In Fall 2015, Latina/o Studies Program held a workshop to assist graduate students and junior faculty in preparing applications for the Ford Fellowship Program and we are happy to report that two OSU graduate students received Honorable Mention in the national Ford Fellowship competition!

 

Ford Fellowships are awarded to less than 5% of those who apply, and we recognize the high honor that receiving Honorable Mention represents in this national competition. Congratulations to Marisol Becerra (School of Environment and Natural Resources) and Delia Fernandez (History) on receiving Honorable Mention! We include here a brief description of each doctoral student's research project.

 

Marisol Becerra's dissertation focuses on Latino Environmentalism in the U.S. She is conducting archival research and oral histories in Chicago's Little Village community to document the environmental justice movement's victory in successfully shutting down two coal power plants and redeveloping an industrial site into a fifteen acre park. Her research asks "Environmental Justice for Whom?" Since environmental amenities are known to increase property value, Becerra examines the efforts of residents to define gentrification and strategize to resist displacement. Her work argues that since Latinos are the nation's largest "ethnic" minority, Latino environmentalism cannot be ignored.

 

Delia Fernandez's dissertation examines Latino migration, panethnic identity, community formation, and activism among Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Grand Rapids, Michigan from the 1920s to the 1970s. Many scholars have examined one Latino ethnic group, to the exclusion of others. Delia's work will be one of the first to historicize the interaction between more than one Latino ethnic group and to show how and why they decide to take on a pan-Latino identity. She has previously published a portion of this work in the award winning article, "Becoming Latino: Mexican and Puerto Rican Community Formation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1924-1964," in the Michigan Historical Review.