In this first episode, TOI host Tony Dunbar, visits with Co-producers Magali Campos and Brenda Lopez who are also RAC members along with being doctoral candidates completing the journey to PhD in 2024. The three of them are also joined by Dr Iris Lucero, who is currently the Assistant Director of UCLA’s McNair Research Scholars Program. Dr. Lucero has also contributed to the RAC legacy as one of a long line of members who have assisted Dr Solórzano in maintaining the community’s connectedness. This episode was recorded on June 7, three days before the RAC30 conference, in Danny’s office in Moore Hall on UCLA’s campus. Affectionately the esteemed professor’s office is now also know as “Solórzano Studios.”

Art Title: Pillars and Dreams of Our Generational Knowledge                                                                                   By: Luis-Genaro Garcia, PhD

Daniel Solórzano is a Professor in the University of California Los Angeles Department of Education as well as Chicana/o and Central American Studies. He is also the Director of the Center for Critical Race Studies in Education at UCLA.Danny is an interdisciplinary scholar with research and teaching interests in critical race theory, racial microaggressions and micro affirmations, and critical race spatial analysis. In 2017, Professor Solórzano was honored with the inaugrural Revolutionary Mentor Award by the Social Justice Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association.

“I see my mentoring as an extension of my teaching. To that end, I have been blessed with extraordinary students throughout my entire career at UCLA. Our students are the ones who carry forward the work for social and racial justice.”

Sergio A. Gonzalez (él/he/him), Ph.D., is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Higher Education specializing in Critical Qualitative Methods in the Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy department at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests have intersecting commitments: (1) understanding the lived experiences of historically marginalized individuals, specifically QTPOC communities, within educational environments; (2) exploring the role of Jotería Microaffirmations in higher education scholarship;  and (3) engaging with co-creators to make meaning of Queer of Color theorizing, such as Jotería Pedagogy, through critical qualitative approaches. Dr. Gonzalez’s interdisciplinary research is informed by Women of Color Feminisms, specifically Black and Queer feminist ideologies, Chicana/Latina feminisms, and Jotería Studies within higher education scholarship. 

Dr. Gonzalez received his Ph.D. in Higher Education at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), an M.A. in Applied Gender Studies at CGU, an M.Ed. in Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs from the University of Southern California (USC), and his B.A. in Communication Studies from Manhattanville College. His scholarship and leadership have been honored across different spaces, including the American College Personnel Association-ACPA, through awards such as the Coalition for Sexuality and Gender Identities (CSGI) Dr. D-L Stewart Research Award. Recently, he published the co-edited book “Queering Higher Education: The QTPOC  Experience (1st Ed)” through Cognella Academic Publishing.

As a first-generation academic, being the first in his family to graduate from high school, undergraduate and graduate school have shaped how he shows up in community and navigates academia. He is an hijo to his Madre y Padre and a brother, a Tio, Madrina, Nino, and Nieto to his chosen family and family.

Dr. Nichole M. Garcia is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick Campus). As a Chicana/Puerto Rican scholar, her research centers on the intersections of race, Women of Color feminisms, and LatinX communities in higher education. Her mixed-methods approach explores the nuances among LatinX sub-ethnic groups, students, and families concerning college readiness, retention, and completion.

Recognized as a 2020 Emerging Scholar under 40 by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Dr. Garcia is celebrated for her significant impact in academia. She was also honored as a 2020 Faculty Fellow for The American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE). In 2024, she was awarded the American Education Research Association Scholars of Color Early Career Contribution Award for her advocacy for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color students through her scholarly work and praxis.

Dr. Garcia’s research has been published in prestigious international and national journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, Race, Ethnicity and Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and Teachers College Record. She serves as lead editor for the award-winning book Studying Latinx/a/o Students in Higher Education: A Critical Analysis of Concepts, Theory, and Methodologies, published by Routledge. Her forthcoming books, LatinX Students in Higher Education: A Guide for Re-Envisioning Student Success and Story(ing) Statistical Strategies using Critical Race and Chicana Feminist Theories, are scheduled for publication in Spring 2025.

Magali Campos is a doctoral candidate in the Social Science and ComparativeEducation program with a Race and Ethnic Studies specialization in UCLA’sDepartment of Education. As assistant director of Center for Critical Race Studiesin Education at UCLA she provides administrative support, developsprogramming, and leads the center’s research brief series and research projects.Magali was also instrumental in developing and organizing the RAC30Conference. In this episode she shares about her experiences as a first-generation Latina graduate student, whose research centers around (andempowers) Women of Color in doctoral programs and explores the different formsof silence they encounter. She co-wrote a methodological peer-reviewed articleentitled Con Respeto y Confianza: a correspondence between sister-scholars thatbraids Chicana Latina Feminist methodologies in women of color research in theInternational Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education with Yadira Valencia                                                       

Brenda Lopez is the Media Coordinator for the Center for Critical Race Studies in Education at UCLA, and a PhD candidate in Social Sciences and Comparative Education at UCLA. Her research and scholarship focuses on Women of Color, film pedagogy, and film-based research methods using a critical race theory framework. Her work aims to explore and amplify the voices and experiences of marginalized communities, utilizing the power of film to challenge and deconstruct dominant narratives. Brenda’s path to UCLA and her doctoral studies serves as inspiration to the power of persistence and perseverance. She too has grown from the mentoring environment within Danny’s RAC.