Eva Longoria Named as Harvard University's Artist of the Year

Harvard University has named Eva Longoria as its Artist of the Year.

The award, which is the most prestigious honor from the Harvard Foundation, will put Longoria in the ranks of Andy Garcia, Shakira, Salma Hayek, Queen Latifah, and Quincy Jones, Fox News Latino reported.

"Our student committee praised her outstanding contributions to the performing arts and her much-admired humanitarian work through the Eva's Heroes project, a charity founded by Longoria that helps developmentally disabled children, as well as her support of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children," S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, said in the Harvard Gazette.

Other recipients of the award in the past include Sharon Stone, Will Smith, Matt Damon, Halle Berry, Jackie Chan, Denzel Washington, Wyclef Jean, and Herbie Hancock, Fox News Latino reported. Longoria will accept her award in a reception ceremony on February 21 which will be held during the university's Cultural Rhythms Festival.

Aside from the Harvard honor, the actress was also named The Hollywood Reporter's Philanthropist of the Year in 2009, and in 2011, she also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Variety's "Power of Women" luncheon, Fox News Latino noted. She also recently graduated from California State University, Northridge, with a master's degree in Chicano studies and political science.

The "Desperate Housewives" star is also the founder of the Eva Longoria Foundation, "whose mission is to help Latinas build better futures for themselves through education and entrepreneurship," the news outlet added.

'A Path Appears' Documentary

Longoria's philanthropic work also extends to addressing teenage pregnancy, one of the major social issues worldwide.

In a documentary which aired on PBS, Longoria was featured as she traveled to the slums of Cartagena, Colombia to look into teenage pregnancy, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter. The documentary is a part of the in-depth study titled "A Path Appears," which will feature Pulitzer Prize winners.

"Being in the slums and walking from barrio to barrio, you can't walk two steps without seeing a pregnant teen," Longoria told the news outlet.

The actress and activist added in the video clip, "I didn't know there were so many pregnant teens here in Colombia. I definitely don't think [the pregnant teens] are aware that there's a life outside of the bubble they live in, which is poverty. They don't believe that they could go study."

Longoria explained that what interests her the most about documentaries is its power to humanize issues. According to the actress, putting a face to the problem makes people "invested" to others' "story and their life's journey," The Hollywood Reporter noted.