UTRGV director receives award from Mexico for supporting communities abroad

Always having a passion for business and helping others, Linda Ufland, UTRGV director of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Commercialization, said receiving the Ohtli Award from the Mexican government is validating to not only her, but the team she works with and the community she serves. “For me, that was the biggest reward and validation, an award like this from the Mexican government with me being Hispanic and from Mexico as well,” she said. The Ohtli Award, or Reconocimineto Ohtil, recognizes individuals who have empowered and positively affected the lives of Mexican nationals that live aboard. The award started in 1996 and the name of it comes from the Nahuatl word for road or path with the medal depicting an Aztec god cutting grass with a machete symbolizing opening a path for others. Ufland received the Ohtli award during Mexican Independence celebration ceremonies on Sept. 12 in Brownsville. “My dad always told me as a little girl, ‘You have to build your own path,’ which is so