Past Senior Research Projects
2025
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Cambron, Bruna | "Mental Health Stigma & Service Access Amongst Latinas in the Midwest" |
| Herrera, Jennifer | "Latinx Students' Experiences in Chicago Suburbs High Schools: Navigating the Impact of Suburban Living" |
| Ortiz, Joscelyn | "Latino Journeys Toward the American Dream" |
| Ortiz-Rivera, Reyna | "Deconstructing Parental Engagement: The Overlooked Involvement of Latina Mothers in Latino Students' Secondary Education" |
| Vargas, Adrian | "Queer Immigration, Intimate Partner Violence and the Diaspora" |
| Vargas, Jacklyn | "Latine Student Led Activism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Empowerment Through Community & Advocacy in Higher Education" |
2024
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Carmona, Jessica | "Queer Latinx: Building Community and Creating Spaces in Higher Education" |
| Castañeda, Jaelyn | "Analyzing Latina/o Studies Programs in Five States" |
| Hernandez, Jaredth | "Diversity As We See It: Latinos Navigating Predominantly White Institutions" |
| Mendoza Mota, Amayranet | "Health Effects on Latino/a/x Health As A Result of Inadequate Patient Health Literacy, Medication Nonadherence, and a Providers Lack of Cultural Humility" |
| Valerio, Michelle | "Lost in Translation: Unraveling Injustice for Incarcerated Latines" |
2023
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Araiza, Guadalupe | "Observing the Current State and Impact of Latine Studies Through the Latina/Latino Studies Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign" |
| DeJesus, Victor | "Gaps Between US Born Latinx LGBTQ+ and their Parents from Latin America" |
| Garcia Loza, Josymar | "Queer & Chicana: Autoethnography" |
| Juarez, Dalila | "Latinx Students and the Higher Education System" |
| Román, Priscilla Valentina | "The Beginning of a Mexican-American Artist from Chicago: New Age Cumbia and the Future of Chicano/Mexicanos: A Collection of Inspiration from Mexican Culture, Music, Mexican Inspired Fashion, and a Chicano Manifesto for the Future of Mexican and Mexican Americans in the United States" |
| Rubio, Odeth Guadalupe | "Latinx Through the Television Lens" |
| Valerio, Fatima | "Political Participation in Belmont Cragin: Identifying Strategies and Issues when Building Political Power in a Latinx Neighborhood of Chicago" |
| Vasquez, Jacquelyn | "Navigating Academia: A Queer Latinx Student's Experience in Higher Education" |
2022
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Armenta, Esther | "Reckless Fertility: Latinas and a History of Sterilization, Sexualization and Reproductive Injustice" |
| Delgado, Jailene | "Activism & Air Pollution in Little Village" |
| Gonzalez, Ariel | "The Erasure of Folk Medicine within Western Biomedical Frameworks Through Public Health Campaigns" |
| Herrera, Alan | "Depression within Latino Men in the U.S." |
| Martinez, Luis Julian | "Labor on Immigrant Latinas: The Transfer of Latine Culture in the United States" |
2021
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Rodriguez, Jocelyn | "Reproductive Injustices of Latinas in the U.S." |
| Sanabria, Gabriel | "Pushing the Boundaries of Gender: The Life of Jenni Rivera" |
| Santiago, Jailine | "Resisting Neoliberal Conceptualizations of Worthiness: Articulations of Care for My (Un)Deserving Parents" |
| Solorzano, Christian | "Border Patrol: What it Takes to be a Racist" |
2020
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Alcaide, Jonatan | "La Masculinidad No Viene en una Talla: Analysis of Different Portrayals of Masculinity within Latino Music Artists" |
| Alejo, Kerime | "Afro-Latinos and the Importance of Identity Through Bachata" |
| Chavez, James A. | "Laws Make Discrimination Legal" |
| Fahey Rodriguez, Elizabeth A. | "The Body Speaks Back: Transnational Resonance Under Patriarchal Violence" |
| Gaitan, Denisse | "Afro-Latinxs in Podcasts: Storytelling in New York" |
| Gonzalez, Nailene | "Housing Policies Gone Awry: The Reality of Latinx Segregation in Chicago" |
| Jacinto, Vanessa E. | "The Influence of Latina/o Greek Letter Organizations on Latino Students in Higher Education" |
