Social Sciences

Leisy Abrego

Education: B.A., Pomona College, Spanish; M.A., University of California, Los Angeles, Sociology; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Sociology

Dissertation: Barely Subsisting, Surviving, or Thriving: How Parents' Legal Status and Gender Shape the Economic and Emotional Well-Being of Salvadoran Transnational Families

Thesis Advisors: Rebecca Jean Emigh, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles and Vilma Ortiz, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Topic: Effects of Parents' Legal Status on Children Growing Up in Mixed-Status Families in the U.S.

Mentor: Leo Chavez, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, UC Los Angeles

Chelsea Blackmore

Education: B.A., Georgia Southern University, Anthropology; M.A., Florida State University, Anthropology; Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, Anthropology

Dissertation: Challenging “Commoner”: An Archaeological Examination of Social Identity and Class Formation at the Northeast Group, Chan, Belize

Thesis Advisor: Wendy Ashmore, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside

Research Topic: “Queerying” Ancient Maya Archeology: The Application of Critical Social Theory to Class and Identity Formation

Mentor: Rosemary Joyce, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Marne Campbell

Education: B.A., University of California, Los Angeles , History & Afro-American Studies; M.A., University of California, Los Angeles, Afro-American Studies; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, History

Dissertation: Heaven's Ghetto?: African Americans and Race in Los Angeles, 1870s-1910

Thesis Advisor: Brenda E. Stevenson, Professor of History and Afro-American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Topic: Heaven's Ghetto: Race, Class, and Revival in Turn of the Century Los Angeles

Mentors: Vincent Franklin, Distinguished Professor of History and Education, University of California, Riverside and Brenda Stevenson, Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles

Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of History, UC Los Angeles

Sylvanna M. Falcón

Education: B.S., Santa Clara University, Marketing; M.A., University of New Mexico, Sociology; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, Sociology, Women's Studies doctoral emphasis

Dissertation: ‘Where are the Women?’ Transnational Feminist Interventions at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism

Thesis Advisors: Avery F. Gordon, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara; Denise Segura, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Topic: The Role of the United Nations Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination on Anti-Racism Efforts in the United States

Mentor: Piya Chatterjee, Professor of Women's Studies, University of California, Riverside

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Latin American & Latino Studies, UC Santa Cruz

Elisabeth Middleton

Education: B.A., University of California, Davis, Nature and Culture; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management: Division of Society and Environment

Dissertation: “We Were Here, We Are Here, We Will Always Be Here”: A Political Ecology of Healing in Mountain Maidu Country

Thesis Advisor: Louise Fortmann, Professor of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley

Research Topic: “Spaces of Representation and Resistance: Mapping Maidu Land Divestiture and the Characteristics of Maidu Activism” (the parallels between hydroelectric development and setting aside lands for conservation in terms of their affects on Maidu land ownership and Maidu activism for the lands)

Mentor: Ben Orlove, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Native American Studies, University of California, Davis

Althea Scott Nixon

Education: B.A., Harvard University, Psychology; M.S., University of Pennsylvania, Education; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, Education

Dissertation: From their own Voices: Understanding Youth Identity and Literacy Practices through Digital Storytelling

Thesis Advisor: Kris D. Gutierrez, Professor of Education & Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Topic: Understanding Technology Adoption at the Community Level: Youth Engagement with Digital Media in Urban Community Technology Centers

Mentor: Michael Cole, University Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Human Development, University of California, San Diego

Current Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Education, USC

Lilia Soto

Education: B.A., University of California, San Diego, Ethnic Studies/Latin American Studies; M.A., University of California, Berkeley, Ethnic Studies; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Ethnic Studies

Dissertation: Migration as a Matter of Time: Perspectives from Mexican Immigrant Adolescent Girls in California's Napa Valley

Thesis Advisors: Patricia Penn Hilden, Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley and George Lipsitz, Professor of Sociology and Black Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Topic: Shifting Identities of Mexican Immigrant Adolescent Girls, Time and Migration, Mexican Immigrants and Chicana/o Identities

Mentor: Abel Valenzuela, Jr., Professor of Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of American Studies and Chicano Studies, University of Wyoming