Latino Excellence and Achievement Dinner (LEAD)

The mission of the Latino Excellence and Achievement Dinner (LEAD) is to:

• Celebrate graduate student research excellence and achievement
• Recognize faculty, staff and alumni who provide support for excellence and success
• Create a sense of community and institutional memory of academic and professional achievement in the UCI Hispanic and Latinx community. 

LEAD is the only celebration and awards event in the University of California system that is focused on Hispanic/Latinx graduate student success. In 2022, we recognized graduate research excellence and achievement in all 15 academic units and recognized faculty, staff and alumni who support graduate student success at UCI.  A list of LEAD 2022 awardees is available here. 

Your gift, of any amount, will help fund student awards for this annual UC Irvine tradition. Donor support like yours is essential for ensuring this unique and timely program has the resources it needs to celebrate the achievements of our students.

Currently, Hispanics and Latinos are 39.4% of the state population in California but are only 11.4% of the graduate student population at UCI. We aim to raise awareness of challenges in the graduate community, increase visibility of success, and inspire the Hispanic/Latinx community to advance in graduate and postdoctoral programs.