Ana González-Méndez, founder of Universidad Ana G. Méndez (UAGM), was a great educator, a determined and visionary woman who, throughout her life and her professional career, gained great recognition for her contributions to higher education.
She was the daughter of don Francisco González Monge and doña Ana Cofresí, born in the town of Aguada on January 17, 1908, to family of eight brothers and sisters. She married don José Méndez Rivera, a businessman with whom she had three children: Dora, Grecia, and José. She graduated from Central High School in Santurce in 1935, and obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Commercial Education from the University of Puerto Rico in 1940. She completed her graduate studies in 1948 at the University of New York.
Her creative vision in education began to produce results in 1941, when she became co-founder of the Puerto Rico High School of Commerce. Later, in 1949, along with other two educators, don Alfredo Muñiz Souffront and Florencio Pagán Cruz, she founded the Puerto Rico Junior College in the Río Piedras sector of San Juan. Puerto Rico Junior College was the first higher education institution on the island to offer short, two-year careers.
In 1972, she founded the Colegio Universitario del Turabo, today Universidad Ana G. Méndez, Gurabo Campus. From 1952 until 1972, she chaired the board of directors of the Puerto Rico Junior College Foundation. In 1973, she stepped down from the chairmanship and the institution was re-named Fundación Educativa Ana G. Méndez, hoy Universidad Ana G. Méndez, now presided by her grandson, José F. Méndez Méndez.
Throughout her life, she received numerous distinctions for her arduous civic and educational work, but her legacy is the best evidence of her productive life. The university that today bears her name is the top private higher education institution in Puerto Rico, with an enrollment of over 35,000 students.
UAGM now offers academic programs ranging from technical certificates to Associate’s degrees, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorates. The institution is composed of the Gurabo, Carolina, and Cupey Campuses, as well as the Online Campus. It also has 9 university centers in Puerto Rico and 4 in the mainland USA: Metro Orlando Campus, Tampa Bay Campus, South Florida Campus, and the Dallas Area Campus.
Doña Ana passed in 1997. She was an eternal visionary who knew how to use with persistence and dedication her fundamental God-given virtues of understanding, spiritual peace, friendship, love and a profound appreciation for human solidarity.
The tenacity and perseverance of doña Ana G. Méndez has been a source of inspiration for those who have followed in her footsteps. Today, the more than 2,000 associates who work at UAGM continue her legacy of service and dedication, which extends to the development of social impact projects in Puerto Rico and Hispanic communities in the United States. The Puerto Rico Senate, during a special session on November 20th, 2019, recognized doña Ana G. Méndez for her trajectory in education on the island. Her oil portrait now hangs in the Illustrious Women Hall of the Senate.
To watch the video of this recognition, click here.