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Award-winning actress America Ferrera is featured at ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ�’s Quick Center for the Arts as part of its Eighth Annual Student Forum at 8 p.m. on Monday, October 7, 2013 . The event, titled “An Evening with America Ferrera,” will be the second installment in the Quick Center’s 2013-2014 Open VISIONS Forum lecture series. As part of the Eighth Annual Students Forum , the lecture will feature a panel consisting of ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� students Jameel James ’14, from New Haven, CT, Loan Le ’14 , from Cheshire, CT, and Lauren Liseth ’14, from Centralia, WA,who will be participating in a Q/A portion of the program. ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� Student Association president Alexander Long, ‘14, from Bayonne, N.J. will introduce Ms. Ferrera. The Eighth Annual Student Forum is made possible through a cross campus collaboration of the Office of Student Affairs and the Open VISIONS Forum. Moffly Media is the exclusive magazine sponsor for the 2013-14 Open VISIONS Forum series. The event is also sponsored by TVEyes. Single tickets: $45.

America Ferrera is an award-winning television, stage and screen actress, known for her starring role on the ABC-TV hit comedy Ugly Betty and her many other TV and film credits. But she is also a passionate humanitarian and philanthropist who currently serves as an ambassador for the global humanitarian organization Save the Children . Her most recent victory with the organization was raising more than $44,000 to build an elementary school in Mali. Her efforts earned her the 2010 Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s Inspira Award as well as the 2011 Global Action Award for Childhood Development and Education. She also received the Cesar E. Chavez Legacy Award in March 2011 for her pledge to help guide underprivileged children and families to a better life and education.

On television, her work as lead character “Betty Suarez” in Ugly Betty earned her an Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as ALMA and Imagen awards. Her most recent work is a recurring role on the CBS series The Good Wife as an illegal nanny and love interest of Alan Cumming’s character “Eli.” She takes her talents to the stage as “Roxie Hart” in an eight-week long, West End production of the hit musical Chicago . And she has just signed with MTV to executive produce the first-ever interactive Telenovela titled Pedro & Maria . America’s other feature film work includes Fox Searchlight’s Our Family Wedding (2010) , DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon (2010) , Warner Brothers’ 2008 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (the sequel to the 2005 original), and Fox Searchlight’s independent film Under the Same Moon (2007) . She also starred in and executive produced Towards Darkness , a bilingual, independent film.

������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ�’s Eighth Annual Students Forum will allow the three-member student panel to participate in a Q/A session on stage with Ms. Ferrera following her presentation. The panel consists of Loan Le '14, majoring in English with a concentration in Journalism, minoring in Creative Writing, and Editor-in-Chief of The Mirror ; Lauren Liseth '14 , majoring in History and Communications, minoring in Education, and a captain of the softball team; and Jameel James '14 , majoring in Politics, minoring in Accounting, who was born and raised in Trinidad.

“It’s one thing to be an actress who has been so successful in the television and film industries,” saidLoan Le ’14, “but I think it’s amazing how America uses her well-deserved fame to educate others on important international causes like children’s rights and human trafficking.” Lauren Liseth ’14, comments: "America Ferrera has been an inspiration to many, and now she will shine her light on the Fairfield community for this special night. She is an amazing actress and a phenomenal woman, and I want to learn more about everything she has done to help and empower people.” Jameel James ’14, said, “I find it incredibly inspiring that America made decisions to only accept roles that she felt were true to her and not roles that stereotyped her based on her ‘sex’ as well as her ‘heritage.’ The way I live my life and the decisions I make have never been a product of someone else’s thinking. Having the space in which I can engage into deeper conversation around these issues was an opportunity that I could not pass up.”

‌Jim Fitzpatrick '70, assistant vice president of student affairs, added: “For me as an administrator and alumnus, the thrill comes from seeing our students excited about a wonderful spokesperson for the causes that matter to this generation. America Ferrera relates to the Fairfield student in her day to day humanitarian efforts as much as from her screen and stage accomplishments!”

Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396. (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at .

America Ferrera photo by Jeff Vespa.