Gustavo Arellano, a popular Mexican-American humorist, will don a cap, gown and serape-style sash, and deliver some laughs – as well as impart a few nuggets of wisdom – as keynote speaker for the fall 2013 Hispanic Convocation at Arizona State University.

The ASU Office of Public Affairs is inviting the media and members of the public to attend the ceremony at 11:30 a.m., Dec. 18, at ASU Gammage, 1151 S. Forest Ave., Tempe. Download Full Image

“This convocation is especially significant because it celebrates academic achievements in a festive, cultural environment shared with family and friends,” said Rhonda Carrillo, assistant director in the Office of Community Relations.

Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, an alternative newspaper in Orange County, Calif., a best-selling author and a lecturer with the Chicana and Chicano Studies department at California State University, Fullerton. He writes “¡Ask a Mexican!,” a nationally syndicated column that has a weekly circulation of more than two million people in 39 states, and has won several awards for his column about America’s largest minority.

"I'm honored to speak at ASU, even though they thrashed my UCLA Bruins in football recently,” Arellano said. “No college rivalry will ever get in the way of me being able to celebrate the graduation of Latinos from college and reminding them this is the first step in a long march toward success."

Arellano will be sharing the spotlight with two exceptional ASU students:

• Yonathan Vivas, a double business major in the W.P. Carey School of Business, will be honored with the 2013 Jose Ronstadt Undergraduate Award.

• Natali Segovia, a Juris Doctor in the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, will accept this year’s Ed Pastor Outstanding Graduate Award.

The Hispanic Convocation is a tradition established by ASU Hispanic students in 1984 that celebrates the accomplishments of ASU’s Hispanic graduates. This year’s event will include approximately 110 graduates.

ASU enrolled just over 76,000 students across its four campuses at the beginning of the fall 2013 semester. Of that total, more than 13,892 were Hispanic undergraduate and graduate students. Their academic achievements are supported by more than 1,300 Hispanic faculty and staff at the university.

For more information about ASU’s Hispanic Convocation, visit http://outreach.asu.edu

Arizona State University now ranks third among 346 U.S. higher education institutions hosting Brazilian students as part of the Brazilian Scientific Mobility Program Scholarship, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE), one of the world’s largest international education and training nonprofit organizations.

IIE also named ASU’s American English and Culture Program (AECP) the nation’s top English as a Second Language training program where the students can improve their English language skills before enrolling in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses, as part of the BSMP scholarship award. Download Full Image

Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff launched the yearlong international scholarship program in 2011 to boost scientific research, invest in and promote educational resources within Brazil and outside of the country, encourage international collaboration in STEM fields, and engage students in a global conversation through international education. The first group of students arrived in the United States in January 2012.

ASU has hosted 100 Brazilian students as part of the scholarship program thus far. In addition to BSMP, IIE administers some of the nation’s most prestigious scholarly awards, including the flagship Fulbright Program and Gilman Scholarships administered for the U.S. Department of State.

“We are delighted that ASU ranks third and that ASU’s American English and Culture Program is the top-ranked English as a Second Language program among U.S. universities hosting Brazilian Scientific Mobility Program students,” said Julia Rosen, associate vice provost and head of ASU’s Brazilian initiatives. “We attribute this growth to making the students and their needs our primary focus. ASU is a world-renowned school located in an affordable, vibrant metro region."

As of fall 2013, ASU has 23 Brazilian students enrolled in STEM majors – engineering being the most popular, followed by biology. Another 59 students are enrolled in an Intensive English Program at AECP to hone their language skills before beginning the 12-month academic period. Last year, 21 students participated in the science scholarship program.

“As part of the scholarship program, the students are also encouraged to engage in meaningful internships in their field of study,” said Kent Hopkins, vice provost of enrollment management at ASU. “Last year, our BSMP students trained at renowned organizations, including the Boeing Company, GE Transportation, Fender Music Foundation and various academic departments at ASU. In addition to their academic pursuits, the students can choose to participate in over 1,000 student organizations to enhance their campus experience.”

