Every Day is Magic: Ada Limón
In her 2015 collection, Bright Dead Things, a National Book Award finalist for poetry, Ada Limón writes of moving to Kentucky: “Confession: I did not want to live here.” It’s perhaps not a surprising sentiment coming from a coastally oriented person who was raised in Northern California, attended college in Seattle, and then spent over a decade in New York City.
But Limón and her husband, Lucas, have been in Lexington for seven years now and the effects of settling into this place are noticeable in her new book, The Carrying (Milkweed, Aug.). It’s a phenomenally lively and attentive collection replete with the trappings of living a little closer to nature. While Bright Dead Things is marked by a preponderance of light, such as images of fireflies and neon signs, The Carrying features numerous appearances by various trees, birds, and beetles. Limón also demonstrates a greater willingness to be explicit in naming colors, particularly green. “It’s crazy green, the whole book,” she says. “Lexington is the greenest place I’ve ever lived.” Similarly, where in Bright Dead Things, Limón tells a lot of stories and anecdotes, in The Carrying she is very present in her thoughts and experiences.
As it turns out, these shifts in focus have another, altogether unexpected source. While putting Bright Dead Things together, Limón was diagnosed with chronic vestibular neuronitis, which can cause bouts of vertigo. “If I’m really having vertigo, it’s pretty intense and I really have to focus,”
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UCLA introduces online module for equity, diversity and inclusion
UCLA requested undergraduate students to complete an optional online training module about equity, diversity and inclusion Thursday.UCLA assigned all incoming undergraduate students an online training module covering topics centered around equity, diversity and inclusion in September. The module, which is now open to continuing students as well, was created by EVERFI, an online educational resource company.The equity, diversity and inclusion module offers a basic education of its covered topics, including definitions, terms and personal stories, said UCLA Dean of Students Maria Blandizzi. She added that the module is intended to invite students to continue their learning of equity, diversity and inclusion after completing it…”
2020 Fall enrollment at a glance, University of California
“The UC fall enrollment at a glance outlines the ethnic and geographical makeup of the fall enrolled students as of the third week of the fall term. The information is provided by location, broad discipline and enrollment status…”
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/fall-enrollment-glance
Chicago group shows Hispanic medical students a path to medicine
“Growing up in Miami, Florida, Pilar Ortega, MD, had a Latino doctor and grew up in a community that included her family that emigrated from Spain and neighbors from Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Central America.
Advocacy in Action
It wasn’t until she was in college—and then even more so in medical school and residency—that she learned how unusual her situation had been and how acute the shortage of Hispanic physicians and health professionals is in the rest of the country.
While Hispanics make up the largest minority group in the U.S. with between 17% and 20% of the total population, they make up only about 5% of the physician workforce…”
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La Nochebuena Opera Outreach Program
“…Ever wonder how the poinsettia became a symbol of the holiday season? Composer, librettist and pianist Evan Mack answers that question in “Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena,” a children’s opera based on a Mexican folk tale.
Students from Hollister, La Patera and Isla Vista elementary schools will have an opportunity to hear the story when the Department of Music’s Opera Outreach Program performs the children’s opera in Karl Geiringer Hall, Tuesday through Sunday, Dec. 3-6…”
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Chicana/o studies department votes on adding Central American Studies to name
“…e Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies voted Nov. 15 to expand its name to include Central American studies.
Expanding the name had been a subject of conversation for years among faculty and students, said department chair Eric Avila. The faculty of the newly named César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies voted overwhelming in favor of the expansion, with 15 votes for, one against, and one abstention.
“I do not see this vote as a victory for one group of people, but rather for our entire department, which retains its roots in Chicana/o student activism, but adapts to a changing set of social, political, and demographic circumstances,” said Avila in a department-wide email sent Monday. “It is also a victory for UCLA, which continues to strive towards full equity, diversity and inclusion.”…”
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Helping Hands Destination College Advising Corps program puts recent college graduates to work as advisers in underserved high schools
“…Who better to guide aspiring college students on their path toward higher education than someone who has recently made that journey himself?
