Previous Graduate Student Affiliates and Undergraduate Interns
Roxanna Villalobos| Karina Ruiz| Francesca Romeo | Marina Segatti | Carlos Lucatero | Dyanna Carolina Rodriguez | Luis Ramirez | Andrea Rosas Herrera | Juan C. Dávila | Mauricio Ramírez | Tsering Wangmo | Claudia Lopez | Alma Villa | Vicente Lovelave | Alina Fernandez | Ruben Espinoza
Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies
Roxanna Villalobos is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received her BA in Psychology and Feminist Studies from UC Santa Cruz in 2012, and her MA in Gender & Cultural Studies from Simmons University in Boston, MA in 2015. She identifies as a Latina with roots in El Salvador and California’s Central Valley. Roxanna grew up in Parlier, CA, a small rural town in the heart of California that is home to a predominantly Latinx community of immigrant farmworkers. Drawing inspiration from her own background, Roxanna’s research explores the gender and racial subjectivities of working-class Latina girls living and working in rural, farm-working communities in California’s Central Valley.
Francesca Romeo, Graduate Student Researcher (Summer 2019 – Spring 2020)
Film and Digital Media
Francesca is a PhD candidate in the Film and Digital Media department at UC Santa Cruz. Her research examines the intersection of digital media and political violence. Deploying a theory/practice approach, her scholarship envisions and reveals alternative ways of scripting resistance and securing social justice through open source investigations and the development of alternative databases. Francesca is a Graduate Student Researcher for the Human Rights Investigations Lab where she creates content for weekly seminars and helps guide undergraduate researchers through the online investigation process in the lab.
Marina Segatti, Graduate Student Researcher (Fall 2019 & Spring 2020)
Marina is a PhD student in the Feminist Studies Department and Latin American Latino Studies Department at UC Santa Cruz. Her research investigates how queer Brazilian immigrants reinscribe and challenge aspects of gender, sex, race, ethnicity, and culture while forging their social and political identities in the context of the United States. She is interested in critically examining the linguistic practices that Brazilian queer immigrants may employ in a context of constant mobility and shifting boundaries, such as queerness and migration, and how through these linguistic practices they may (re)negotiate normative notions of nation, citizenship, and family. She is the coordinator of the collaborative research cluster Interrogating the Intersections of Gender, Race, and Class to Examine Brazil's Current Reactionary Wave with the Research Center for the Americas at UC Santa Cruz. Marina is currently a Graduate Student Researcher for the Human Rights Investigations Lab where in collaboration with undergraduate students, she conducts open-source-based investigations to understand and address human rights violations in the Américas. Marina is also a co-founder of Coletivo Desbordar, a feminist and leftist collective of Brazilian immigrant women in the Bay Area that through direct actions, media campaigns, and support groups, aims to bridge transnational solidarity with social movements in Brazil and Latin America. She is a lecturer in Linguistics at Holy Names University, in Oakland.
Carlos Lucatero, Event Assistant (Winter 2020)
Latin American and Latino Studies and Politics (double major)
Carlos is a second year undergraduate student majoring in LALS and Politics. He is a proud Oakes affiliate and a Community Assistant there. Originally from California’s Central Valley, he become involved in activist work there regarding immigrant and undocumented workers’ rights, reproductive healthcare, and young voter engagement. Carlos is eager to expand his knowledge of undergraduate research opportunities by working for the RCA and to be a resource for others on campus.
Dyanna Carolina Rodriguez, Event Assistant (Winter & Spring 2020)
Latin American and Latino Studies and Politics (proposed)
Dyanna is a first year student and Oakes affiliate from South Sacramento. Her proposed major is LALS and Politics with an interest in double majoring in history. She is interested in global history. By working for the RCA, she hopes to learn about undergraduate research opportunities at UC Santa Cruz, as it is something she wants to pursue.
Luis Ramirez, Professional Career Development Program Intern (2018–2019)
Politics, combined Sociology/Latin Amerian and Latino Studies, minor in Education
Luis was born in Guerrero, Mexico and his family migrated to California when he was two years old. He selected UC Santa Cruz for his undergraduate studies because of the campus’s history of political activism and its natural beauty. Luis is a Politics major, with a combined Sociology/Latin American and Latino Studies degree. He is also getting a minor in Education. Luis is a member of Los Mejicas, a Mexican folkloric dance group at UC Santa Cruz and part of the Workers Student Solidarity Coalition. Luis hopes to eventually attend graduate school, pursuing his own research in intra-ethnic conflicts and obtaining a teacher’s credential.
Andrea Rosas Herrera, Professional Career Development Program Intern (2018–2019)
Politics and Latin American and Latino Studies
Andrea was born in the state of Puebla in Mexico. Her family migrated to Monterey, California, when she was eight years old. She chose UC Santa Cruz to remain close to her family, especially her sister, and because UC Santa Cruz accepts recipients of TheDream.US scholarship, which she won. She is a double major in Politics and Latin American and Latino Studies and is affiliated with College Ten. She has become passionate about social justice and politics and has developed a growing interest in visual arts, especially photography. She sees going to law school in her future and possibly becoming a politician at some point too.
