Luz Maria de la Torre is a native Quechua speaker from Ecuador who now teaches the language at UCLA. She says in an interview that education propelled her as a leader in preserving the language.
http://lagente.org/2012/06/21/from-the-incan-empire-to-ucla-preserving-quechua/
Education was the key to battling the discrimination and disempowerment that haunted her society for thousands of years. Profesora De La Torre obtained a Master’s Degree in political science from Facultad Lationoamericana de Ciencias Sociales in Ecuador and studied linguistics and sociology in Paris V. She claims her parents had much to do with her achievements in higher education. “Aunque mis padres nunca aprendieron a leer y a escribir siempre estuvo en sus sueños que nosotros como una generación nueva aprendiéramos a leer; no solamente que leyéramos las palabras sino que leyéramos la vida,” said de la Torre.