| Palafox, Maritza | "Cerrando Las Piernas: The Power Held Over Brown Bodies in the United States" |
| Quezada, Yanira | "The Ramifications of the Racialized Criminalization of Cannabis: Who Benefits from the Legalization of Recreational Cannabis?" |
| Salazar, Rocio | "Mujeres Atrevidas: The Chicana Movement in Pilsen" |
| Saucedo, Ivan | "City Under Siege" |
2019
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Anonales Bustos, Jackie | "Disposable Bodies on Fragile Land: National Neglect and Natural Disasters" |
| Correa, Kathleen | "Mobilizing the Immobile: The Undesirable Body Beyond the Border" |
| Escutia, Patricia | "Makeshift Legality: Temporary Status and the Exploitation of the Undocumented" |
| Izquierdo, Alejandra | "El Paseo to Displacement: Asserting Green Space in Pilsen Chicago" |
| Medina, Iris | "Surviving Through Laughter: The Meme and Its Meaning" |
| Muñoz, Edith | "Can-Bell's Soup: Labor, Community, and Legacies of Migrant Workers in West Chicago" |
| Pineda, Guillermo | "Disappearing Acts: The Erasure of Racialized Brujos in Popular Media" |
| Reyes, Daniel | "Embodying Queer Latinidad: Chavela Vargas" |
| Rodriguez, Bianca G. | "Bienvenidos a La Villita: Arching into Healthcare" |
| Vargas, Valeria | "The Haunting of the American Dream: Bullets, Ballots, or Belonging" |
2018
| Student | Title |
|---|---|
| Burciaga, Magaly | "Put the Nation on Sazón: Afro-Latinas Redefining Authentic Narratives in Popular Culture" |
| Camacho, Cindy | "The Labor of Killing: The Animal and the Migrant Body |
| Garcia, Vanessa | "Semillas de Cual Tierra?: Analyzing the Reproduction of Violence and Erasure Against Indigenous Peoples" |
| Giesso, Victoria | "Chicago and the Pink Ribbon of Mortality" |
| Perez, Aura | "LGBTQ+, Latinx, & Loud: Queer Latinidades in Contemporary Media" |
| Rubalcava, Carla | "Hood Solidarity: Coalition Building in Anti-Gentrification Activist Movements" |
| Ruiz-Gehrt, Sophia | "Ana Mendieta: The Performance of Spirituality" |
| Torres Mena, Jema | "Gentrification in Pilsen: Voices of the Displaced" |
| Valenzuela, Maria D. | "Race, Space, and 'Neighborhood Stability': Latinos and Chicago's Southwest Side" |
2017
| Student | Title | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Adkins, Arianna | "Creative Catharsis" | Lisa M. Cacho |
| Arruela, Claudia M. | "The Impact of Parental Detentions and Deportation on the Mental Health of U.S.-Born Children" | Edna A. Viruell-Fuentes |
| Diaz, Myra | "From Pinkwashing to Whitewashing: The Creation of a 'White Woman's Disease' and the Marginalization of Latinas Within the Mainstream Breast Cancer Movement" | Jonathan X. Inda |
| Garay, Gabriela | "Finding Home in Queer Salvi Poets" | Sandra Ruiz |
| Lucio, Christina | "Searching the Desert Borderlands & Beyond: Families in Search of their Missing Loved Ones" | Jonathan X. Inda |
| Ramírez, Yadira C. | "Latina/Xicana Development & Feminisms" | David L. Glisch-Sanchez |
2016
| Student | Title | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Hurtado, Mateo | "Form Follows Future: Epistemologies of the New Brown Vortex in Theatre" | Sandra Ruiz |
| Martinez, Jocelyn | "Mental Health Effects of Detention and Deportation on U.S. Born Latino Children and Family Structure" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
2015
| Student | Title | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Fernandez, Brian | "Family Detention, Corporate Intention: The Criminalization of Brown Space" | Sandra Ruiz |
| Garcia, Christian | "Adjusting What We Know about Student Retention in Higher Education" | Jonathan X. Inda |
| Huerta, Jesus | "Latino Baseball Players and Immigration Narratives" | W. D. Coyoca |
| Patron Vargas, Jasmin | "Rewriting History: Examining Mexican Representations Within U.S. History Textbooks" | Ana Soltero Lopez |
| Ramirez, Xavier R. | "Social Support and Sexual Practices of Latino Men Who Have Sex with Men" | Julie A. Dowling |
| Rodriguez, Miguel | "Water Governmentality in Chile and Bolivia" | Jonathan X. Inda |
| Saucedo, Carlos | "An Exploration of Latina/o Sense of Belonging and University Retention Programs" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
