Recent News
Asian American Studies for K-12 Educators
Mar 6, 2023
Coming Spring 2023-NEW Course OPEN FOR REGISTRATION!!!
This special course is part of a 4-part series of accredited courses in Comparative Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly, geared toward K-12 educators. The program includes 3 other 4-unit ES courses (on African American Studies, Native American Studies, and Latinx Studies). Class will be capped at 18.
The next course in the series is planned for Summer 2023.
For more information, please contact Dr. Grace Yeh, gyeh@calpoly.edu.
Art Exhibition: Celebrating "Indigenous and Black Futurity"
Mar 25, 2021
Jenell Navarro, Baby Yoda on the Slipstream (2020)
This winter 2021, Dr. Jenell Navarro taught "Indigenous and Black Futurity" as a ES 470 special topics course in which students engaged in an aesthetic project bringing together their imaginations, skillsets, and artistry into beautiful art pieces for, towards, and of the futurities.
Sheryl Flores very beautifully curated these pieces into a virtual art exhibition that can be accessed through the following link:
https://www.artsteps.com/embed/602f76215f045a36f9a44122/560/315
Ethnic Studies Faculty Win CLA Faculty and Staff Awards!
Dec 16, 2020
Congratulations to Dr. Jenell Navarro and Dr. Grace Yeh for winning CLA Faculty and Staff Awards of 2020 as follows:
Early Career Award for Achievement in Scholarship: Jenell Navarro (Ethnic Studies)
Early Career Award for Achievement in Service: Jenell Navarro (Ethnic Studies)
Diversity Award: Grace Yeh (Communication Studies and Ethnic Studies)
Comparative Ethnic Studies Student Association (CESSA) Fall 2020 Schedule
Oct 22, 2020
Comparative Ethnic Studies Student Association (CESSA) is a student-created, student-led community for Ethnic Studies students and comrades. CESSA meets every Friday 12-1 PM virtually through Zoom (ID: 97295542785). Pictured below is the plan for the quarter of fall 2020.
Student Processing Space Hosted by SDAB
Oct 22, 2020
Student Diversity and Belonging is hosting a space for students to check in, process, and be in community. We recognize the difficulty and trauma of navigating both a racial and viral pandemic, and the importance of naming the violence and racism enacted by systems of power—in particular, our law enforcement and criminal justice system. These systems affect our entire campus community, but particularly harm our Black Indigenous People of Color. With an institutional commitment to creating spaces for student healing, processing, and community-building, our collective coalition of cultural centers offer our support and resources to our Cal Poly community. We reaffirm and uphold our values of Radical Hospitality & Inclusion, Inclusive Excellence, Transformative Education, Advocacy, Diversity, Activism, and Innovation to co-create a campus and central coast community where students feel like they belong.
Ethnic Studies Virtual Spaces
May 20, 2020
As a department, we understand this is a very uncertain, and confusing time for many. We want to be able to address your needs and concerns, and most importantly, continue our spirit of community and care during this difficult time. Social distancing should not mean social isolation!
We have three zoom virtual spaces that will be running:
Ethnic Studies Virtual Office: https://calpoly.zoom.us/j/782104361
The Ethnic Studies Virtual Office will run Monday through Friday, from 8:00 AM-12:00 PM, and again from 1:00 PM-5:00 PM. Mei Emerald and/or Sara will be available in that space during these times to answer your questions and provide assistance with department related matters. When you first sign in, please speak up so we know you are there! We both have our camera’s covered when not in use, but are here, and will hear you. If for some reason either of us needs to step away, we will update the chat panel with when we will return.
Ethnic Studies Virtual Lobby: https://calpoly.zoom.us/j/542097530
While our physical Ethnic Studies Office space is a place for community members to just hang out and connect; we have quickly discovered that the Ethnic Studies Virtual Office is not an appropriate place for this. With this in mind, we have set up the Ethnic Studies Virtual Lobby. If you are looking to socialize with other members of the ES Community, this is the space for that! (If you need to connect, and there isn’t anyone in this space, you are still welcome to hop over to the Ethnic Studies Virtual Office-we are here for you!)
Ethnic Studies Lunch Hour: https://calpoly.zoom.us/j/912789514
The Ethnic Studies Lunch Hour is a weekly time for the department to come together over a meal to check-in. Each week has its own theme that will be updated here:
Rebeca Almeida to Receive Academic Excellence Award
May 14, 2020
Rebeca Almeida (she/her/hers), a Comparative Ethnic Studies Major/Public Health double major and Women & Gender Studies minor, has been selected by the College of Liberal Arts to receive the Academic Excellence Award. This award reflects her extraordinary “level of intellect, drive, hunger for learning, and passion for social justice” said Dr. Denise Isom, the Ethnic Studies Chair.