According to Hopkins, a focus group conducted with BSMP participants last year revealed that the students enjoyed their stay at ASU, and were surprised and delighted by the educational community’s friendliness and inclusiveness. He said the university also feels the advantages of hosting the students.

“Our Brazilian exchange students are smart and hard-working, and the perfect addition to our already diverse community,” Hopkins said. “We envision a culturally-rich environment for ASU and we continue to diversify the country composition of incoming international students over the next few years. Our Brazilian community is contributing to that diversification.”

Institutions of higher education in Brazil nominate their undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students for the Brazilian Science Mobility Program, who are then placed in various U.S. universities by IIE after a thorough review process. The scholarship winners earn academic credits at U.S. institutions toward their Brazilian degree.

“I have been at ASU for only six months on the BSMP scholarship and thus far, the experience has been amazing,” says João Paulo Faria Tasso, a University of Brasília doctoral student studying sustainable tourism at ASU’s School of Community Resources and Development. “I am benefitting from my time spent here interacting with the excellent faculty and my peers. That, coupled with the resources available for international students like me, makes me feel at home.”

Hopkins says the scholarship program opens doors for mutually beneficial partnerships for the future.

“Studying at ASU gives the visiting Brazilian students a multicultural experience and shapes them as global leaders who will continue to make a positive impact,” Hopkins said. “In return, the program increases visibility for the university and the state of Arizona, and enhances the number of opportunities to develop research and innovation partnerships with Brazilian public and private institutions.”

Adiba Jurayeva, a third-year law student at Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, recently was awarded the Michael D. Ryan Diversity Scholarship at the 2013 Maricopa County Bar Annual Meeting and Hall of Fame Induction.

Jurayeva, who was born and raised in the Republic of Tajikistan, completed her first two years of college in her homeland, where she received the highest possible score on the national entrance exam and was granted a full-ride scholarship to the highest-ranked university in the country.  Download Full Image

Due to her outstanding performance, she was able to transfer to Chatham University in Pittsburgh, where she was awarded the Presidential Scholarship and completed her bachelor's degree.

When Jurayeva moved to Phoenix with her husband and son, she began studying law at the Phoenix School of Law, where she was ranked in the top 10 percent of her class before transferring to ASU for her second year.

During her time at the College of Law, Jurayeva’s performance in extra-curricular activities included winning first place at ASU's premier moot court event for individual students.

As much as the American Indian narrative is about tragedy, it is equally a story of strength and resilience.

“Indian Resilience and Rebuilding: Indigenous Nations in the Modern American West,” by ASU Distinguished Professor of History Donald Fixico (Shawnee, Sac & Fox, Muscogee Creek and Seminole) examines this phenomenon in his latest book, published by the University of Arizona Press. Download Full Image

Looking at Indian life through struggles faced when reservations were established, through boarding school education and the move to bring American Indians into cities, among other events, brings the reader through experiences that were oftentimes traumatic, but also offered opportunities through adversity.

“The boarding schools were something so negative,” Fixico said. “As Indians overcame tyranny, they overcame the most negative part of this experience and made it a positive as they saw the value in education.”

It’s a pattern that has continued as American Indians have extrapolated tools from their experiences that have enabled rebuilding. Inspiration for Fixico’s 13th book stems from an experience where he watched an armored truck drive away from a casino on the Gila Indian Reservation. He was struck by the irony of the situation that was reversed 100 years ago when a government wagon would have been bringing in treaty-promised supplies to help Native people.

“The book is really about that turnaround,” he said.

It’s a dramatic shift from the late 1800s when there were only 237,000 Indians in the United States compared to the 5 million that lived there before European settlement began.

“That’s almost ethnic genocide,” Fixico said. “There were 1,600 wars and skirmishes that decimated the Indian population.”  

