There are currently 82 declared Latina/o Studies minors, and 14 of you are planning a spring 2020 graduation! Congrats to you all! We are proud of you, and can't wait to hear about your journeys. All of our students—whether graduating or returning—deserve a round of applause for your resiliency during this past semester. We know it was difficult to be away from campus, and we thank you for your commitment to your academic work in the face of such adversity!

Lisa Ortiz is one of the 2020–21 provost’s postdoctoral faculty fellows and will be teaching in the Latina/o/x Studies Program. Lisa Ortiz earned her Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies with minors in Latina/o Studies and Gender & Women’s Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018. She is currently an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the “Imagining Latinidades: Articulations of National Belonging” Mellon Sawyer Seminar at the University of Iowa.

Lisa Ortiz (Sawyer Mellon Post Doctoral Fellow) and Kristy Nabhan-Warren (Religious Studies and GWSS) have both done research on meatpacking plants and the rural Latin/x communities surrounding them. In this conversation, the scholars discuss the role of churches during the COVID-19 outbreak and how workers are using social media to communicate.

Latina/o Studies Minor Ashley Morrow was awarded the Adah Johnson/Otilia Maria Fernandez Scholarship through the Department of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. Ashley Morrow is from O’Fallon, Missouri, and is a senior majoring in Global Health Studies and Spanish, with a Latino Studies minor.