UPDATE – See workshops and map at: bit.ly/FSN-CYC17agenda

Four Fresno State Latina professors will lead a panel about Chicanas in Education for Fresno State’s 44th annual Chican@ Youth Conference from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Satellite Student Union at Fresno State.

The annual January event features workshops about higher education, social justice, cultural awareness, leadership and careers as well as speakers, live music, prizes and free food.

The conference, which draws about 1,000 people, is free for high school and middle school students through high school counselors, teachers and community members.

The registration deadline is Jan. 13 at http://bit.ly/FS-CYC17register but it often fills up prior to the deadline, said Walter Ramirez, a counselor in the Upward Bound program who coordinates the youth conference.

The conference is a collaborative effort by Outreach and Special Programs, Upward Bound, the Office of Undergraduate Student Recruitment, Cross Cultural and Gender Center- Latino/a Programs and Services, the Lyles College of Engineering with student clubs MEChA, the Chicano and Latin American Studies Student Association, La Voz De Aztlan, Alpha Pi Sigma and Nu Alpha Kappa.

The panel is set for 9:30 to 10:10 a.m. with Drs. Christina Herrera, Laura Alamillo, Larissa Mercado-López and Rosa Toro. They will discuss Chicanas in education, how to pursue and advocate for higher education, social justice, cultural awareness and leadership.

“We’ll discuss networks of support for Chicana academics, why it’s important to seek each other out and to help each other amidst sometimes hostile climates,” said Herrera an associate professor and chair of Chicano and Latin American studies at Fresno State who will moderate the panel.

“The panel will give advice for Chicantudents and mentors and examine the importance of networks, solidarity, and resisting individualized notions of self-care and instead insisting on communal networks of care,” she added.

Cristina Herrera

Dr. Cristina Herrera

Herrera’s research work focuses on Chicana/Latina empowerment. Her recently published book, “Contemporary Chicana Literature: (Re)writing the Material Script,” that was co-authored with Mercado-Lopez, examines relationships in Chicana writing. She is working on a number of projects related to Chicana and Latina young adult literature.

 

 

Laura Alamillo

Dr. Laura Alamillo

Alamillo is an associate professor and chair of the Literacy, Early, Bilingual and Special Education Department in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at Fresno State. Her research focuses on rethinking and challenging deficit approaches in the education of emergent bilingual children in P-12 schooling. Her most recent work involves a chapter in a book she co-edited on Chican@ children’s literature. Her chapter analyzes literature using translingual practices and how the characters use it to identify with elders in their homes.

 

Larissa Mercado-Lopez

Dr. Larissa Mercado-Lopez

Mercado-Lopez is an assistant professor in the Women’s Studies Program whose research focuses on Chicana feminism, maternal studies and literary studies and feminist fitness and health. In addition to the Chicana literature book with Herrera, she also recently published “Rescatador De Bebés,” a story about nurturing skills of caring in little boys and girls that was inspired by her experiences raising her own four children.

 

 

Rosa Toro

Dr. Rosa Toro

Toro is a professor in the Department of Psychology whose research focuses on highlighting the strengths and resiliencies of Latino immigrant families to promote development in Latino children. She was recently awarded a federal grant from the National Institute of Health for a longitudinal study of Latino immigrant children and families, and she is a member of La Visionaria Guild of Valley Children’s Hospital. (See panelist bios at http://bit.ly/CYC17ChicanaEdPanel.)

Entertainment will be provided by Los Danzantes de Aztlan, Fresno State Mariachi, Fresno State Salsa Club and Agent, a rapper from Sanger who uses hip-hop as a tool for mental health.

For more information, contact Walter Ramirez at 559.278.2693 or wramirez@csufresno.edu, or Raul Moreno at 559.278.5750 or raulm@csufresno.edu. Follow coverage at Twitter: @FresnoStateCYC.

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