From those dark days, rebuilding is examined through the eras of activism, natural resource development, Indian gaming, sacred land return and repatriation.  

“Native people have reinvented themselves. They take the tools that have been used to repress them and utilize mainstream capitalism and education while retaining the old ways,” he said.

Seminal turning points in American Indian history include activism that took off during the 1960s and 70s in the era of Vietnam protests, when Indians began calling for recognition of treaty rights, among other issues.

“It was a very pivotal historical moment. Native people became more proactive rather than reactive,” Fixico said.

Among politicians who worked for change for American Indians during the era was President Richard Nixon, whose administration laid the foundation for Indian self determination where American Indians began to decide their own destinies.

“He listened to American Indian concerns. Nixon came from a poor background. He may have very well have identified with Indian people,” Fixico said. President Jimmy Carter was also instrumental with the passage of the Indian Religious Freedom Act and the Indian Child Welfare Act, both of 1978, during his administration.

Repatriation and sacred land return is another important issue that is addressed as a question of morality. “While people respect their own cemeteries and cultural artifacts, Indian graveyards and artifacts have been grossly desecrated,” Fixico writes. 

“Native people don’t want to be disconnected from their past and families. When people take artifacts and human remains, it means disconnecting those individuals who pass away from their people and their community. To take them out of their circle means that you are being severed and you are being exiled. That is the worst thing for Indian people,” he said.

Natural resources development and Indian gaming have provided economic gain for many tribal nations in recent years. Indian gaming was initially started by the Seminoles in 1979.

“Indian gaming exploded in the 80s,” he said. “It’s the rise of Indian entrepreneurship.”

Ultimately the book is indicative of the cover photo of a man and boy walking on a dirt road toward the horizon and symbolically entering the future of Indian nations. Tools that they’re using include education, cultural navigation, indigenous leadership and an indigenous economy.

“We don’t know what the future holds. It’s coming from a very colonized past. The journey is about optimism, but it has been a very long road at the same time,” Fixico said. “If you have resilience, you can survive. When people are better equipped and you’ve developed your culture, education and skills, then you can rebuild. It’s a lesson for all communities and all people.”

The Fletcher Library Lawn at Arizona State University’s West campus will come alive with the sights and sounds of Native drummers, singers and dancers on Saturday, Nov. 9, during the campus’ annual Veterans Day Weekend Traditional Pow Wow. The event, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at 4701 W. Thunderbird Road in Phoenix, is free and open to the public.

In addition to dance and drumming/singing performances, the Pow Wow will feature grand entries at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Native arts and crafts, and food booths offering fry bread and more. Download Full Image

“The event’s theme is ‘A Celebration of Native Veterans,’ and American Indian veterans are especially encouraged to attend,” said Dennis Eagleman, event chairman. “They will be welcomed and thanked for their service to our country.”

The day’s schedule is:

  11 a.m. – Gourd dancing

1 p.m. – Grand entry

5 p.m. – Dinner break

6 p.m. – Gourd dancing

7 p.m. – Grand entry

7:30 p.m. – Recognition of veterans

10 p.m. – Closing  

Participants include announcer Chuck Benson, arena director Donald Sabori, head man dancer Steve Bison, head woman dancer Elizabeth Young, head girl dancer Mikeala Fish, Southern drum Melvin Deer, Jr. and Northern drum Cornelius Nelson. The color guard will be the First Nations Warrior Society.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs. (Limited seating will be provided for tribal elders.)

The Pow Wow is sponsored by the Native American Events Committee, Native American Student Organization and the Office of Public Affairs at ASU’s West campus.

For more information, call 602-543-5300 or email  westevents@asu.edu .