Initially when Rebecca came to Cal Poly she was a Biology major, later she switched into Ethnic Studies, which Rebeca believes truly “changed her life”. Eventually, she added a Public Health major, allowing her to delve deeper into the intersections of public health and Ethnic Studies. Passionate and driven, Rebeca ended her sophomore year by successfully obtaining an internship with the Institute of Collective Health in Brazil (similar to the CDC) where she studied the intersections of obstetric health and racism for Afro-Brazilian womxn. This was just the beginning of a stream of accomplishments. Shortly after her internship, she was invited to serve as a research analyst at UCSF doing a project on breast cancer. Then, not long after she was selected as a BEACoN Research scholar to work with multiple faculty members in Kinesiology/Public Health department.
Within the academic year of 2019-2020, Rebeca has co-authored seven academic peer-reviewed journal articles (three of which she is the first author) and has presented at eight academic Public Health conferences. Dr. Isom stated in her nomination to the college that “her [Rebecca’s] productivity rivals that of a faculty member, and she is just getting started.”
Rebeca’s work is not only limited to research, journals and conferences. She currently serves as the president of the Public Health club, is as a student representative for the Public Health and Ethnic Studies departments, in addition to working on an app to help Brazilians (in Brazil and the U.S.) who have low to no health literacy and volunteering in the community--all of which she has managed to accomplish while maintaining above a 3.9 GPA.
Our department is very proud of Rebeca for all that she has achieved, and the ways in which she has thoughtfully come about those achievements. Upon receiving the award, Rebeca stated “I could not have asked for a better college experience: Ethnic Studies was all I wanted, needed, and more. I know the relationships I created in this department will last for a lifetime, and I am extremely proud to soon be an Ethnic Studies alumna.”
We believe that for Rebeca, this is just the start, even the sky is too little of a limit!
Some of Rebeca’s work is highlighted below:
Almeida, R., Alvarez, S., Whaley, S., & Ventura, A.K. (2019). A Qualitative Study of Breastfeeding and Formula-feeding Mothers' Perceptions of and Experiences in the WIC Program. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
Almeida, R., Fang, C. Y., Byrne, C. & Tseng, M. (Under Review). Mammographic Breast Density and Acculturation: Longitudinal Analysis in Chinese Immigrants.
Almeida, R., Lopez-Macha, A., Dugatkin, T., Duron, Y., & Fejerman, L. (Under Review). Community Research Collaboration to develop a Promotor-based hereditary breast cancer education program for Spanish-speaking Latinos.
Alber, J.M., Cohen, C., Bleakley, A., Ghazvini, S., Tolentino, B., Almeida, R., & Chance, B.L. (March 2019). Comparing the effects of different hepatitis B storytelling videos among a sample of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Poster presented at the Society for Public Health Education Conference, UT.
Take Me To Your Leader
May 3, 2018
Take Me To Your Leader Flyer PDF
One of the nation’s foremost Americanists, John Carlos Rowe, will present “Take Me To Your Leader” Sarah Winnemucca’s Transnational Authority in Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims. This is a talk on his forthcoming book, The Ends of Transnationalism and Nineteenth-Century US Cultural Imperialism.
This event is free and open to the public.
When: Thursday, May 17, 2018; 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: University Union, Room 220
Further Info: jnavar17@calpoly.edu
Sponsored by the Ethnic Studies Department, in conjunction with the CLA Lottery Fund.
Bey Day 2018
May 3, 2018
This one-day event is a showcase of academic panels and performance work around the politics of Beyoncé’s musical and visual cannon. The event includes student presentations, dance performances, and spoke word poetry. There will also be opportunities to make art and view an altar that is dedicated to Women of Color that have lost their lives due to police violence. Please join us.
This event is free and open to the public.
When: Thursday, May 31, 2018; 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Where: University Union, Room 220
Further Info: jnavar18@calpoly.edu
Sponsored by Ethnic Studies and the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion [OUDI].
Don't Believe the Hype
Feb 15, 2018
Check out the Mustang News Article on this exciting upcoming project with Dr. Jenell Navarro:
Don’t Believe The Hype: The unique elements of the hip-hop library exhibit
