Peer Mentor, Dr. Laura I. Rendón, recently received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Education U of M. The award is presented to an alum who has made significant contributions to their profession, and whose accomplishments exemplify leadership, innovation, and passion for advancing the field of education.
Rendon is a nationally-recognized student advocate, activist scholar, and contemplative educator. Rendón is part of a network of public speakers affiliated with SpeakOut-The Institute for Democratic Education and Culture. She has made hundreds of keynote addresses, workshops, and research presentations for national and international colleges and universities, educational organizations, and non-profit entities.

Rendón grew up in a low-income, single-parent household along the U.S. Mexico Border in Laredo, Texas where she learned to speak English in the first grade. Rendón is a passionate advocate for low-income, first-generation students who she feels have hopes and dreams but often do not know how to realize them. She is also a teaching and learning thought leader, and is the author of Sentipensante Pedagogy: Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice and Liberation along with nine other books and monographs and an extensive list of scholarly publications focusing on success for underserved student populations.

Rendón holds professor emerita status at the University of Texas-San Antonio, and has held faculty and administrative appointments at a wide range of universities including the University of South Carolina, North Carolina State University, Arizona State University, California State University-Long Beach, Iowa State University and University of Texas-San Antonio. (https://soe.umich.edu/news/school-education -announces-2022-23-alumni-award-recipients)