| Sanchez, Angélica | "Performing Brownness in Pedro Pietri's The Masses Are Asses: Una Manera De Ser within Normative Affect" | Sandra Ruiz |
2014
| Student | Title | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Barron, Andrea | "'I Want to Help But I Don't Know How': Immigrant Parents Navigating Their Child's Transition to College" | Julie A. Dowling |
| Olvera, Yesenia | "The History of Latinos and Higher Education: Implementing Programs for Latino Recruitment and Retention in Chicago During the 1970s" | Mirelsie Velázquez |
| Ortega, Antonio Miguel | "The Conservative Vice Lords Inc. and Young Lords Organization: Agents of Change" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
2013
| Student | Title | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Durán, Myriam | "The Journey for Mexican Youth: Transnationals and Returnees" | Lisa M. Cacho |
| Gonzalez, Yesenia Grajeda | "Gentrification and the Tourism Effect: The Case of Humboldt Park" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
| San Miguel, Cindy V. | "Latina Teenagers: Caught in the Crossfire of Discourses on Latina Fertility and Teen Pregnancy" | Edna A. Viruell-Fuentes |
| Talis, Nicole | "Making Bilingual Education Work: A Comparative Approach of Schools in Chicago and Champaign, Illinois" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
2012
| Student | Title | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Alonso, Tatiana | "Cookie Dough: Comparing Latino Chicago and Suburb College Students and the Development of Mexican-American Identity" | Isabel Molina-Guzmán |
| Calderon, Verally A. | "Ethnic Identity Formations: A Multidisciplinary Exploration" | Edna A. Viruell-Fuentes |
| Cordova, Laura | "The Invisibility of Police Brutality" | Lisa M. Cacho |
| Giron, Erick | "Dime Con Quien Andas Y Te Dire Quien Eres: Masculinity, Gender and Sexualities in Latino Greek Fraternities" | Richard T. Rogriguez |
| Gonzalez, Eric R. | "Gentrification: An Analysis of Grassroots Efforts on Chicago's Northwest Side" | Mireya Loza |
| Martinez, Maria | "The Dark Side of Migration: Sex Slavery in Latin America" | Richard T. Rogriguez |
| Patrón, Oscar | "From Hispanic to Latino (And Everything in Between): Complexities with Identity and the Power of Labels" | Adrian Burgos, Jr. |
| Perez, Janette | "Condemned" | Richard T. Rogriguez |
| Perez, Jeramine J. | "Are They Doing What I Think They're Doing?: A Textual Analysis of Reggaeton and its Effects on Latino Youth" | Isabel Molina-Guzmán |
| Perez Cambron, Nancy | "Biologically and Scientifically Left Behind: Failing Latina Women" | Mirelsie Velázquez |
| Rodríguez, Gabriela T. | "From Powerlessness to Empowerment: Conversations of Domestic Violence, Within the Culture of Latina Literature" | W. D. Coyoca |
| Sanchez, Jose I. | "Surviving the Times: Subsisting Within the Limits and contradictions of Neoliberalism from an Undocumented Perspective" | Lisa M. Cacho |
2011
| Student | Title | Advisor |
|---|---|---|
| Alvarado, Diana | "Buscando a Mamá: The Unattainable Scripts of Motherhood and Value of Deviancy" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
| Baeza, Mariza O. | "Diseased, Dirty, and Dangerous: Immigrant Discourse in Primetime Television" | Isabel Molina-Guzmán |
| De La Huerta, Crystal | "Left Behind: No Child Left Behind and the Limitations on Education in Chicago Public Schools" | W. D. Coyoca |
| Gonzalez, Monica | "Don't Teach Them They're Oppressed: 'Color-Blind' Legal thought and its Exclusionary Practices in Education" | Lisa M. Cacho |
| Guerrero, Enrique J. | "Brown Spots on the Silver Screen: Visions of Reality?" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
| Lizasuain, Neyshalee | "Who Am I?: Afro-Latin@s and the Quest for Identity and Belonging" | Adrian Burgos, Jr. |
| Medina, Oscar | "Creating a Space within Fraternities: Latinos at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign" | Mireya Loza |
| Palencia, Joe J. | "Yo Soy El Army: The Politics of Latina/o Military Recruitment" | Richard T. Rodriguez |
| Santillán, Natalia | "Black, Brown and Beautiful: Constructions of Women of Color in the Media" | Isabel Molina-Guzmán |