Background

Mari-Luci Jaramillo, maiden name Antuna, was born on June 19, 1928, in Las Vegas, New Mexico, United States. She was a daughter of Maurilio Antuna Sr., a Mexican-born shoemaker and musician, and Elvira Encarnación Ruiz Antuna, a Spanish-American homemaker.

Education

While attending school, Mari-Luci Jaramillo worked in her father's shop, shining shoes. Later, she cleaned houses and waited tables in order to help pay for her tuition at New Mexico Highlands University. She was the first person in her family to attend college. Mari-Luci Jaramillo earned a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) in 1955 and a Master of Arts (with honors) in 1959 from New Mexico Highlands University. In 1964, she attended Teaching English as a Second Language Institute at the University of California in Los Angeles. In 1970, Jaramillo earned a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New Mexico.

Career

After graduation, Mari-Luci Jaramillo became an elementary school teacher. In 1955-1965, she worked in Albuquerque and Las Vegas. She applied a novel approach, now called bilingual education, to improve the learning of her limited-English speaking students in the San Miguel County and West Las Vegas public schools. In 1960, Jaramillo joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico and served in various roles, including associate dean, vice president, and assistant to the president of the university (1981-1987). In 1960, she also became a curriculum, teacher training, and school reform consultant for schools, colleges, and universities.

On April Fool's Day, 1977, President Carter asked Jaramillo to become the United States Ambassador to Honduras. Initially suspecting the offer was a prank by her students, she accepted and served in the position in 1977-1980. Serving as Ambassador to the Republic of Honduras, she launched procedures for democratic development and helped ease out the military dictatorship. She drew upon her personal experiences with poverty and discrimination in her public service as an ambassador and civil rights advocate, adhering to and respecting the values of her Latino family and community throughout her life. After her successful term, Mari-Luci resumed her mission of building democracy in other military-run countries as the Pentagon's U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.

In 1980-1981, Jaramillo worked as a deputy assistant secretary for inter-American affairs at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. Later, she continued her work at the Department of State as a member of the Council of Ambassadors (begin in 1983), and a minority recruiter (begin in 1990).

Mari-Luci returned to New Mexico and the University of New Mexico in 1981, where she held the positions of Special Assistant to the President, Associate Dean for the College of Education, and Vice President for Student Affairs. In 1987, she moved to California and worked as Assistant Vice President for Field Services with nationally recognized Educational Testing Service until 1993. In 1990-1993, she was a commissioner at California Commission of Post-secondary Education in Sacramento. In 1990, she became a scholar panelist at the National Latino Communications Center in Los Angeles. Mari-Luci Jaramillo was again called to service and worked with the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Latin America in 1992. She was a member of the board of trustees for Tomas Rivera National Policy Center of Claremount Graduate School in 1985-1993. Throughout her career, she never forgot her community and served on numerous advocacy groups across the country, including the Board of Regents at New Mexico Highlands University and the National Hispanic Cultural Foundation in New Mexico.

Her career also included working as Assistant Vice President for Field Services for the nonprofit Educational Testing Services, and serving as a board member for the Children's Television Network (begin in 1982), National Institute against Prejudice and Violence (1984-1986), International House, University of California, Berkeley (1989-1993), and Latin American Scholarship Program for American Universities, Boston (begin in 1992). She served as Associate Dean in the College of Education and Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of New Mexico, Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents at New Mexico Highlands University, and, most importantly, advisor and mentor to many undergraduate and graduate students.

Mari-Luci Jaramillo authored two books. Madame Ambassador: The Shoemaker's Daughter is the story of a life of success beyond all expectations. A child of poor immigrants dreamed of a wonderful life of noble purpose and service to others and achieved it despite doubts, fears, and lack of money. She used her experiences with poverty, discrimination, and prejudice as the basis for her life's work of solving these problems, working her way up from being the child of manual laborers to becoming a United States ambassador to Honduras and a celebrated civil rights advocate. Despite a remarkable career characterized by distinguished public service in both government and higher education, Jaramillo showed that she remains the shoemaker's daughter, faithful to the precepts and values of her Latino family and community.

In Sacred Seeds: A Girl, Her Abuelos, and the Heart of Northern New Mexico, Mari-Luci Jaramillo told the story of her own coming of age in the 1930s, stories of the every-day and the out-of-the-ordinary, stories of how she learned to value community, faith, love, tradition, and learning. Featuring family photographs and sketches by Cecilia J. Navarrete, this collection of stories reveals the observant eye and open heart of the girl who became Madame Ambassador.

Achievements

• In 1976, when Mari-Luci Jaramillo was first appointed as United States ambassador, she became the first Mexican American woman to become a United States representative to a foreign country. She was acknowledged for her efforts with numerous awards throughout her life. Her most cherished were the Distinguished Citizen Award from the United States Pentagon, the Order of Francisco Morazan, and the Dual Citizenship Award for extraordinary achievement in Honduras, Anne Roe Award from the Harvard School of Education, and the Elizabeth Payne Cubberly Scholar Award from Stanford University.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Sacred Seeds: A Girl, Her Abuelos, and the Heart of Northern New Mexico

    (This collection of 32 coming of age stories by Mari-Luci ...)

    2019
  • Madame Ambassador: The Shoemaker's Daughter

    (A child of manual laborers works her way up to become a U...)

    2001

Views

Quotations: "My advice to people who have no writing experience is to go to a comfortable place and write whatever comes to their mind. We all have lots and lots of stories to tell. I think it best to write about what you know extremely well before attempting to create new characters or write about events you know little about. It just gets you into a relaxed mode and writing becomes easier."

Membership

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  Golden Key Honor Society , United States

• 

  National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials , United States

Connections

Mari-Luci Jaramillo was married to James Elliott. She had three children: Ross Ulibarrí, Rick Ulibarrí, and Carla Ulibarrí.

Father:

Maurilio Antuna

Mother:

Elvira Encarnación Ruiz Antuna

husband:

James Elliott

Son:

Ross Ulibarrí

Son:

Rick Ulibarrí

Daughter:

Carla Ulibarrí

Grandson:

Kevin Potter

Grandson:

Geoff Smith

granddaughter :

Nicola Ulibarrí