Maria E. Sanchez-Tucker is the 2015 recipient of the Josephine Forman Scholarship sponsored by the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church, in cooperation with the Society of American Archivists. The scholarship provides financial support to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival science, encourages students to pursue careers as archivists, and promotes the diversification of the American archives profession.
Sanchez-Tucker, who is currently pursuing a master of library and information science degree at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, also earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree in museum science from Texas Tech University.
Presently, Sanchez-Tucker works as the manager of the Special Collections and Western History Department of the InfoZone News Museum, a department of the Pueblo City-County Library District. She previously served as the founding executive director of the Bessemer Historical Society, now the Steelworks Center of the West.
Sanchez-Tucker is currently part of a collaborative effort to help the largely Hispanic community of Salt Creek in Pueblo document itself through oral histories and writing workshops. This effort will serve as a blueprint for working with and documenting other ethnic communities in the area.
One supporter noted that Sanchez-Tucker’s “approach to her professional enterprise is always that of inclusion and harmony. [Her] natural leadership abilities are evident in her professional success. These qualities and so much more make her an ideal choice for advancing diversity within the American archives profession.”
The Josephine Forman Scholarship was established in 2010 by the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church and is named for Josephine Forman, who served as archivist for eighteen years at the Southwest Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.