Dear Campus,
Amanda Aguirre has agreed to be the 2015 commencement speaker at Arizona Western College.
Aguirre became the first female and the first Hispanic to represent District 24 (new legislative District 4) in the Arizona House of Representatives in 2003 and the first in the Arizona State Senate in 2006, where she served in through 2010. During her time in office, Representative/Senator Aguirre had great success in passing key bi-partisan legislation.
In 2008 Senator she sponsored SB1263 Autism Spectrum Disorder ("Steven's Law"), which requires private medical insurance companies to provide autism-intervention service coverage under their insurance plan benefits. Other successful legislation included the following:
- creating a "Breast Cancer Awareness" special license plate with proceeds benefitting cancer screening for uninsured women
- securing $1 million to fund the state diabetes prevention and awareness campaign
- establishing liability protection guidelines for volunteer citizens performing emergency medical assistance during a state of emergency.
Since 1991, Aguirre has served as President and CEO of the Regional Center for Border Health, Inc., and its subsidiary, San Luis Walk-In Clinic, Inc., a primary care rural health medical center. She has been involved for more than 30 years in health care and business administration and has lived in Yuma continuously for the past 28 years.
Aguirre has a life-long commitment to education, and in 2007 she established a licensed post--secondary vocational school in the area of allied health training, which has generated job opportunities for more than 600 people. She has helped build these corporations into multi-million dollars businesses with more than 90 employees in a difficult economy.
-- President Mayle
Photo courtesy of AWC Photo Services
