rivera, Concepcion G.

Rivera, Concepcion G.

Transcript
August 13, 1998

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Concha Rivera, former First Lady of the campus, discusses the years when her husband was Chancellor. She also talks of her personal continuation of outreach to the campus and the community.
Excerpt from Transcript
Rivera: I remember one incident that Tomás had. Tomás had … you should have known him. He had a very good sense of humor.

We had been here … I think it was his second Chancellor's meeting up in Berkeley, and so David Saxon, the President, asked him, "Well, Tomás, What do you think of University House? How do you like living there?" Tomás said, "Oh, I love it. We just put sheets across all the rooms and brought all my relatives."

(laughter)

I thought that was so funny. Well, it was, it was apprehensive, it was just the not knowing what people expected, being the first Hispanic. That was a horrendous burden, not only from the point of view of being Anglo American, but as well as the Hispanic people. I mean, he was the first in the country to lead a major university.

Erickson: Did you talk about that, the two of you?

Rivera: Yes, we did. We did. But this was an opportunity that was here and that he wanted. We just couldn't let it go. He felt that he could do some kind of changes. So there we are.

Questions Regarding this Oral History Project should be directed to Jan Erickson at jan.erickson@ucr.edu.