Largest freshman engineering class gets an extensive introduction to ASU culture and community

Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering enrolled a record number of freshmen for the 2013 fall semester – a class of more than 1,750, up 14 percent from the fall semester a year ago and double the freshman enrollment of five years ago. Download Full Image

It’s an assemblage of new college engineering students that is notable for more than its size. One of every four new freshman engineering majors is an honors student enrolled in ASU’s Barrett, the Honors College. Eighty-five percent of the class has a merit scholarship of some kind, including 47 National Merit Scholars, two National Achievement Scholars and 34 National Hispanic Scholars. 

New students have come from 46 states (65 percent from Arizona) and 23 countries. Ten percent are international students. The record-setting and impressive freshman class was appropriately welcomed with the most extensive slate of orientation activities ever offered by the Fulton Engineering Schools.

“Our goal is that no engineering student feels lost in the crowd. We provide the support and individual attention they need to be successful,” says Paul Johnson, dean of the engineering schools.

“We create opportunities for our new students to interact with faculty and staff and, most importantly, with each other. We prepare them for the university environment, for academic challenges and have numerous options for them to do engineering outside the classroom,” Johnson says. “And we try to get them focused from the start on the qualifications and experiences they want to have on their resume when they graduate.”

Part of a community

The introductions began this year – as they have since 2008 – at E2 Camp, where freshmen spend one of six two-and-a-half-day sessions amid summer-camp environs in the forested high country of northern Arizona, near Prescott. About three-quarters of freshman engineering majors have been attending the camp each year to get a “low-pressure” immersion into the world of the Fulton Schools of Engineering, says Becca Salay, senior coordinator of First-Year Programs for freshmen.

“There is where they can start to see that we are all in this together. They meet other students, faculty and staff, and student mentors, and they learn that we want to know them, that they are part of a community and that they have our support,” Salay says. Games and other activities are designed to foster team building, critical thinking and problem solving in an atmosphere of camaraderie, she says.

And the freshmen see that the engineering schools’ approach to education does not exclude having fun, including the use of squirt guns and water balloons.

“I doubt there are many other places where the dean of the school is willing be on the receiving end of many, many water balloons,” Salay says.

One measure of a blossoming of the E2 Camp tradition: upperclassmen and Fulton Engineering alumni who attended the previous camps now take the time to come back and serve as mentors to freshmen.

With growth of engineering freshman enrollment expected to continue, there are plans to add two camp sessions by next year.

Student organizations and research

On campus, in the days just before the start of classes, freshmen and new ASU transfer students can also attend the Engineering Student Organization and Resource Fair. The event provides an information-intensive introduction to an array of opportunities the students will have available to them throughout their academic careers at ASU.

This year, the fair gave them a look at the activities of most of the 50 or so engineering student organizations, clubs and competitive teams. In addition, they learned about engineering library and tutoring services, study-abroad programs and the services of the Fulton Engineering Schools Career Center.

Students got details about the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative (FURI) that provides support for undergrads to engage in research under the mentorship of engineering faculty members. They learned about the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program that enables students to put their classroom learning to work by aiding nonprofit organizations and community improvement projects.

“We want to get new students engaged in student organizations and activities as soon as possible, because these are opportunities to reinforce and use what they are learning in classrooms and to begin making connections with people in the industries they want to work in. And they will always be able to find things to do that relate specifically to their majors,” says Amy Sever, the Fulton Engineering Schools associate director for student engagement.

Exploring engineering pathways

Freshmen are also introduced to the Grand Challenge Scholars program that places students on a course of study guided by the National Academy of Engineering’s “Grand Challenges” – a list of technological advances that will be needed to improve the quality of life around the world in the 21st century and will require the contributions of visionary engineers. More than 140 incoming freshmen have been admitted to the program. Forty of them attended a weeklong summer campus residency session to prepare them to meet their responsibilities as Grand Challenge Scholars.

Nearly all freshman engineering students are enrolled in the ASU 101 course and the FSE semester-long Introduction to Engineering course. The ASU course provides an extensive introduction to the wide range of student resources and opportunities throughout the university. It also guides students on how to customize their academic experiences to align with their career aspirations. 

