TRIO, an educational program for low-Income and disabled Americans, was designed by Congress to help students enter college, graduate and move on to participate more fully in America's economic and social life. Funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the TRIO programs -which include Upward Bound, UB Math/Science, SSS, Talent Search, EOC, and McNair- help students overcome class, social and cultural barriers to higher education.

Valtierra, Upward Bound alumnus and former director at Purdue University Calumet says "When named director of the very program that graduated me, I thought, perhaps, I had come full circle and that I was finished growing via TRIO; but what I developed was not only a love for learning, but a true appreciation for the educational process. Today as a chancellor in the Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana system, I look back and am ever so grateful that the TRIO programs and the TRIO family were there for me."

Statistics show that students in the Upward Bound program are four times more likely to earn an undergraduate degree than those students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in TRIO. In addition, nearly 20 percent of all Black and Hispanic freshmen who entered college in 1981 received assistance through the TRIO Talent Search or EOC programs. Students in the TRIO Student Support Services program are also more than twice as likely to remain in college as those students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in the program.

Honored by the Council of Opportunity and members of the TRIO community, Valtierra was one of six award recipients recognized for having distinguished themselves, and have made a tremendous contribution in their chosen profession.