Empowering Master’s Students to Accomplish Their Ph.D. Goals
Lorena Camargo Gonzalez and Dolores Lopez, both students in the Social and Cultural Analysis of Education (SCAE) Master’s Program have been awarded the highly coveted Sally Casanova award. The award serves as a pathway into Ph.D. degree programs for students who have experienced economic and/or educational obstacles. Lorena and Dolores credit Professor Dr. Lindsay Pérez Huber as key to their success in the SCAE program and their awards. Like their professor, both students are passionate about the empowerment of those who are disenfranchised within the educational system, which is reflected in their research interests and future doctoral plans.
Lorena Camargo Gonzalez immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was one year old and grew up California’s Central Valley. As a first-generation college student and immigrant, Lorena experienced the difficulties of adapting to American educational institutions. Her involvement with migrant education programs started in elementary school and continued through college, where she participated in the College Assistant Migrant Program (CAMP) and Educational Opportunity Program (EOP).
Lorena credits her passion for pursuing higher education to a visit to California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) for a migrant education conference, where she learned about a book authored by Francisco Javier, who had faced challenges such as deportation and went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. at Columbia University. Lorena felt connected to Javier’s experiences: “I found the commonalities in the experiences written, alongside those of my family, and became further inspired to persist in fulfilling my dreams.” Lorena completed her undergraduate degree at CSUS with a major in Ethnic Studies and a concentration in Chicana/o Studies.
She then decided to pursue a master’s degree in the SCAE program. She explains that “My graduate experience at CSULB has been by far the most life changing experience, personally and academically. The support and training I have received from SCAE had solidified my decision to continue the next step in my educational career, a Ph.D. Through mentorship relations I have created with faculty such as Dr. Pérez Huber, I have accomplished academic goals I never thought I would. Her dedication to serving students is one of the many admirable traits any professor can have. As a Latina professor, and someone I can identify with, she inspires and motivates me to strive for excellence.” The Sally Casanova program provides an avenue to explore Ph.D. programs with Dr. Pérez Huber’s guidance.
Through her research on Latinas pursuing advanced degrees, Lorena aims to contribute to the limited empirical data on Latinas in doctoral programs and to inform higher education institutions of strategies to recruit and retain Latinas at the doctorate level. She has presented preliminary findings at the Critical Race Studies in Education Association (CRSEA) and California Educational Research Association (CERA) and notes that she hopes “to continue my research interests of Latinas/os access to higher education, Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Education; and racial microaggressions at the doctoral level and affect instrumental change.” Lorena aspires to become a faculty member at a college or university and aims to support a diverse population in pursuing their higher education goals.
Dolores Lopez is also a first-generation student who faced institutional barriers in school when she was young. It was her 9th grade History teacher Mrs. Mairs who empowered her to pursue higher education through tutoring and literacy enrichment. Mrs. Mairs’ guidance allowed Dolores to see her own potential to succeed in school and reach higher: “For the first time, I distinguished myself as being a strong Latina with the potential of pursuing a post-secondary degree and engaging upon a profession of interest.” Mrs. Mairs’ tutoring and teaching gave fruit to Dolores’ urge to positively impact learning amongst students from similar backgrounds.
Through the SCAE program, Dolores has had the opportunity to take classes focusing on social justice that connect to her daily work. In her professional role as a teacher at Orange County Educational Arts Academy (OCEEA), a dual-language charter school in Santa Ana, she implements bell hooks’ (1994) ‘Engaged Pedagogy’ ideals to empower her students by connecting their lived experiences to the classroom. She explains that “this process has become an important element in the success of those I empower because we have been able to create counter spaces for topics related to race and class often ignored as a result of a Eurocentric agenda that has, and continues to, drive much of our nation’s notion of an ‘ideal’ education system.”
Dolores’ research focuses on analyzing how K-6 Latina/o students navigate systems of oppression within urban schooling. Her most recent study explores how Latina/o youth experience and respond to racial microaggressions, which are subtle, daily racist statements and actions. “Through this study, I aim at adding to the literature on the experiences of Latina/o students by filling gaps in research that often neglect and omit how primary students navigate and dialogue about racism.”
Like Lorena, Dolores intends to obtain a Ph.D. degree. Through the guidance of Dr. Pérez Huber and the financial support from the Sally Casanova program, Dolores has been able to explore institutions and meet with distinguished scholars whose research interests correlate to hers. Dolores notes that she is “very fortunate to be receiving guidance from [Dr. Pérez Huber] these last three years, considering the work she also engages upon within Latina/o communities. Ultimately, her dedication in the field has encouraged me to continue with my own objectives in becoming an advocate of social change for students in urban schooling at the primarily level.”
Dr. Pérez Huber has mentored both students in their doctoral education pursuits, showing them what steps to take in order to become competitive candidates for doctoral degrees related to their respective research and professional interests. The Sally Casanova program has provided a vehicle for these pre-doctoral activities. For Dr. Pérez Huber, providing support to students is very important and personal. As a first- generation student herself, she had mentors along the way who helped her reach her academic goals. She is passionate about paying it forward by helping her students pursue their passions in higher education. Lorena and Dolores plan to continue this same integral mentorship for the students whom they serve.
