A fierce friend and radical supporter of lesbians of color, Yoli the Terrible (as she called herself) was a woman of many skills: activist, organizer, prison guard, halfway house manager, astrologer, carpenter, licensed airplane mechanic, researcher, photographer, rare book trader, librarian, social worker, archivist. As the Head Librarian of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center from 2003-2007, Yolanda spearheaded the LGBTIQ and Mujeres Archive Initiatives. "I knew she was the perfect librarian for the Center when she showed up for the first day of work with her tool belt," says Professor Chon Noriega, Director of the CSRC. "Within a week she had upgraded our storage facilities and was overseeing the installation of our compact shelving system. Yolanda turned the Library into a dynamic site that was always filled with students and scholars from around the world." To read more about Yolanda, see her obituary in the L.A. Times.


We will be accepting donations for the new Yolanda Retter Senior Thesis Award at the symposium. The award is for UCLA Chicana and Chicano Studies majors writing a senior or honor's thesis on topics related to lesbians and/or women of color.