Salazar Family
Legacy Award
The Legacy Award honors a family with a tradition of attending UMKC and a commitment to serving the university, community and profession. This year’s recipients epitomize family tradition. The Salazar family has two generations of UMKC alumni—a total of 14 family members. The family is dedicated to the community and the university.
Tony Salazar helped found the Hispanic Development Fund, whose mission for over 25 years has been to “provide philanthropic support to programs that foster expression of Hispanic culture and improve the quality of life of Hispanic families in the Greater Kansas City area.”
Irene Salazar Caudillo has served as director of Children and Family Services for Catholic Charities, and on the Boards of Directors for Sunflower House and Providence Medical Center, and was a minority health outreach director at the Kansas City, Missouri Health Department.
Carlos Salazar leads the UMKC Hispanic Advisory Board and serves on the UMKC Alumni Association Board. Dr. Nancy Mills, former dean of the School of Nursing, credited Carlos’ guidance with helping the school attract a more diverse student body, which in turn helped the school acquire federal grants to fund diversity goals.
The Salazars have demonstrated their commitment to UMKC and the community spans generations, beginning with Macario and Velia Salazar, for whom the Salazar Family Scholarship was endowed to honor, to the most recent graduates, Jessica Hernandez-Luster and Melissa Salazar-Webster, and Erica Hernandez-Scott, who is presently working with the Institute for Urban Education as she completes her doctorate.