Chadron State graduate to be honored

Ramirez will receive the Melvin W. Jones Mentoring Award. It is given to recognize how he has encouraged and inspired individuals through the development of mentoring relationships. He is also being honored for promoting diversity in community leadership.

Ramirez is retired after working 38 years at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a native of Scottsbluff and earned a bachelor’s degree at Chadron State in 1967.  He received his master’s degree and a doctorate from UNL.

He started working at UNL as a counselor in the Department of Minority Affairs in 1973. After earning his doctorate, he worked with UNL’s Counseling Center and later worked for the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services.

Ramirez has been honored many times. In 1987, he received both the Nebraskaland Days “Hispanic Man of the Year” in North Platte and the League of United Latin American Citizens “National Hispanic Man of the Year” during ceremonies in Corpus Christi, Texas.

He also was presented Omaha’s “Mexican Independence Day Veterans Award” in 1992 and Lincoln’s YWCA “Mentor and Allies Award” in 2000.

After graduating from Chadron State, Ramirez served in the Army.  He had spent nearly a year in Vietnam when he was wounded in February 1968 while helping guard a bridge near Saigon. He rose to the rank of sergeant and was awarded a Purple Heart.

His wife, the former Connie Holm of Gering, graduated from Chadron State in 1966.

Others to be honored at the luncheon in the Cornhusker Hotel include Tom and Nancy Osborne. They will receive the Community Lifetime Achievement Award to recognize how they have strengthened and transformed Lincoln, especially while working with youth in the TeamMates program that they established.