Previous Dissertation Fellows

2000-2001

Deborah Vargas

University of Santa Cruz
Department of Sociology

Vargas was a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Sociology (Parenthetical Notion: Women's Studies) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her dissertation explores the life histories and cultural work of Texas-Mexican women singers throughout the twentieth century. During her tenure as Dissertation Fellow, Vargas gave a public lecture “La Rosa de Tejas: Rosita Fernandez ‘San Antonio’s First Lady of Song.’” Vargas was also a recipient of the Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2002-2003 at UC Davis.

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Chicano/Latino Studies, University of California, Irvine.

1999-2000

Teresa “Osa” Hidalgo de la Riva

University of Southern California (USC)
School of Cinema/Television-Division of Critical Studies

“Osa” Hidalgo de la Riva was a Ph.D Candidate in the School of Cinema/Television-Division of Critical Studies at the University of Southern California. Her dissertation focuses on the (re)presentation of Chicanas in films and videos. She explores the way historical representations in films and videos have helped to construct Xicana subjectivity and consciousness. Her work moves toward a larger critical and theoretical approach, recognizing Chicana film/video makers as creative agents for positive and constructive social change. During her tenure as Dissertation Fellow, “Osa” Hidalgo de la Riva taught her own seminar, “Mujerista Filmmaking,” through Chicana/o Studies. She was also a recipient of the Bill Gates Fellowship following our C/LRC Dissertation Fellowship.

Current Position: “Osa” Hidalgo de la Riva received her Ph.D in 2003 and is currently a film director. Her work includes: Marginal, Eyes, Mujeria, Fantasia #1,Two Spirits: Native Lesbians and Gays.

1998-1999

Sonia V. Gonzalez

Stanford University
Department of Hispanic Language and Literatures

Gonzalez was a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Hispanic Language and Literatures at Stanford University. Her dissertation explored the poetics of loss and the recovery of “home” in the work of Chicana and Native American poet Lorna Dee Cervantes. Dee Cervantes examines the way the term “home” encompasses not only a physical place, but more importantly to a spiritual and cultural site of origin. She argues that the recovery of “home” is an allegory for the writing of “nation” as theorized by Homi K. Bhabba in Nation and Narration.

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Foreign Languages and Literature, Purdue University.

1997-1998

Elena Gutierrez

University of Michigan
Department of Sociology

Gutierrez was a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While at UC Davis, Gutierrez taught an undergraduate course in the Chicana/o Studies Program “Issues in the Politics of Chicana/Latina Reproduction.” Her dissertation utilizes reproductive politics as a lens to understand contemporary racial politics. In deconstructing Mexican origin women’s fertility, Gutierrez examines discourse on reproductive behaviors and how the circulation of these ideas impacts Chicana reproductive experiences through public policy and medical practice.

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies and Latin American and Latino studies, University of Illinois at Chicago.

1996-1997

Dolores Delgado-Bernal

University of California, Los Angeles
Department of Education and Information Studies
University of California, Davis President’s Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 1997-1998

Delgado-Bernal was a Ph.D Candidate in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her dissertation research analyzes oral histories of Chicanas who engaged in social resistance in high school or college students. Specifically, her study draws from history, sociology, and Women’s Studies methodologies to examine school resistance from women who participated in the 1968 East Los Angeles school blowouts. While in-residence at UC Davis, Delgado-Bernal taught an undergraduate Chicana/o Studies course “The Socio-Historical Politics of Chicana/o Schooling.” Shortly thereafter she received the University of California, Davis President’s Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

Current Position: Associate Professor, Education, Culture, and Society, University of Utah.

1995-1996

Rose Ann Renteria

University of Colorado, Boulder
Department of Sociology and Social Policy

Renteria was a Ph.D Candidate in Sociology and Social Policy from the University of Colorado, Boulder and she was the C/LRC’s first Dissertation Fellow. Her dissertation focused on the ways nationwide welfare reforms affect Chicana/Latina mothers. While in-residence at UC Davis, Renteria taught a course on “Chicana/Latina Politics and Public Policy” Renteria also organized a lecture and book signing presentation by Dr. Elisa Facio from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a colloquium on Chicana Politics, and a panel discussion for the 1996 National Association for Chicana/o Studies Conference.

Current Position: Adjunct Faculty at Trinity College in Washington, DC and Senior Research Associate for the Center for Women’s Policy Studies at Triniton College.