Consider Javier Evangelista. Growing up a first-generation Mexican American in Boyle Heights, a low-income neighborhood in Los Angeles, he had a rocky transition to college, he said, because he hadn’t yet learned “the importance of developing yourself.”…”
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Graduate enrollment, as a share of UC’s total undergraduate and graduate enrollment, has remained relatively steady since 2000.
“…With 21 percent graduate enrollment in 2018, including health science students, UC was lower than the average for non-UC AAU1 public institutions, at 27 percent, and the average for AAU private institutions, at 55 percent.
In fall 2018, the proportion of academic doctoral students varied across UC’s general campuses, from seven percent at Merced and Santa Cruz to 13 percent at Berkeley. At San Francisco, an exclusively graduate health-sciences campus, academic doctoral students made up 27 percent of fall 2018 enrollments. Since 2008, the share of academic doctoral students has declined at most campuses due to more rapid growth in the undergraduate, master’s, and professional populations.
UC awards 20 percent of California’s graduate academic master’s degrees, 62 percent of its academic doctoral degrees, and 21 percent of its graduate professional practice degrees…”
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Student’s short film champions putting self first over societal pressures
“Nicole Corona Diaz said she doesn’t think it’s ever too late for someone to change their career path.
Filmed over the weekend, the fourth-year film student’s untitled 12-minute short film tells the story of a rising college senior who suddenly decides not to take the LSAT despite having prepared her entire academic career for it. The film explores the main character Nicole’s stress as she juggles notions of success while struggling to provide for her mother and sister. She said she wants viewers to sympathize with Nicole, who ultimately learns to put herself first. Although they share the same name, Corona Diaz said Nicole is not necessarily based on herself…”
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UC admits all-time record number of freshmen, transfer students
“…The composition of the freshman class is similar to that of last year. Chicano/Latino students increased slightly as a proportion of admitted students from 33 percent to 34 percent, while Asian American students remained the largest ethnic group of admitted students at 35 percent. The proportion of white students stayed flat at 22 percent. The proportion of African American students also stayed flat at 5 percent, while American Indian students remained at 0.5 percent…”
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California top draw for fewer foreign students
“…California remains the top U.S. destination for foreign students, who primarily come from China and India, with enrollment dipping slightly in the 2018-19 school year for the first time in at least a decade, according to a survey released Monday.
Nationally, new enrollments of international students declined for the third year in a row although overall numbers are at a record high of nearly 1.1 million, according to a survey of 2,800 U.S. colleges and universities released by the Institute of International Education and the U.S. State Department…”
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Jenny S. Martinez
“Jenny S. Martinez is the Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law School and the law school’s 14th dean. Professor Martinez is a leading expert on international law and constitutional law, including comparative constitutional law. She is the author of The Slave Trade and the Origins of International Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2012) and numerous articles in leading academic journals. She teaches courses on constitutional law, civil procedure, international law, and international business transactions. She is a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a faculty affiliate of Stanford’s Center on International Security and Cooperation and Stanford’s Center on Democracy Development and the Rule of Law…”
Link to biography
Student reaches for stars while supporting family with personal business
“The stars aligned when Mariella Solano first got the idea of owning an astrology-themed jewelry business.
The second-year political science student launched her jewelry business, Soluna Jewelry Co., on Instagram last month to help pay for her college expenses and has already garnered over 100 sales. Although Solano loves jewelry, she said she mainly sees her business as a way to help her family.
“My parents are both undocumented. It’s hard for them to get jobs,” Solano said. “That leads into why I tried to become self-reliant, so they don’t have to worry about providing for me too.” ‘
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France A. Córdova
“…The Honorable France A. Córdova is an astrophysicist and the 14th director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Córdova was nominated to this position by the President of the United States in 2013 and subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate. NSF is a $8.1B independent federal agency; it is the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation, and STEM education…”
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Postelection survey headed by UCLA professors receives $1 million grant
“…Edward Vargas, another co-principal investigator and assistant professor in the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University, overlooks the Latin American population data in the CMPS. Vargas said he hopes to make academia more inclusive to first-generation scholars and scholars of color with the CMPS.
“I want to be a support and I want to help propel and uplift other folks who are coming, and to bring folks along to make academia more inclusive,” Vargas said…”
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Latino Californians have more trouble making ends meet
“…For three years, Kimberly Esquivel and her family lived in a studio apartment in Oakland, with Kimberly and her sister sleeping in the main room and her parents and two brothers in the hallway.
