JULIE A. DOWLING [Assistant Professor, Latina/Latino Studies] received two awards for her article, “Black and Hispanic: The Racial Identification of Afro-Cuban Immigrants in the Southwest" (co-authored with Alison Newby), published in 2007 in Sociological Perspectives (vol. 50, issue 3, 343-366). The article received Honorable Mention for the 2009 "Distinguished Contribution to Sociological Perspectives Award" from the Pacific Sociological Association and the Distinguished Contribution to Research Award for Best Article from the Latino/a Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. The latter award recognizes the best article published in the last 3 years in the field of Latino/a Sociology.
Alejandro Lugo receiving the inaugural 2009 Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award from Interim Provost and Chancellor Robert Easter, November 2009
ALEJANDRO LUGO [Associate Department Head and Director of Graduate Studies of Anthropology and Associate Professor, Anthropology and Latina/Latino Studies] received a 2008 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association as well as a 2009 ALLA Book Award from the American Anthropological Association for his 2008 book, Fragmented Lives, Assembled Parts: Culture, Capitalism, and Conquest at the U.S.-Mexico Border (University of Texas Press). Recently, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago selected for its Permanent Collection two of Professor Lugo's photographs from his photo series, "Cruces: Crossings and Crosses." Lugo also received an inaugural "2009 Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award", a campus-wide award given by the UIUC Office of Equal Opportunity and Access to those "who demonstrate exceptional dedication to and success in promoting diversity and inclusivity through teaching, research, hiring practices, courses, programs, and event."
ISABEL MOLINA [Associate Professor, Institute of Communications Research and Latina/Latino Studies] was a fellow in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation Academic Leadership Program. In the fall of 2008, she provided the keynote address at the National McNair Scholar's Conference and published the following articles and book chapters: “Elián as Discursive Template: Mediating Family and the State in Multiple Spheres of Conflict.” International Journal of Children and the Media, 2:3, 251-266; “Policing the Latina/o Other: Latinidad in Prime Time News Coverage of the Elián González Story.” In A. Valdivia (Ed.) Latino Communication Studies Today. Peter Lang, pp. 115-136; “Mapping the Academic Terrain of US Latinas/os in the General-market and Latina/o Media.” In H. Rodriguez, R. Saenz and C. Menjivar (Eds.) The Experiences of Latinas/os in the United States. New York: Springer Press, pp. 199-209; “Rescuing Elián: Gendering the Racialized Discourse of Latina/o Children’s Immigration in the US News Media.” In R. Buff (Ed.) Children and immigration Reader. New York University Press, pp. 179-189.
Dr. Richard T. Rodriguez receives the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Academic Advising award, April 2009
RICHARD T. RODRIGUEZ [Associate Professor, English and Latina/Latino Studies] published his book, Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics, in the Latin American Otherwise series with Duke University Press. He is the recipient of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 2008-09 Academic Advising Award and during the 2009-10 academic year he is an Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH) faculty fellow. Professor Rodriguez was also elected to the Modern Language Association Delegate Assembly as an Ethnic Studies special-interest delegate (2009-11) and to the Modern Language Association Division on Ethnic Studies in Language and Literature Executive Committee (2009-13). During the academic year he delivered talks at Cornell University, Indiana University, UC Riverside, and at the Modern Language Association convention in San Francisco.
EDNA VIRUELL-FUENTES [Assistant Professor, Latina/Latino Studies] received a Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society fellowship for the 2009-2010 academic year. She also has an upcoming article in the American Journal of Public Health: Viruell-Fuentes, E. A., & Schulz, A. J. (2009). “Toward a Dynamic Conceptualization of Social Ties and Context: Implications for Understanding Immigrant and Latino Health,” December 2009, volume 99, issue #12.