Category Archives: News

The Antonia I. Castañeda Prize Enters Its Fifth Year

December 10, 2015 2:06 PM ,

by Linda Heidenreich, Chair, Antonia I. Castañeda Prize Committee

It was just five years ago when Dr. Arturo Madrid and five esteemed scholars, Emma Pérez, Deena González, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, Tomás Ybarra-Frausto and Dudley Brooks came together to honor the work of Antonia I. Castañeda by founding a scholarly award in her honor. In order to do justice to such an award it needed to do more than honor scholarly excellence. It needed to do so in such a way that supported independent scholars, pre-tenure scholars and advanced graduate students. It needed to help build the field of Chicana History, and to encourage interdisciplinary and cutting-edge gendered work.

For the past five years the award has done just that. Building on Dr. Castañeda’s legacy of “enGendering history,” editors and mentors have nominated the articles of Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous/Native women scholars whose work brings new and nuanced gendered analysis to our histories. Last year, thanks to the hard work of past recipients – especially Dr. Jenny Luna — we were able to host a roundtable at the national conference. This is something we hope to be able to do every 3-4 years in celebration of the innovative and exceptional work with which Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous/Native women scholars continue to build the fields of Chicana History and Chican@ Studies.

The 2015 roundtable highlighted the cutting-edge gendered history young scholars are producing today. Dr. Cindy Cruz shared from her work “LGBT Street Youth Talk Back,” where building upon the work of María Lugones, she focused our attention on oppositional struggle in “the smallest of spaces” arguing that when we fail to see resistance in small spaces/tight spaces, we are unable to see the resistance enacted by LGBT street youth, especially LGBT street youth of color. Dr. Vanessa Fonseca’s shared excerpts from her award winning paper, “Rosaura Sánchez, Crítica Marxista y Máxima Expresión del la Jolla Circle,” highlighting the consistency and complexity of Dr. Rosaura Sanchez’s work in linguistics and in Chicana/o literature. Throughout her talk, as throughout her article, Fonseca used the very tools for which she praised Sánchez, bringing a deep and layered historical context to her discussion of material analysis, linguistics and literature. Finally Dr. Jenny Luna discussed her work on Danza, “La Tradición Conchera,” highlighting the plurality of ways in which Danza is praxis challenging colonial culture and power, and at times, patriarchal discourse.

Those of you who attended NACCS 2015 will remember that it was Belinda Linn Rincón, with her article “Estas Son Mis Armas”: Lorna Dee Cervantes’ Poetics of Feminist Solidarity in the Era of Neoliberal Militarism,” who was last year’s recipient of the Castañeda Prize. Dr. Rincón’s article, in its historically grounded critical methodology, is a fine example of intersectional, interdisciplinary and feminist scholarship at its best. Its bold challenge to neo-liberalism also asks difficult questions of our own transfronterista feminist literature. If you have not yet had a chance to read it, don’t miss out (WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 42: 3&4).

I encourage you to be on the look out for independent or pre-tenure faculty women (or ABD graduate students) in your departments who will publish their work this year and nominate them for the award. The prize seeks to honor innovative work, to promote the work of new and emerging Chicana, Latina, and Indigenous/Native women scholars and, equally important, to build on the legacy of Antonia I. Castañeda, who taught our generation to gender our work, to challenge disciplinary boundaries, and to publish work that matters. Go to the NACCS website to find more information about nominating a colleague’s article for the Antonia I. Castañeda Prize.

See you in Colorado.

 

 

Posted in: Antonia Castañeda Award, News

Dr. Stephanie Alvarez, NACCS Member, Receives Professor of the Year

December 7, 2015 4:08 PM ,

By Jennifer L. Berghom

Courtesy of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Award Ceremony Dr. Stephanie AlvarezRIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – NOV. 19, 2015 – Dr. Stephanie Alvarez, an associate professor of Mexican American Studies at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, has been named a U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Alvarez is the first faculty member in The University of Texas System to receive the national award, and is one of just four national recipients this year.

“It’s something that is an honor not just for myself, but for all my students, for the entire university community and my entire family – mostly because all of my teaching is grounded in my students,” Alvarez said. “It’s grounded in the community, and I draw from them. They’re my inspiration for everything that I do.”

Alvarez joined UTRGV’s legacy institution, UT Pan American, in 2006. Among her accomplishments are helping redesign the Mexican American studies program, and developing the Cosecha Voices project with the late Latino poet Tato Laviera. The project provided training to migrant students in the K-12 public school systems on creative writing assignments about their experiences working as migrant farmers with their families.

Dr. Ala Qubbaj, UTRGV vice provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, said the recognition is well-deserved.

“We are very proud that one of our UTRGV faculty members, Dr. Stephanie Alvarez, has been named as one of the most outstanding college professors in undergraduate education nationwide,” Qubbaj said. “This significant recognition clearly reflects on the high caliber of our UTRGV faculty and the exceptional educational experiences they are providing to our students. Through her excellence in teaching, student engagement and mentoring, Dr. Alvarez has positively impacted the lives of so many students and their ability to succeed in college and beyond, which is central to UTRGV’s mission and focus.”

Alvarez might draw inspiration from her students, but those students say she is their inspiration.

Arnulfo Daniel Segovia, a graduate student in the Mexican American Interdisciplinary Studies program at UTRGV, said Alvarez is highly commitment to her students. “As an educator, she’s able to challenge us to grow as students and human beings, and to give us this intellectually nurturing experience in the classroom,” he said. “She is more than a mentor. She’s more like a mentor and a good friend who is always there for you, to give you direction and guidance.”

Claudia Razo, another UTRGV graduate student in Mexican American Interdisciplinary Studies, said Alvarez has guided her throughout her undergraduate and graduate experience, from advising her on which courses to take, to encouraging her to continue her studies into the master’s program. “She was the one who inspired me to do it. I wanted to finish with my bachelor’s degree and that was it,” Razo said. “She said I could do it. She kept telling me to move forward and apply.” Razo took the advice to heart. “She’s become a huge part of my life, because she’s been such an inspiration to me,” she said.

Conducted by CASE and sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the national awards recognize professors for their influence on teaching and commitment to undergraduate students, according to a CASE news release. In addition to the four national winners, 35 faculty members were named state Professors of the Year. CASE began the awards program in 1981.  National and state winners of the 2015 U.S. Professors of the Year awards were honored today, Nov. 19, 2015, at a luncheon and awards ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

Posted in: News