Four OLLU faculty members have been named as recipients of the “La Cosecha—The Harvest Grants Program.” As part of the program, the faculty members will conduct research or community-based programming that promotes student and faculty involvement in the community. Grant recipients will be working with the Center for Mexican American Studies and Research (CMASR) to complete their projects. The grant recipients are:
- marcela polanco, PhD, assistant professor of psychology – Dr. polanco’s research project, Testimonios Latinoamericanos of social justice: Local knowledge of mental health practitioners training in the global era, will recruit two bilingual Family Therapy graduate students as research assistants. Dr. polanco and her two research assistants will interview and document first-person accounts on social justice practices from practitioners working in Latin American contexts (Chile and Argentina). This comparative project will serve as a training opportunity for Family Therapy graduate students; it will advance their scholarly development as they compare these approaches to their own practice in the U.S. They will have the opportunity to learn about local practices in two Latin American countries, and to develop research internationally.
- Kristin O’Donnell, PhD, assistant professor of psychology – Dr. O’Donnell’s project, Using Mindful Minute Practice in the K-12 Setting, is a program analysis of Mindful Minutes practice exercises in highly diverse schools. The focus will be on the implementation of mindful activities with college level and K-12 students. School Psychology graduate students will take a six-week self-paced program and use the techniques taught in the program to help facilitate mindful minute practices with their counseling groups in local K-12 school districts. The ethnic makeup of the districts ranges from 47-98 percent Latina/o, with the majority of schools falling in the range of 85-98 percent Latina/o. The graduate students acquire new knowledge and skills to implement these techniques with others. Also, it will benefit children from schools that have a high need for social, emotional and behavioral support.
- Deborah Kuetzpal Vasquez, MFA, assistant professor of art – Professor Vasquez’s applied research and creative project, Cuba: Cross-Cultural Experiential Learning Research in the Visual Arts, will focus on documentation and analysis of the Afro-Latinx influence on the spiritual and secular art and music of Cuba. Professor Vasquez will conduct research in Cuba and collaborate with other artists in a variety of art forms ranging from silkscreen, to mural art and public art installations. Also, it will involve collecting information to mentor students in planning, developing and exhibiting student-led community-based creative projects. This project will help enhance students’ classroom experience in their fall 2017 creative projects. This collaborative project will enhance OLLU’s intercultural competence by highlighting shared African influences in Cuban and Mexican art and culture, thereby expanding our expertise in Mexican American culture.
- Steven Wise, MA, MLIS, associate professor of learning resources and research/instruction – Professor Wise’s project, Latinos in South Texas: An Interactive Guide, will create an online reference source on Latino issues in San Antonio and South Texas in the form of an interactive map. Since most historical research in Chicana/o civil rights has been primarily centered on the west coast of the United States, this project aims to help close the gap in the literature by making visible the untold Chicana/o civil rights history of South Texas. The project will train and mentor students in information literacy and research methods in order to conduct original research related to the Mexican American experience in South Texas. The students selected to participate in this project will gain experience in researching and writing concise scholarly entries related to their own local communities.
The La Cosecha—The Harvest Grants Program is funded by the Higher Education for a New America (HENA) at OLLU, made possible by a grant from the Impetus Foundation. The projects listed above will further the mission of HENA to enhance the academic success, career development and community engagement of OLLU students. This grants program is administered by the CMASR in collaboration with the Provost’s Office, Global and Strategic Initiatives Office, Institutional Advancement Division, and President’s Office.