Class Acts 2024
CLA faculty are using funding from the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion’s inaugural Cal Poly Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) High Impact Mini-Grant Program. Their work supports Cal Poly’s goal to become an HSI by 2026.
Jason (Jay) Peters and Valanci Villa
English Associate Professor Jason (Jay) Peters and Valanci Villa (M.A., English, ’23) are assessing Cal Poly’s First-Year Composition Program for anti-racist pedagogical approaches and identifying any potential inclusivity gaps. Their research will inform possible pedagogical enhancements and improve culturally relevant curricula, benefiting historically marginalized communities within the program, including the university’s Latinx/e community. Since receiving the grant, the project has partnered with another English Department project to revise the First-Year Composition Program’s curriculum in time for semester conversion scheduled for the fall of 2026. The evidence-based research from the HSI High Impact Mini-Grant will inform course design and teaching materials to revise the entire program curriculum.
Q: What inspired you to apply for this grant?
A: “This project stemmed from conversations Jay and I had about sense of belonging for the Latinx/e community at Cal Poly while I was a graduate student in the English Department. Both the HSI High Impact Mini-Grant and our research project were created to uplift the voices of Cal Poly’s students of color.” —Valanci Villa
Lily Rivas and Leslie Nelson
Lily Rivas (Communication Studies, ’24), advised by communication studies Associate Professor Leslie Nelson, created a podcast as part of her senior project. “Hasta La Raíz” explores intersectional identities and issues within the Latinx/e community, including the Latinx/e trans experience, colorism and machismo culture. The listening sessions premiered in the Latinx/e Center for Academic Success and Achievement, or La CASA, and the completed series is publicly available via Cal Poly Digital Commons. Read the research paper at bit.ly/3UAW7D0, and listen to the five-part podcast on Spotify (spoti.fi/3QMYkKC).
Q: What inspired you to apply for this grant?
A: “For my senior project, I knew I was going to record a podcast miniseries. However, soon into planning, I realized that the topics in my podcast needed to be discussed in Latinx spaces, as there are many deeply rooted issues that need to be brought to light.” —Lily Rivas
Christopher J. Woodruff, Music Department Director of Bands
Local professional mariachi ensemble Mariachi Voces Tapatías will present on the history and style of the musical genre of western Mexico during a multiday residency funded by the HSI mini-grant. The residency will include master classes sharing the techniques of playing in the styles of wind, brass and string instruments, culminating in a public performance by the group along with Cal Poly students who participate in the master classes and rehearsals.
Susana A. López, Psychology Assistant Professor and
Jay Bettergarcia, Psychology Associate Professor
During the 2023-24 school year, the two Latinx/e faculty members co-created Cal Poly’s first Latinx/e psychology course with Latinx/e psychology students Elias Sandoval, Cristian Reyes, Adriana Rodriguez and Citlali Luna Silva. In line with the Cal Poly HSI Task Force recommendations, the course provided an opportunity for university Latinx/e students to engage in “servingness” by cocreating decolonial and liberation approaches to psychology education. Servingness is a multidimensional and conceptual way to understand what it means to move from simply enrolling Latinx/e students to actually serving them. While Latinx/e student voices and experiences were centered during the course development, all students will benefit from Latinx/e-focused courses as the researchers and professors expand the curriculum to closely reflect the breadth and nuance of human experience and development in a diverse world.
Jay Bettergarcia, Psychology Associate Professor
The Queer and Trans Latinx/e Joy Project provides mixed-method research experiences for students who are Latinx/e, bilingual and/or LGBTQ+. While research about Latinx/e students’ experiences at HSIs has increased, little is known about the specific needs, experiences of belonging, resilience and joy of queer and transgender Latinx/e students. Psychology Associate Professor Jay Bettergarcia’s previous research studies involving Cal Poly Latinx/e, undocumented and LGBTQ+ student populations have focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in campus health and well-being and access to basic needs services; however, this project centers a strengths-based perspective exploring joy, resilience and thriving. The project results will help inform the development of programs and services for students living at these intersections, while supporting queer and trans Latinx/e students to develop as coresearchers.