The FSE course introduces engineering majors to the engineering design process and encourages them to take creative approaches to seeking solutions to engineering problems related to challenges facing the world. Students get the opportunity in the course to work in teams on significant design projects. It also focuses on students’ technical communication and teamwork skills, and their understanding of the research process.

“We want them to understand what kind of education they will need to become an engineer and all the possibilities of where engineering can take them,” says Carrie Robinson, associate director of academic achievement for Fulton Engineering Schools.

Getting connected

With growing numbers of students from a variety of countries coming to ASU for engineering education, there are plans for additional outreach to international students.

“We need to bridge cultural differences, because some of the international students are not accustomed to our country’s educational environment,” Robinson says. “We want to make sure they have a good understanding of our education system and that we give them a support structure to integrate into it.”

Such a support structure for freshman engineering students is already integrated into campus residential life. Most freshmen live in two residence halls reserved exclusively for engineering majors. Some of the others live in the Barrett honors college residential complex. There are now 21 peer mentors in the residential facilities who work to help keep new engineering students on track academically.

The mentors “organize study groups and competitions to remind students that they have goals here and that there are resources to help them realize those goals. We want to infuse the engineering identity into the student living environment,” says Salay, the senior coordinator of First-Year Programs, who coordinates the engineering schools’ campus residential life program in addition to E2 Camp.

This year, there’s also a pilot program to provide peer mentorship to the roughly 30 percent of freshmen who live off-campus, as well as about 20 online freshman students. “We want all of them to feel connected to ASU and the engineering community here,” Salay says.

Guidance from peers and professors

In addition to peer mentorship, freshmen can get help from more than 30 tutors at two campus tutoring centers dedicated exclusively to engineering majors. One focuses on math, science and engineering classes, the other on computing. Students can find tutors to help with studies in all branches of engineering at either center.

New this year is Adventures in Engineering, a freshman lecture series. It includes five separate lectures featuring Fulton Engineering Schools dean, Paul Johnson, and four other faculty members expounding on the engineering life. “Students will get to see professors geek out about engineering, hear about what motivated them to become engineers and what inspires them about their work,” Salay says.

First steps on career track

Only a few weeks into the semester, the new ASU students had already been to their first big event to connect with professional engineers. Engineering Career Exploration Night, designed specifically for freshmen, brought about 300 engineers to campus – both ASU alumni and representatives from companies that employ engineers. More than 1,800 freshmen and other students attended the event this semester.

The event is designed to help new students “see what their engineering career paths could look like, and to inspire them with real-life examples of how engineers make a difference in the world,” says Robin Hammond, Fulton Engineering Schools Career Center director.

Career Exploration Night “is a cornerstone in creating a culture in which our students think of themselves as Fulton engineers from day one in college,” says Hammond. “We want our freshmen to develop a mindset early on that is focused on career and professional leadership development. Our goal is to have them internship-ready within four semesters.”

Beyond the event, freshmen are further aided in adopting that mindset by a team of 10 peer career coaches assembled from leaders of student organizations and other high achievers among ASU’s engineering students. The career coaches do outreach to students through the engineering residential community by conducting career planning workshops and one-on-one meetings.

“We strive to make it easy for students to engage with us,” Hammond says. “We want them to know that we are all about caring that they succeed.”

ASU earns 2013 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award

For its commitment to diversity and inclusion, Arizona State University has received the 2013 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. Download Full Image

The HEED award honors U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to inclusive excellence. ASU was selected based on its exemplary diversity and inclusion initiatives, as well as its ability to embrace a broad definition of diversity on its campuses, including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities and members of the LGBT community.
 
“ASU is proud to receive the HEED Award, which recognizes our broad and simultaneous commitment to excellence and access,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “Arizona State University’s promise of inclusivity is central to its mission as a New American University and is evident throughout its diverse and talented community.”

