A Project of
the San Diego County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls,
the Women's Museum of California,
SDSU Women's Studies Department, and UCSD Women's Center.
Aurora Soriano Cudal
2013
Bridge Builder
Aurora Soriano Cudal, D Hum (h.c.) advocates for social justice and Filipino American community empowerment. Her leadership and community service led to extensive coalition building in San Diego. Aurora graduated from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1952 and served as a public health educator and administrator in the Philippines for almost forty years. She also worked as an international public health and drug prevention consultant for the World Health Organization and the governments of Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Aurora returned to the University of the Philippines in the 1980s and completed all of the requirements for a doctorate in public health, except for her dissertation defense.
When Aurora retired from her long career, she immigrated to San Diego. Aurora applied her extensive experience and education in public health to assist the Filipino community in San Diego. She established the Filipino Help Center in 1993 and received numerous awards for her community service and activism. She was the Chairperson and then the President of the Council of Philippine American Organizations (COPAO) of San Diego County. During her tenure with COPAO she implemented job and health education programs and secured the fully-funded COPAO Building. She also served as the Region Chair of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA).
Aurora and her husband Winlove shared seven children, twenty grandchildren, four great- grandchildren. In addition to her rich family life, Aurora has been active in the Methodist Church, both locally and internationally. Her academic work and service to the university were recognized with an honorary Doctor of Humanities, awarded in 2003 in Manila. Aurora's ongoing work as a community activist and advocate for the Filipino community made her a model Multicultural Bridge Builder.