About this event

Session Block B, 9:45-10:45

Room 356, Rita Laden Senate Chambers

(Panelist 1)

Title: The Second Crossing: Recruiting (Elderly) Guest Workers to the United States

Description: This presentation explores the long-term settlement of former Mexican braceros, showing how a “temporary” labor program (1942–1964) produced lasting demographic and social consequences. Drawing on oral histories, it argues that migration is a social process shaped by structural conditions and personal trajectories, not a discrete event. Many braceros established permanent roots through family reunification, social networks, and U.S.-born children. Their experiences challenge assumptions about guest worker programs, revealing how such initiatives often generate enduring migration beyond their intended scope.

Presenter: Paul López

(Panelist 2)

Title: Three Latino-Led Movements for Farmworker Justice in US Agriculture: Their Leaders, Their History, and Contributions

Description: Labor organizing in U.S. agriculture has historically been limited due to legal barriers, high turnover, deportation fears, and strong industry opposition, resulting in low unionization rates. This article examines three Latino-led organizations—Obreros Unidos in Wisconsin, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee in Ohio and North Carolina, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida—that advanced farmworker rights through innovative strategies. Rather than bargaining directly with growers, these groups pioneered corporate campaigns targeting major buyers to secure better conditions. Their leaders, tactics, and successes highlight new models of farm labor organizing and their lasting contributions to farmworker well-being and labor relations.

Presenter: Rene Rosenbaum

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Room 403, Great Room 

Title: How a Private Practice Effectively Serves Latino Patients and the Community 

Description: The Reno Center for Child and Adolescent Health (RCCAH) provided culturally appropriate, Spanish-fluent, high-quality pediatric care to underserved Latino families in Northern Nevada. With a “no-refusal” policy, accessible location, broad insurance acceptance, and strong ties to social services, RCCAH addressed both preventive and complex care needs while mentoring Latino medical students and fostering STEM interest among youth. Its innovative, community-centered model achieved exceptional outcomes, including some of the nation’s highest vaccination rates, earning recognition from Immunize Nevada, the CDC, and the American Cancer Society. RCCAH’s success reflects a collaborative team effort that combined medical expertise, cultural understanding, and community advocacy to advance equity in healthcare.

Presenter: Ron Aryel

Format: Research Paper

Complexity: Introductory

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Room 405, Round Tables

Tabe 1

Title: Border-Lines, The Journal of the Latino Research Center: Scholarship over the Span of Two Decades

Description: The Latino Research Center’s annual journal Border-Lines is nearing its 20th anniversary as the most enduring platform showcasing Latino/a/x presence at the University of Nevada, Reno. For two decades, it has highlighted research on immigration, gender identity, health, civic engagement, and cultural representation. As UNR approaches Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) status, the journal has turned its focus to how the university can learn from other institutions and strengthen support for Latino/a/x and all students. Border-Lines continues to affirm identity, share experiences, and guide efforts toward becoming the best HSI possible.

Presenters: Bernardo Aguilar

Format: Round Table

Complexity: Introductory

Table 2

Title: iUPLR Mellon Fellows: Where Are They Now?

Description: This roundtable features three IUPLR Mellon Fellows reflecting on how the fellowship supported their dissertation completion and academic success. Panelists will discuss the program’s impact on their leadership development, professional networks, and career trajectories. They will also share updates on their current institutional roles, offering insights into the long-term value of the fellowship.

Presenters: Luz Acosta, Lisa Jahn, & Brenda Lara

Format: Round Table

Complexity: Introductory

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Room 422

Title: The Biology of Poetry: AI, Latinx Writers, and the Digital Muse

Description: This presentation examines how generative AI complicates the meaning of poetry by producing verses that mimic human expression, sometimes even rivaling acclaimed poets. For Latinx writers, however, poetry is rooted in cultural memory, bilingualism, embodied imagination, and resistance—elements machines cannot replicate. Drawing on cognitive neuroscience, the talk highlights how creativity emerges from lived experience, trauma, and collective storytelling, contrasting this with AI’s context-free recombination of data. By centering Latinx poetics, the presentation critiques AI’s limits while affirming poetry as a deeply human practice grounded in body, history, and cultural survival.

Presenter: Daniel Chacón

Format: Research Paper

Complexity: Introductory

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Room 423

Title: CBPR and the Community Mapping Process in Housing and Health Research with Hispanic/Latino Families in Washoe County, Nevada

Description: This paper highlights a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) project on housing insecurity and health in Washoe County’s Hispanic-Latino community, using community mapping as its central method. Conducted as part of a three-year Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–funded study, the project involved academic researchers, students, and the Grupo Colaborativo, a Spanish-speaking advisory board that co-designed and guided the research. Community mapping sessions combined satellite maps, bilingual facilitation, and focus group discussions to capture local knowledge about housing, health, and neighborhood experiences. More than a product, mapping became a process of dialogue, civic engagement, and co-research that challenged traditional hierarchies of knowledge. The study demonstrates how participatory mapping can illuminate spatial dimensions of housing insecurity and health while fostering collaborative action and equity-centered scholarship.

Presenters: Jessie Clark, Francesca Rodriguez-Hart Bolt, Ebert Rodriguez, Julie Lucero, & Victoria Rios

Format: Research Paper

Complexity: Intermediate

Additional information

• Attendance type: In person