Mexican consulate honors president of Texas State

Denise Trauth, president of Texas State University, received the Ohtli award from the Mexican government during a ceremony in downtown Austin on Tuesday night.

The Ohtli award, which means “road” in the Nahuatl language the Aztecs spoke, is given by individual Mexican consulates to people in the their service areas who open doors for people of Mexican heritage and help bridge gaps between communities. The award was first handed out in 1996 and past Austin winners include former Mayor Gus Garcia, former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos and philanthropists Joe Long and his wife Teresa Lozano Long.

Under Trauth’s leadership, Texas State earned a federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution in 2011. The designation means more than 25 percent of its undergraduate population is Hispanic and opened up millions of dollars in federal funding to the institution.

“She has opened the doors for thousands of students of Mexican and Latino origins who have been able to attend and graduate from Texas State,” said Carlos González Gutiérrez, consul general of Mexico in Austin.

Trauth has served as president of Texas State since 2002 and began a strategic plan to turn the university into a Hispanic Serving Institution in 2004. At the time, the school’s undergraduate population was between 18 percent and 19 percent Hispanic.

Trauth set a goal of reaching the 25 percent Latino threshold by 2012 and devoted resources and staff toward pursuing that outcome. Admissions counsel-

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Denise Trauth received the Ohtli award for opening college up to more Hispanics.