The Acequia Institute, Instituto de la Acequia, is a private non-profit organization dedicated to collaborative research and education for environmental resilience and social justice in acequia farming communities of the Upper Rio Grande bioregion. The Institute exists to protect and promote the acequia institution as one of the oldest forms of local democratic self-government and to nurture traditional forms of regenerative agriculture. Acequia is offering three research fellowships for 08-09 at $2000 per fellow. Graduate students can download the application form at: www.acequiainstitute.org

UCLA’s Academic Advancement Program (AAP) – a multiracial, recruitment and retention program for undergraduates - honored 35 distinguished alumni as part of their 35th Anniversary Celebration (February 28, 2008).  The winners were recognized for their personal and professional achievements, their contributions to the community, and for exemplifying the values and philosophy of AAP: academic excellence and achievement.

Congratulations to two of our own faculty for receiving the honor: Horacio Roque Ramirez (1992 graduate) and Tara Yosso (1995 graduate)!

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Several of our graduate students are taking their show on the road!

2008 Ethnic Studies in California/Crossing Borders Graduate Student Conference
University of California, Berkeley (March 7-9, 2008)

Francisco Fuentes, “Theology from the Streets: Border Politics and the Racialization of Evangelicalism”

2008 National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) Annual Meeting
Austin, Texas (April 19-22, 2008)

William Calvo, “Driving the Streets of Aztlan: Lowriders and the Politics of
Chicana/o Cultural Production.”

Tomas Madrigal, “Forgotten Geographies: On Advancing the Collective Oral Histories, Personal Narratives And Memories Of The ‘Other’ United States and Mexico.”

Adrianna Santos, “Representations of Violence in Chicana Cultural Production: Alternative Spaces for Discourse, Cultural Implications and Potentials for Healing in Ana Castillo's So Far From God.”

Cristina Serna, “Museum Controversies and the Politics of Culture: Activist Art in the Public Museum.”

Undergraduate Luciana Gonzalez will make her academic debut, “Mother/Daughter Communication: Sexual Education and the Understanding of the Human Papillomavirus Among the Chicana/Latina Community.”