Eva Longoria was honored by Harvard University as the Artist of the Year. The award is the most prestigious arts medal award given by Harvard Foundation, Fox News Latino reports.

Longoria accepted the award Saturday. She joins past winners Andy Garcia, Shakira and Salma Hayek, who have all won the award in the past.

"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," said S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, in the Harvard Gazette.

Longoria was able to stand out for the award according to Cultural Rhythms Festival co-director Cary A. Williams "because she has used her celebrity status as a means of creating positive change in the world."

Longoria is best known for her role in "Desparate Housewives," though she said her mother did not find that very impressive.

"When I was on 'Desperate Housewives,' it was the number-one show in the world, and I was ranked really high [on the] Fobes list," she said to a crowd, according to People. "I said to my mom, 'Look,' and she said 'Right, when are you getting your Master's?'"

Longoria recently received her master's degree in Chicano studies and political science from California State University, Northridge.

The producer has moved beyond the screen to make a difference. She is the founder of the Eva Longoria Foundation, which aims to help Latinas build better futures through education and entrepreneurship.

In 2006, Longoria founded the charity Eva's Heroes. The charity is designed to help developmentally disabled teens and young adults.

Longoria has also appeared in the BBC documentary series "A Path Appears." In the series, Longoria traveled to Colombia to help women who lived in poverty and young teens who were pregnant, Latin Times reports.

Longoria won an Americano Latino Media Arts Award for Outstanding Actress for her role as Isabella Brana on the soap opera "The Young and The Restless."

The actress says that for her entire life, she has lived between two cultures.

""I've kind of lived my life straddling the hyphen of being Mexican-American. I kind of just sit on that hyphen, you know – navigating loving enchiladas and apple pie, loving mariachi music and Britney Spears," she said, according to People. "But there are so many moments in my life that were memorable to that experience of being a hybrid, of being a hyphen."

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