ASU was noted for many of its accomplishments, including:

• Growing student racial and ethnic minority enrollment by increasing its relative proportion of the student population from 20.7 percent in fall 2002 to 32.5 percent in fall 2012.

• Dramatically increasing the number of minority students it graduates. For bachelor’s degrees, the university saw an increase of 1,641 to 3,720 graduates in the past decade, a 127 percent increase. For graduate degrees, the increase was from 400 to 1,025 graduates, a 156 percent increase. ASU was named by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education to its list, “Top 100 Producers of Minority Degrees 2012.”

• Launching the President Barack Obama Scholars Program to expand university access to match Arizona’s diversification and growth.

• For the fifth consecutive year, being named a “Military Friendly School” for its leadership in providing educational support benefits and paths to success for veterans.

• For two years in a row (2011 and 2012), earning the highest rating possible for LGBT employee equity from the Greater Phoenix Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

“ASU truly fosters an environment where we all can live and learn as a community that thrives on our diversity and where all of our students, including all from different ethnic backgrounds, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, nationalities and religions, can learn and succeed together,” said Elizabeth D. Phillips, executive vice president and provost. 

“Applying for this award was a team effort between the Provost’s Office and Kamala Green, and the Office of Equity and Inclusion,” said Maria T. Allison, vice provost for academic excellence and inclusion. “We documented the broad range of diversity-related activities and programs that exist at ASU from those that support a diverse faculty and staff, through academic and student success programs that provide strong learning environments for our students.”
 
“We hope the HEED award serves as a way to honor those institutions of higher education that recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion as part of their everyday campus culture,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
 
Other notable recipients of this year’s HEED award include Kent State University, Ohio State University, Penn State University, Princeton University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and the University of Texas at Austin.
 
ASU will be featured in INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s November 2013 issue.  

"First Generation," a documentary film raising awareness for college access and educational reform, follows low-income students striving to be first in their families to attend college. ASU Committee for Campus Inclusion will hold a free screening of an award-winning and compelling documentary about the true story of four high school students – an inner city athlete, a small town waitress, a Samoan warrior dancer and the daughter of migrant field workers – who set out to break the cycle of poverty and bring hope to their families and communities by pursuing a college education.

The screening is scheduled to take place from 3-5 p.m., Monday, Oct. 21 in the Memorial Union Alumni room on the Tempe campus. The event is free and open to all ASU students. The film will facilitate student discussion and explore the problem of college access faced by first-generation students and how their success has major implications for the future of our nation. Download Full Image

The Committee for Campus Inclusion, an advisory group to the Provost, promotes a positive, harmonious campus environment that celebrates individual and group diversity, promotes individualism, provides information to the campus community and resolves issues in such a manner as to respect all persons and their dignity.

The College of Nursing & Health Innovation has announced the continuation of the American Indian Students United for Nursing project (ASUN) that will fund eligible nursing students through 2016.

Started in 1990 by a grant from the Indian Health Service, the project has assisted 67 American Indian/Alaskan Native students graduate with a bachelor's or master's degree in nursing by providing academic support services, cultural engagement activities and financial assistance. The ASUN project aims to increase the number of American Indian and Alaskan Native nurses by recruiting gifted and talented students into the BSN program. The project provides scholarships to qualified students to cover the cost of tuition, books, living expenses, academic advisement and student support services. Students are also encouraged to participate in academic socialization and cultural engagement activities. Download Full Image

“ASUN is a point of pride for (the college) and this grant continues to celebrate and acknowledge the success of our Native American nursing students,” said Teri Pipe, dean of the College of Nursing & Health Innovation.

ASUN supports educating students to become nurses who apply evidence-based practice and principles of health care innovation, work effectively in interdisciplinary teams, deliver culturally competent/transcultural health care, understand health disparities among rural and urban American Indians and Alaskan Natives, and demonstrate leadership-related competencies.