Juan C. Dávila, Graduate Student Intern & Researcher (Summer 2017, Summer 2018, 2018–2019, Summer 2019)
Latin American and Latino Studies
Juan, a journalist, documentary filmmaker, and Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz, was the creator of the RCA/CLRC's 2017 promotional video. His work focuses on environmental movements, job insecurity and the millennial generation. He has directed two feature documentary films: Compañeros de lucha (2012) and Vieques: una batalla inconclusa (2016). He currently works as a correspondent for Democracy Now! and is the Graduate Student Intern and Researcher for the Escuchar, Compartir, Comunidad (Listen, Share Community) project with KZSC radio and Digital NEST in Watonsville, CA.
Mauricio E. Ramirez, Graduate Student Researcher (2017—2018)
Latin American and Latino Studies
Mauricio research interests lie in the field of Latina/o visual studies, with a focus on public art and murals in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before arriving at UC Santa Cruz, he received a Masters of Arts in Teaching Visual Arts at The University of the Arts and his Bachelor’s degree in Art at UC Santa Cruz. Mauricio is also a part-time teacher at The Imagine Bus Project, where he teaches visual art to incarcerated youth at San Mateo Juvenile Hall.
Tsering Wangmo, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Graduate Fellow (2016—2017)
Literature
Graduating with a PhD in Literature at UC Santa Cruz, Tsering was a Graduate Fellow for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation John E. Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Culture, focused on the theme of Non-Citizenship. Tsering's research focused on the production of Tibetan nationalism, identity, and citizenship in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Critical to this study are the cultural politics, social movements, and questions of belonging in exile. She is the author of Coming Home to Tibet (2015) and three books of poetry. Tsering is currently an Assistant Professor in the English department at Villanova University. Read Tsering's full alumni profile.
Claudia Maria Lopez, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Graduate Fellow (2016—2017)
Sociology, Latin American and Latino Studies, and Feminist Studies
Graduating with a PhD in Sociology, with Designated Emphases in Feminist Studies and Latin American and Latino Studies, at UC Santa Cruz in 2017, was a Graduate Fellow for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation John E. Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Culture, focused on the theme of Non-Citizenship. Her dissertation, "The Life-Cycle of Forced Migration: The Lives and Politics Displaced Citizens in the Medellín," examined the dynamics of internal displacement on the urban integration and citizenship status of Colombian peasants in this city. Other research and teaching interests include gender and globalization, critical urban studies, and political participation. At UCSC, Claudia was the student convener of the Women of Color Cluster, a graduate student mentor, and avid photographer. Claudia is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach. Read Claudia's full alumni profile.
Alma Esperanza Villa Loma, Professional Career Development Program Intern (2015—2018)
Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies
As RCA (formerly CLRC) Intern, she supported Nuestras Historias: CLRC/RCA Archive Project, participates in our Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program, translates text in English and Spanish, and provides support at RCA-sponsored events. After graduating, Alma enrolled in the master’s program in Urban and Regional Planning at UCLA, where she’ll continue to develop her interests on the impact of the current affordable housing crisis on Latinxs in Los Angeles. For this project, she’s already conducted one-on-one interviews with more than 45 people. Read Alma's full alumni profile.
Vicente Lovelace, Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (2015–2017)
Vicente Lozano Lovelace graduated in June 2017 with a combined bachelor's degree in Latin American & Latino Studies/Politics. Alongside completing an accelerated degree program as a Regents Scholar, Vicente left a record of notable academic and extracurricular accomplishments. He served on the URAP research team of Nuestras Historias: CLRC/RCA Archive Project and he designed a digital humanities project on truth and objectivity in “post-fact politics” with funding from the inaugural Digital Humanities Fellowship. He is also the recipeint of the 2017 John Dizikes Writing Prize for his Politics thesis on labor protections under the Trump administration. Read Vicente's Full Alumni Profile.
Alina Ivette Fernandez, Graduate Student Researcher (2014—2017)
Latin American and Latino Studies
Alina was part of the inaugural cohort of students in the doctoral program in Latin American and Latino Studies. As Graduate Student Coordinator of Nuestras Historias: CLRC/RCA Archive Project, she helped oversee our Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program. Additionally, she supported our programming, particularly events. Her research is on Latina and Latino Greek organizations and civic engagement.
Ruben Espinoza, Graduate Student Researcher (2013—2014)
Sociology and Latin American and Latino Studies
Ruben Espinoza graduated from UC Santa Cruz in June 2017 with a PhD in Sociology and Designated Emphasis in Latin American and Latino Studies. He served as a Graduate Student Researcher for the RCA during the 2013 – 2014 school year. During that time, Ruben conducted ethnographic research for his dissertation on lettuce factory workers. He also managed the RCA Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program by mentoring, instructing, and advising over twenty undergraduate students as they carried out surveys of low-wage workers in Santa Cruz County for UC Santa Cruz’s Working For Dignity project. Additionally, Ruben helped organize conferences and talks that the RCA sponsored throughout the school year.
Ruben was hired as an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Chapman University immediately after graduating from UC Santa Cruz. He is now Director of Chapman University’s Latinx and Latin American Studies program. In addition to teaching and research, his focus is on growing the program through community outreach and increasing the percentage of Latinx students at Chapman University.