LATINA & LATINO STUDIES PROGRAM

Dr. Frances R. Aparicio, Professor Emerita @ Northwestern, LLSP @ NU Director from 2011 - 2018, and A pioneering figure within Latinx Studies shares a personal reflection on the early years of the field and its evolution into the present.

Myrna García, assistant professor of instruction in Latina and Latino Studies, has had enormous impact improving the climate for students through her many roles on campus, including Weinberg College advisor, faculty chair for the Residential College of Cultural and Community Studies and faculty advisor for La Alianza Latinx, an undergraduate student organization. Through her work founding a diversity, equity and inclusion committee for Weinberg College advisors to her collaboration with many offices and staff across campus, García is a deeply committed champion of equity and inclusion.

“It all started with the border, and that’s still where it is today.” These are the first lines of the Drive-By Truckers’ song “Ramón Casiano,” released just before the election of Donald Trump in 2016. I’ve been humming the song for much of the last four years, because Mr. Trump’s journey to the White House began with promises of a “great wall” along the border, and that’s also where it ended.