Dear Members of the Campus Community,
On Monday, April 10, award-winning actress, singer, and dancer Rita Moreno will deliver the University of Puget Sound Spring 2023 Susan Resneck Pierce Lecture in Public Affairs and the Arts. Rita Moreno is perhaps best known for her role as Anita in the 1961 film West Side Story, a role that earned her an Academy Award for best supporting actress—and made her the first Latina to win an Oscar. A true Hollywood and Broadway icon, Moreno’s career spans more than eight decades, and includes countless starring roles on stage and on the silver screen. She is the author of a New York Times bestselling memoir and appears in the upcoming films Fast X and Family Leave. Moreno is a recipient of the Peabody Career Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honor, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her lifetime contributions to American culture.
Rita Moreno will be joined by Associate Professor of History Andrew Gomez for a conversation about her incredible life, from her childhood in Puerto Rico to her early career in New York City to eventually becoming a true Hollywood legend.
The Pierce Lectures are free to current students, staff and faculty, but tickets are required and are available at the Information Desk in Wheelock Student Center or online here. Tickets for community members are $45.
Established in 2002 in honor of President Emerita Susan Resneck Pierce, this lecture series brings to campus intellectuals, writers, and artists of high recognition in public affairs and the arts. My thanks to the Pierce Lectures in the Arts Advisory Group— faculty members Jairo Hoyos Galvis, Priti Joshi, Janet Marcavage, and Renee Simms, and Chloe Montoya ’24—for their thoughtful work in selecting engaging speakers to enrich our campus community.
I look forward to seeing you at the lecture.
Sincerely,
Isiaah Crawford, Ph.D. | President