Recent News
Dr. Pulitano Led Global Program in Palermo Featured by International Center
Nov 16, 2023
Building inclusive study abroad opportunities in a multiethnic community in Palermo, Italy
Students in Palermo, Italy, summer 2023
Cal Poly's International Center recently featured a profile on Dr. Elvira Pulitano's, ES Faculty member, Global Program in Palermo, Sicily that took place in the Summer of 2023.
Listed below is the included content by Elvira Pulitano featured in the original article.
This past summer Dr. Pulitano led twenty-two Cal Poly students in a Global Program in Palermo, Sicily’s capital. While technically part of Italy, the city of Palermo has always been considered the heart of the Mediterranean with its rich, multicultural history spanning millennia. Today the city is at the center of ongoing debates surrounding migration and border-crossing in Europe as it is considered the capital of rights, welcoming, tolerance, and culture. Besides daily visits to the city’s major historical, cultural and artistic sites, students had the opportunity to experience first-hand Palermo’s multicultural and multi-ethnic character. The program included a two-day cycle of activities with Moltivolti and Giochereda, two Palermo-based cultural associations run by young migrants and refugees from several African countries. These experiences offered a great lesson in storytelling, decolonial thinking, and collective learning. The program also included three excursions around Sicily, to the towns of Erice, Cefalú, and Agrigento, to visit local UNESCO Heritage sites.
Inspired by the success of Cal Poly’s Global Program in Sicily, Dr. Pulitano has submitted a proposal for the 2023-2024 BEACoN Mentorship program. Through this endeavor, Dr. Pulitano hopes to produce a study that contributes to the current debates about decolonizing international education and suggesting alternatives to education abroad programming and pedagogies. A study of this caliber will support efforts that lead to more inclusive and sustainable international study abroad programs. The proposed BEACoN project will hire one research scholar among the students who participated in the Cal Poly Global Program. The selected scholar will conduct research and collaborate with Dr. Pulitano on a co-authored journal article.
In 2024-25, Dr. Pulitano will serve in the role of director in the CSU IP Program in Florence, Italy. With expertise in international education and experiential knowledge about her native country, she hopes to make studying in Italy an inspiring and enriching experience for all our CSU students.
Be sure to check out our info sessions during International Education week where you can learn more about our Global Programs, faculty and student opportunities.
Cal Poly International Center Highlights, Original Article
Native American Heritage Month Keynote Speaker Deborah Miranda
Nov 9, 2023
ES Faculty Member Damien Montaño with Author, Poet Deborah Miranda
ES faculty member Damien Montaño with Native author, poet, and professor, Deborah Miranda, November 2023
November is Native American Heritage Month, a time that we collectively, as a nation, and as a campus, celebrate the myriad of histories, cultures, and contributions of Indigenous Peoples.
Deborah Miranda is the Native American Heritage Month Keynote Speaker who presented on November 7th in the Chumash Auditorium.
Deborah Miranda is most known for the mixed-genre book Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir. Seen in her memoir, topics of her ancestry, gender, the natural world, and powering through trauma and violence are prominent features in her writing. Miranda is an enrolled member of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation of the Greater Monterey Bay area while holding Santa Ynez Chumash Ancestry.
You can find out more about Deborah's work on her website, here.
At Cal Poly, we acknowledge that the land on which our university sits carries the heritage of the Indigenous People of San Luis Obispo County and Region, the yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe.
Ethnic Studies Faculty and Students enjoy an evening with William Nu'utupu Giles
Nov 9, 2023
ES Faculty and Students enjoy a talk/slam poetry performance by William Nu'utupu Giles on October 26th
William Giles with Ethnic Studies faculty and students, October 2023
The Ethnic Studies department Fall 2023 guest speaker was award-winning poet William Nu'utupu Giles, who presented a talk/slam poetry performance on October 26th in the ATL building. William is an afakasi Samoan writer, arts educator, and slam poetry award winner from Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Giles is an International Poetry Slam champion and a Kundiman fellow. Kundiman is a national organization that nurtures writers and readers of Asian American literature. Giles’ poems explore mental health issues emerging from modern colonization, the diaspora and the waters that connect people. Their work has been featured by HBO (in the documentary Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices), the National Parks Service, Bustle, LitHub, Button Poetry, and NBC News. Giles has spent the past years organizing poetry spaces with Youth Speaks Hawai’i, a creative organization that serves youth and uses spoken word poetry to teach empowerment through storytelling.
You can find out more about William Nu'utupu Giles' performances, awards, and work on their website, here.
Registration for African American Studies for K-12 Educators is now open!
May 10, 2023
Next Course for K-12 Educator is OPEN FOR REGISTRATION!!!
ES S470 "African American Studies for K-12 Educators," taught by Dr. Dan Castilow, is part of a 4-part series of accredited courses in Comparative Ethnic Studies at Cal Poly, geared toward K-12 educators. Class will be capped at 18.
Registration link is here.
For more information, please contact Dr. Grace Yeh, gyeh@calpoly.edu.
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:
