Over 70 family, friends, colleagues and students gathered together to celebrate the life of El Camino College’s former Dean of Behavioral and Social Sciences Gloria E. Miranda on Wednesday, May 8.
Beginning at 1:05 p.m. and continuing for almost two hours, over 10 speakers representing the many eras of Miranda’s life as a student, an instructor, a colleague, a mentor and as a beloved aunt came up to the pulpit to share their memories of her.
Miranda was appointed as dean of behavioral and social sciences in 1996 and had served at El Camino for over 24 years before retiring in 2017.
She passed away on Monday, March 4 at the age of 77.
The celebration of life was put together by Wendy Lozano and Maria Cortez, student success coordinators at the Student Equity and Achievement Center in collaboration with Christina Gold, current dean of the behavioral and social sciences, and history professor Xocoyotzin Herrera.
“She brought something to the college,” Lozano said. “She was very supportive to everyone but she encouraged everybody from her family to her students to faculty members, administrators, everybody because she knew her own struggles. So she wanted to make sure that she helped others along the way.”
The East Dining Room was set up with seven tables that could seat over 50 attendees, but as more people filed into the room as the service went on, more chairs had to be brought in to accommodate all of the guests.
“It’s okay to cry,” Angela Simon said, a psychology professor who emphasized that she has studied human emotion including sadness. “We’re here to show love.”
After an opening speech by Simon, Donald Hata, emeritus professor of history at CSU Dominguez Hills, took to the pulpit with a rousing memorial of his friend and former student.
“I knew she was bright,” Hata said.
Despite wearing a large black N95 mask, his strong clear voice projected pride and admiration for Miranda.
“She always wore a uniform, a white tunic. I thought she was a nurse or working as an assistant at a hospital. But I found out that it was because she’d been working a full-time job as a receptionist for a Black woman physician in Compton. That’s how she got through college.”
Born and raised in the barrio of Willowbrook, California, Miranda gained a love of history through her uncle, who read to her history books and took her on trips to sites such as Mission San Juan Capistrano. She was the first member of her family to graduate from college.
She later earned the distinction of being the first Chicana woman to graduate from the University of Southern California with a Ph.D. in history, but her journey along the way was not easy.
Hata said Miranda faced pushback from “racist, sexist staff who complained to the trustees and claimed [she] got the job as a ‘token.’”
Others remembered how Miranda inspired them to follow in her footsteps.
Carmen Carrillo, a full-time English instructor at Los Angeles Harbor College, first met Miranda while taking her Chicano studies class at Los Angeles Valley College in 1978. She recalled how Miranda spoke to her parents to let their daughter stay in school and continue her studies instead of leaving to work and support her family.
“I don’t know what she told my parents, to this day I still don’t know, but I was able to go to school,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo remembers how her father asked her, “Do you want to be like Miranda?”
“That was when they understood. They had so much respect for her,” Carrillo said.
Miranda’s niece Samantha Goodson delivered the eulogy on behalf of her family. A history student at UC Berkeley, Goodson spoke with deep admiration for the aunt who inspired her and gave her advice on how to navigate the difficulties she had faced in her early academic career.
“She made several strides as a woman, as a Chicana and as a historian,” Goodson said. “Her legacy will persist as one of perseverance, humility and compassion.”