Esquivel’s father is legally blind and has a kidney condition that prevents him from working. Her mother sells jewelry, but it hasn’t provided enough money to improve their living situation. They can’t afford a car and food bills add up. Kimberly, 18, and her 20-year-old sister want to go to college, but they can’t do it until the family’s finances become more secure.
The Esquivels’ precarious situation is not unique. In California, more than 50 percent of Latino households are hard-pressed to make it financially, despite the state’s booming economy and strong labor market, according to a new report from Oakland’s Insight Center for Community Development…”
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SF State celebrates 50th anniversary of the College of Ethnic Studies
“…When student strikers began protesting at San Francisco State University in the late 1960s, they had a long list of demands. But their grievances could be summed up by one of their two-word mottos: “Relevant education!” They wanted a university that was more diverse, less Eurocentric and ready to prove that it valued people of color and their perspectives.
Fast forward to today, San Francisco State is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its College of Ethnic Studies (CoES), which was founded to provide the relevant education strikers demanded. To mark the occasion, the University will host the College of Ethnic Studies 50th Anniversary Commemoration Week, a series of events on campus from Oct. 7 through 12 honoring CoES and its legacy as the first college of its kind in the U.S.
Co-hosted by CoES, the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost, the events that week will include panel discussions with veterans from the strike, presentations from community leaders, exhibits, film screenings, performances and opportunities for intergenerational dialogue with the founders of the college. Most events are free, with tickets to a few evening festivities available for purchase…”
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Op-ed: Underrepresented students could benefit from improved approach to mentor programs
“…Everything changed when a developmental psychology doctoral student took me under her wing. I will never forget the day at UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, where I described my interests in being a therapist but also understanding the role of Latinx culture in youth mental health treatment. She remarked that a clinical psychology Ph.D. seemed like a good match and sensing my confusion, she differentiated it from medical school. In a 10-minute conversation, she helped me realize that medicine was not my passion. She pointed me to a career path that both fit my interests and fulfilled my mother’s hope for me to be a doctor – just not a medical one. This is my first memory of receiving meaningful, personalized mentorship…”
Link to oped
Helping undergrads across the finish line
“…A high school senior — whom I will call Juanita Gomez — recently graduated from Mission High, in San Francisco, with a 3.5 GPA and 550s on her verbal and math SATs. She’s the first in her family to go to college and she’s eligible for a federal Pell Grant, awarded to students from low-income families.
Juanita is choosing among three schools — San Francisco City College, San Francisco State and UC Riverside. Having done her homework, she knows what courses she can take and what each will cost. However, like almost all college applicants, she doesn’t realize that her choice may determine whether she earns a B.A.
At UC Riverside, where the typical undergraduate has an academic record like Juanita’s, 73% of the students graduate in six years, but if she picks San Francisco State, only about half…”
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Editorial: Diversity and support for minorities deserve more attention from university
“…Outreach efforts made in attempts to diversify campuses have clearly worked to an extent – the percentage of underrepresented minorities enrolled at the UC has increased by 11% in the past two decades.
However, a systemwide increase in underrepresented minority enrollment overlooks specific population statistics at every campus. Since Proposition 209’s passage, African American enrollment at UCLA has plummeted despite increased enrollment across the UC as a whole.
It seems as though the UC’s top schools are building even higher walls for admissions of some underrepresented communities. According to a 2016 report, a student said she feels standards for UC admissions have increased exponentially, thereby alienating most of the student population…”
Link to editorial
UNR Med students mentor next generation of bilingual health care providers
“…Growing up Mexican-American, Diana Padilla did not know any physicians who shared her cultural background.
Now entering her fourth year at the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine, Padilla and fellow UNR Med students and members of the Latino Medical Student Association are helping to bridge that gap by mentoring bilingual northern Nevada high school students exploring careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) health care.
“I’m a Mexican-American, first-generation college graduate and will be the first doctor in my family,” Padilla said. “Before medical school, I did not know a single Latino physician. I loved helping with this program because I wanted these kids to see that people who look like them do make it in this field and they can…”
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