To celebrate the 100th birthday of Luis Leal, a distinguished professor of Chicana and Chicano studies, the University of California, Santa Barbara hosted a two-day conference featuring panel discussions, special remembrances, and the premiere screening of a film commissioned specifically for the event. Dr. Cypess was a student of Professor Leal and was the only student chosen to speak. Her talk was part of a panel and was entitled “Reading the Layered Universe of Tlatelolco with Don Luis Leal and José Emilio Pacheco”.

Leal, author of more than 45 books and 400 scholarly articles, remains a prolific researcher and writer. He has received numerous honors, including the Distinguished Scholarly Award, which was presented to him by the National Association for Chicano Studies in1988 in recognition of his lifetime achievement. In 1992, he was awarded the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor granted to foreign citizens by the Mexican government, and in 1997 he received the National Humanities Medal, which was presented to him at The White House by then President Bill Clinton.