Grants

$330,000 to support student scholarships and establish the DTE Energy Foundation/MiHC Scholarship in the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies Endowed Scholarship Fund.

$5,000 for student scholarships from the Mexican Consulate in Detroit as part of the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME) Becas program.

$3,000 assessment grant award from the WSU Office of the Provost for $3,000 for a project titled Un Arroz Con Pollo: Assessing mixed and multidisciplinary learning modalities in an ethnic studies curriculum. Melissa Miranda Morse is leading this project.

Two grants for $3,000 each from the Ford Community Corps for service-learning projects with Peer Health Exchange Detroit and Mercy Education Project. Tamara Serrano Chandler is principal investigator for these grants.

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Selected activities

Dr. Jorge L. Chinea delivered a bilingual lecture, "La Majestad y su Carga Humana: Exponiendo el encubrimiento de la esclavitud africana en Puerto Rico, 1820-1859/The Majesty and its Human Cargo: Exposing the Concealment of African Slavery in Puerto Rico, 1820-1859," hosted by the Puerto Rico-based advocacy group Corredor Afro.

Dr. Jorge L. Chinea was honored by the Caribbean Community Services Center in Detroit with the 2020 Annual Education Award, which was presented at their annual Forget Columbus Day Fundraiser. 

Dr. José Cuello delivered a talk entitled "Why Democracy Cannot Exist Without Capitalism; Why Capitalism Destroys Democracy" as part of the WSU Humanities Center Brown Bag Series.

Dr. Víctor Figueroa represented the Center at the annual meeting of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research.

Melissa Miranda Morse and campus partners Vanessa Reynolds and Dr. Leonard Savala led a workshop entitled, "From the Barrio to the Academy: Using our personal narratives and history to impact change," as part of the WSU Office of Multicultural Student Engagement's "What's Going On" series.

Tamara Serrano Chandler was featured as an expert in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and recruiting for "The Power of an Inclusive and Equitable Workforce," a panel discussion for students and industry hosted by WSU Career Services.

Dr. Zach Morales and Ozzie Rivera were quoted in a South End article, "WSU Latino students push for greater representation in STEM" in December. 

Dr. Zach Morales published a story, "What Cinco de Mayo Really Commemorates," for Schoolcraft College's news site. 

Ozzie Rivera delivered the lecture "An orientation to Southwest Detroit's Latino history and some considerations regarding health" as part of the WSU Latino Medical Student Association 2020 Speaker Series.

Alicia Diaz delivered the lecture "Politics and Identity: Latinx in Michigan" as part of the Latino Medical Student Association 2020 Speaker Series.

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Scholarships

Congratulations to the following 2020-21 scholarship awardees.

IME Becas

Betzabeth Arredondo, psychology
Mariana Beltran, finance
Edgar Hernandez Armenta, mechanical engineering
Karla Narvaez, finance
Rosario Velasquez-Cervantes, nursing

DTE Energy Foundation/MIHC Scholarship in CLLAS

Ana Estefania Sandoval, exercise and sport science
Mindi Ochoa, criminal justice

Cindy Estrada Labor/Social Justice Endowed Scholarship

Josefina Diaz-Orsi, political science

Rometsch and Wiese-Rometsch Endowed Scholarship

Josue Flores, electrical engineering

MANA de Metro Detroit Scholarship

Yazmin Raya-Castillo, management

Hispanic/ Latino Commission of Michigan Future Leaders Scholarship 

Alondra Alvizo, urban planning master's program
Betzabeth Arredondo, psychology 

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Service learning

Ten students completed service-learning projects with the Mercy Education Project and La Casa Guadalupana as part of their Latino/a Studies minor capstone experience.

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Directed study

During the fall semester, LAS offered a directed study course entitled "Introduction to Latinx Speculative Fiction as a Framework to Decolonize the Past, Present and Future" where used this genre in multi-media formats as a de-colonized mirror (lens) to examine issues of race, gender, inequality, immigration, authoritarian and democratic political systems, spirituality, generational and public memory within contemporary and historical Latinx societies. The course was taught by Alicia Diaz.

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Graduate programs

2020 graduates were admitted and enrolled in the following programs:

Ashley Garcia, Loyola University - Chicago, M.A. in Community Counseling
Juan Gonzalez-Martinez, Loyola University - Chicago School of Law, J.D.
Isabelle Rios-Colon, University of Maine, M.Ed. in Higher Education
Alice Santana, University of Maryland, Ph.D. in American Studies
Noribeth Mariscal, Wayne State University, M.S. in Civil Engineering

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2020-2021 Student support team

Our work would not be possible without the support of our wonderful student employees and interns.

MSW interns

Estenia Elisevich
Marissa Rossman

Peer mentors

Taylor Antio
Lucy Arias
Betzabeth Arredondo
Pamela Esparza
Josue Flores
Heather Garcia
Alfonso Garcia Rivera
Vanesa Gonzalez
Alondra Mireles
Erica Perez
Jasmin Perez
Anali Ramos Ramirez
Brenda Rodriguez
Katherine Sanchez
Mariana Sierra
Paulina Yllescas-Rosales

Office and research assistants

Diana Garcia Rivera
Alexa Lopez
Mayra Torres

Graphic designer

Erica Perez