EPCC librarian selected for Hunt-Aspen Fellowship

Courtesy  EPCC Marketing

Lizzie Ochoa will participate in the Aspen Institute Summer Worlds Festival in June.

EPCC Librarian Ana ‘Lizzie’ Ochoa has been selected as a 2025 Woody and Gayle Hunt Aspen Fellowship and will be attending a professional writer’s workshop this summer. Ochoa will participate in the Aspen Institute Summer Words Festival for writers June 22-27, 2025, in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The festival is one of the nation’s top literary gatherings and offers workshops and creative development opportunities for emerging and established writers.

“I’m super excited because I have several children’s books in the works and short story that I’m planning to develop into a script,” Ochoa said. “Being at EPCC has played a meaningful role in shaping me into the professional I am today, and I truly appreciate your support and encouragement along the way,” she added.

Ochoa's responsibilities at EPCC include coordinating greater district outreach through the creation of Library Instruction Videos to promote services and resources at the five campus EPCC Libraries. She also serves as an Electronic Resources and Reference Librarian.

Lizzie Ochoa has served as EPCC Library Instruction Chair since March 2024.

Ochoa was selected to participate in a Book Branding Workshop during the 2025 Aspen Summer Words, led by Taryn Roeder, Executive Director of Publicity at Abrams Books, a notable publisher of numerous New York Times Bestsellers. Ochoa says she hopes to engage with a diverse cohort of writers, contributing what she calls her own unique voice and perspective from the Borderplex region and immerse herself in a transformational writing experience, surrounded by the inspiring Colorado mountains.

According to press releases, the Hunt-Aspen Fellowship is designed to elevate what it calls the "voices and unique perspectives of leaders from the Borderplex region that includes El Paso, Ciudad Juarez, and Las Cruces in a wide range of Aspen Institute convenings," including leadership seminars and roundtables, granting the selected leader greater opportunities to network with nationwide leaders.

Through these dynamic exchanges, the region will further enhance its stance as a forward-thinking, vibrant binational and bicultural border community, according to the Aspen Institute.

Hunt-Aspen Fellows are expected to return to the Borderplex region and share their learnings within their communities and professional networks. They join an expanding network of more than 75 committed Hunt-Aspen Fellows and nearly 500 Aspen Latinos alumni, creating a strong, engaged, and growing leadership community.

The Woody and Gayle Hunt-Aspen Institute Fellowship is a scholarship program managed by the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society (Aspen Latinos) Program that increases the participation of individuals from the Borderplex region in the Aspen Institute’s highly regarded programs and discussions.