The overall outcome of the project is to provide high-quality educational opportunities for 10 American Indian/Alaskan Native students to earn a bachelor's degree in nursing. During the three-year project, 14 students will be funded as ASUN Scholars and 11 students will graduate with nursing degrees.

“We’ve all become attached to this project and worked hard to elevate its impact to the level it is at now,” Brenda Morris, associate dean for academic affairs said. “Students significantly benefit from ASUN and it has helped increase the number of American Indian and Alaskan Native students entering the nursing profession.”

Nursing student Myra Joe is one of the students benefitting from the ASUN project. “I am very fortunate to have found the ASUN program. Without it, I would not have come this far in the program,” Joe said. “The assistance and advising the project provides helps alleviate a lot of the stress associated with tuition, advisement and school work.”

As part of the project, students have a service obligation to the Indian Health Service or tribes within the United States upon graduation; something students say has been instrumental in preparing them for their future careers.

“Through the ASUN program I was able to attend a nursing research conference, which made me feel much more at ease about graduating and then going directly into my field,” Joe said. “Without ASUN, I know I would not have come this far in such a short amount of time and, because of their assistance, I am on track to graduate with my BSN in May 2014.”

Learn more about the ASUN project: https://nursingandhealth.asu.edu/asun/index.htm

Written by Shannon Murray

Media contact:

Urban ethnography expert Arlene Dávila is the featured speaker at the Comparative Border Studies Fall 2013 Scholar-In-Residence Colloquium at Arizona State University, from noon to 2 p.m., Oct. 18. Open to the public, the free event will take place at Hayden Library, room C-6, on the Tempe campus.

A professor of anthropology and American Studies at New York University, Dávila examines issues related to urban ethnography, the political economy of culture and media, creative economies and consumption, immigration and geographies of inequality, and race. In particular, the scholar and Puerto Rican native studies the ethnography of local, national and global dynamics of Puerto Rican and contemporary Latino/Latin American cultural politics. Download Full Image

Lunch is provided for all guests registered for the ASU colloquium, but space is limited. Reservations are required and can be made through Comparative Border Studies.

Dávila has authored five books and many articles on issues ranging from depictions of public images of Latinos, to marketing to Latinos, to cultural politics in Puerto Rico and Latinization of the United States. Her most recent book, “Culture Works: Space Value and Mobility Across the Neoliberal America,” considers the growing rentability of culture and the arts in contemporary Latino/a and Latin American cities and includes fieldwork in Puerto Rico, New York and Buenos Aires.

Dávila also recently updated her book, “Latinos Inc.: Marketing and the Making of a People,” which asks if United States marketers really understand the Latino demographic target. Rather, the book illustrates how U.S. advertising agencies tend to lump together Latinos from Cuba, Columbia, Spain and Mexico as if they all possess the same characteristics.

In her book, “Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race,” Dávila illustrates the growing consensus among pundits, advocates and scholars that Latinos are not a social liability, that they are moving up and contributing and, in fact, they are more American than “the Americans.” However, she questions what is at stake by perpetuating such a sanitized and marketable representation of Latinos in the United States.

Dávila also noted the exclusion of Latinos and minorities from dominant art, history and cultural institutions in a recent NYU Press blog that addressed a proposed National Museum of the American Latino.

“In the current political context it has become a cliché to put down any ethnic specific project as balkanizing and unnecessary,” Dávila wrote. “Yet the growing xenophobia and heightened nativist political climate enveloping the immigration debate and Latinos has shown otherwise.

“At the core, current debates manifest the vast ignorance of Latinos’ history in the American mainstream, and their consistent representation as newcomers and foreigners, rather than as a central component of American history and culture.”

For more information about Comparative Border Studies, a strategic research initiative within ASU’s School of Transborder Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, contact Elizabeth Cantú, executive coordinator, at 480-727-7583 or elizabeth.cantu@asu.edu.