Meet 2021 Chancellor Emeritus Service Award Recipient
Roland Palencia
Roland Palencia is the Community Benefits Director and corporate trainer at L.A. Care Health Plan. He is the former Executive Director of Clinica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero and Equality California, and the multi-County Regional Director at The California Endowment, and Chief of Operations and Vice-President at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
He has received numerous awards acknowledging his decades of activism on behalf of marginalized and under resourced populations. In 2001, he was honored as a “Local Hero” by KCET (PBS affiliate) and Union Bank of California.
He is a Board member of the ONE Archives Foundation, the longest existing LGBTQ organization in the U.S., founded in 1952, and Treasurer of Teatro Akabal Theatre, a socially conscious theater group collective.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from UCLA and a Masters in Engaged Humanities and the Creative Life from Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is a former lecturer at California State University of Northridge, Central American Studies Department.
His greatest pride is being a mentor to future generations of progressive activists.
