University of Wisconsin graduate returns for commencement — 50 years later

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Luciano and Martha Barraza pose in front of their snow-covered car outside their first apartment at Eagle Heights at UW–Madison in 1963. Luciano, a native of Mexico, had just begun his graduate work in agricultural economics. He completed work on a doctoral degree in 1967 but was unable to participate in the commencement ceremony. Fifty years later, he will get that chance on Sunday.

After earning his doctorate in agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Luciano Barraza could not stick around for graduation ceremonies.

He had a job in his native Mexico, where his wife and children were living. So after defending his thesis on a model for the development of the Mexican economy, Barraza returned home.

That was 50 years ago.

Barraza led a very successful career at the Bank of Mexico and a large fertilizer company, but something always gnawed at him. He had never walked across the stage with his fellow graduates, shaken the hand of his dean or worn the hood presented to doctoral students at commencement.

On Sunday, Barraza, now 77 and living in Texas, will participate in the ceremonies. He will attend a pre-graduation breakfast at the University Club where he'll get the doctoral hood that he'll wear later Sunday. At the Kohl Center in Madison, he'll walk with fellow graduates who will be decades younger.

It never occurred to Barraza to return five decades later to participate in commencement. It was the idea of his 17-year-old grandson.

Luciano Barraza completed work on a doctoral degree in agricultural economics at UW-Madison in 1967 but couldn't participate in the commencement ceremony. Fifty years later, he will get that chance on Sunday.

When Raul Correa attended his mother's graduation ceremony in May, he sat next to his grandfather and asked him if there was anything in his life he regretted. As Barraza watched his daughter, Correa's mother, pick up her doctoral degree in early childhood education from the University of Texas in Austin, Barraza admitted he missed out on his commencement ceremony.

"Now that I see the ceremony I think maybe it's something I should have done," Barraza said in a phone interview. "That's when the whole thing started."

Unbeknown to Barraza, Correa began emailing and calling UW-Madison, leaving voicemails and emails at various departments. Eventually, one of his emails was seen by Kim Santiago, an outreach specialist in UW's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. That led to a letter from Jeremy Foltz, chairman of the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

"Raul did everything by himself without telling me. I was completely unaware until I got the letter from the head of the ag department," said Barraza. "I thought, 'My goodness, they were inviting me to walk in this year's ceremony.' I'm flattered."

After earning a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering at Mexico's national school of agriculture, Barraza applied to UW when one of his agriculture economics professors, a UW grad, recommended the university. He and his wife, Martha, arrived in the fall of 1963 and saw their first snow.

He earned a master's degree in agricultural economics and by June 1966 had finished the coursework for his doctorate. He was hired as an economist for Banco de Mexico in Mexico City and completed his doctoral thesis while working full time. He flew back to Madison in the fall of 1967 to successfully defend his thesis but could not afford another plane ticket to go to commencement in January 1968.

He and his wife, who had studied English in Mexico and helped translate his textbooks and papers, raised four children. All earned advanced degrees.

UW officials have invited the children of Barraza's academic adviser Don Kanel, who died last year at the age of 93, to attend the event.

"I'm hoping he will get the kind of reception he deserves for a long career, that it will be a celebration for both the accomplishment of getting a PhD but also all that he has done in his long career," said Foltz.

Fifteen family members will be in the crowd Sunday to cheer on Barraza — coming from Texas, Philadelphia and Spain. Among them will be Correa, a high school senior who has applied to UW-Madison for next fall.

Correa and his grandfather are close, more like best friends, and Correa knows his own love for UW-Madison — he usually gets emotional when singing "Varsity" — stems from his grandpa. Correa and Barraza travel to Madison for one football game at Camp Randall each fall; this year they were at the Purdue game. They plan to see the Badgers at the Orange Bowl later this month.

Luciano Barraza (left) will participate in the UW–Madison 2017 winter commencement ceremony largely due to the initiative of his grandson, Raul Correa (right), a high school senior in San Antonio, Texas.

"I think that hopefully this is something that he can look back on and say I had no regrets and I did everything that I could," said Correa. "As a person who has been as successful as he is, the fact that he raised amazing children and impacted his grandchildren to such an extent that we all have this communal effort for him, I think he’ll be proud."