Submitted by Heidi Schumacher
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Calzada
This spring, the College of Humanities is welcoming 10 student fellows into the HSI Pathways to the Professoriate program. These outstanding students will be mentored over the next 18 months in preparation for applying to Ph.D. programs in the humanities and related disciplines. Each student fellow plans to be a professor and aspires to help transform the landscape of the humanities. History major Elizabeth Calzada says , "This fellowship is a dream come true, and I'm immensely excited to start this life-changing experience with my peers."
While Latinos make up 20% of the U.S. population ages 18-44, they currently make up only 4.1% of the professoriate in the humanities. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $5.1 million grant to the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions in the belief that the country has a compelling interest in ensuring the participation of people of all backgrounds in the humanities. This grant will be used to establish a pipeline from CSUN and two additional Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) to doctoral programs. HSI is a Department of Education designation for universities with Hispanic student populations of 25% or more. With this pipeline in place, more Latina/a students will be able to attend doctoral programs with sights set on becoming professors.
As an HSI partner in the program CSUN will host a cohort of 10 student fellows annually, with a total of three cohorts funded by the grant. Each will receive mentoring , preparation for the GRE test (used in determining graduate admissions), and financial assistance with graduate school application fees; will attend a six-week summer seminar to prepare for graduate school success; and will be connected with students and faculty at the other participating HSI campuses. They will also connect with faculty at the five graduate schools associated with the program: University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Davis; New York University; Northwestern University; and the University of Pennsylvania.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Hernandez
After an extensive application and interview process, the first 10 HSI Pathways/Mellon Student Fellows was selected. The cohort is made up of CSUN juniors from a variety of majors (Anthropology, Chicana/a Studies, Deaf Studies, English, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Theatre) and minors (Anthropology, Geography, Queer Studies, and Urban Studies & Planning). Elizabeth Hernandez, who plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Theatre or Performance Studies, says, "I am incredibly excited to begin this journey and see where a Ph.D. in Theatre Arts will lead me. I am deeply honored to be a part of such an amazing program and cannot express my gratitude enough for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Each student will work with a faculty mentor: Linda Alvarez (Central American Studies), Xochitl Alvizo (Religious Studies), Moshoula Capous Desyllas (Sociology), Xochitl Flores-Marcial (Chicana/a Studies), Melisa Galvan (Chicana/a Studies), Frances Gateward (Cinema and Television Arts), Santosh Khadka (English), David Medeiros (Linguistics), John Paul Nuno (History), and Mario Ontiveros (Art). "This is an amazing opportunity for our students," says mentor Melisa Galvan. "We are all very excited to be getting things off the ground. Having taken part in the interview process, it was extremely gratifying to have the chance to engage with such motivated and ambitious CSUN students. I for one feel extremely fortunate for the opportunity to help in some way see these students' dreams to fruition."