Success at the Shared Knowledge Conference for CCS Student
Departmental News
Posted: May 5, 2016
We are proud to announce that Brenda Ramirez earned 1st place in the Humanities category of the Oral Presentation Section of the Annual Shared Knowledge Conference at University of New Mexico. She received a cash price and was recognized in the conference’s awards ceremony. Her recognition is especially impressive because she competed with a talented large pool of undergraduate and peers students. Her award is well deserved as Brenda worked extensively on her research project and her presentation was extremely well articulated. Student success like Brenda’s is what the Chicana and Chicano Studies department strives to accomplish with every single one of our students. CCS faculty offer personalized mentorship opportunities to students and collaborate with other centers and programs like El Centro’s El Puente Research Fellowship to provide students with advanced research opportunities.
Brenda worked closely with her graduate mentor Emily Castillo and faculty mentor Dr. Patricia Perea to develop her research project titled, “Converging Academic Struggles of Migrant and Seasonal Students in Rural Communities in SW New Mexico.” The study aimed to understand the seasonal student population in the southwest of New Mexico, and the similarities in educational barriers to those of a migrant student populations outside of the state. During this yearlong project Brenda completed a literature review, conducted original research, and connected her research to community. She worked meticulously with both Emily and Patricia to incorporate their feedback at the various stages of the research process.
Brenda Ramirez is junior at the University of New Mexico majoring in Chicana and Chicano Studies. Brenda is part of the El Puente Research Fellowship sponsored by El Centro de la Raza at UNM. Chicana and Chicano Studies (CCS) department faculty have worked closely with El Centro for the last few years. The fellowship offers undergraduate students the opportunity to gain research experience and assistance with the graduate school application process. Part of the requirement of the program is that students are paired with a graduate mentor fellow. Emily Castillo, Ph.D. student in Sociology and friend of CCS, served as Brenda’s graduate mentor. Patricia Perea, adjunct lecturer at the CCS department served as the Brenda’s faculty mentor.
