A passionate educator and culture builder committed to empowering the next generation of scholars, Olivia Silva Hufnagel is this year’s recipient of the School of Education’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

A daughter of migrant workers in California, Olivia was the first in her family to attend college. She started her college journey at Golden West College before transferring to UC Irvine. Olivia found both experiences empowering, thanks to the support of professors and mentors. Embracing her identity as a scholar gave Olivia the confidence to pursue her goals and laid the foundation for her future as an educator.

Olivia earned a B.A. in psychology and social behavior in 1997 and obtained her multiple subject teaching credential with a focus on Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development (CLAD) in 1998. After graduating, she taught high school English in Aomori, Japan, for two years before returning to the U.S. to start her career in education at the same district where she attended elementary school, the Garden Grove Unified School District.

Olivia credits her mentor Mary Roosevelt, a recipient of the UC Irvine Lauds & Laurels Award for University Service in 1984 and the UC Irvine Medal in 1990, for recognizing and affirming her Latina heritage, biculturalism and biliteracy as valuable assets in her journey towards becoming an educator. Committed to instilling the same sense of confidence and empowerment in her elementary school students as all her mentors instilled in her, Olivia started a tradition of taking her students on a UC Irvine campus tour – a chance to share her story and motivate them to see college as a real option.

During her most recent tenure as principal of R. F. Hazard Elementary School, the school received numerous awards, including recognition as a California Distinguished School in 2020, one of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Schools in 2022 and 2025, America’s Best Urban Schools Award Winner in 2020 and highlighted in a recent publication “Celebrating Excellence: Leadership Team’s in America’s Best Schools.”

In honor of her parents, Olivia created the Alvarez-Silva Family 150 Gifts Challenge for UC Irvine Giving Day 2025. As she intended, the 150th gift to the School of Education unlocked her $100,000 donation to support teacher education scholarships.