Latinx
October 22, 2013
CIIE plans ongoing programs
In Oct. 2006, Jim Brenneman, Goshen College president, unveiled a plan to establish the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning, funded under a $12.5 million dollar grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The funding, which was allocated annually, will end after this year, but GC leaders have plans to sustain its programs. “This is the last year of the grant, but we have been working over the last six years to systemically infuse the work of the original CITL grant into various areas across the college: admissions, financial aid, academic curriculum, student life, etcetera,” said Anita Stalter, vice president for academic...
October 6, 2013
DREAMer speaks on immigration
Wednesday, Goshen College welcomed Dara Marquez, DREAM Act advocate and winner of WNIT Public Television’s Michana’s Rising Star contest. Marquez was invited to speak during Hispanic Heritage Month by ZulmaPrieto, adjunct professor of Latino Studies. “I think she embodies the struggles and the resilience of a lot of young people who are the present and the future of the country,” said Prieto. Marquez opened by reciting her compilation of poetry by Bobby Lefebre entitled “We Know How to Climb.” Her performance was followedby the story of how she came from Apan, Hildalgo, Mexico as a three-year-old and went on to...
October 11, 2012
Urrea to speak on borders
Luis Urrea, a Mexican-American poet, author and novelist, will speak in convocation this Monday, Oct. 15. Urrea has authored 14 books, including mysteries, historical novels and non-fiction narratives. Urrea, who was born to a Mexican father and an American mother, often writes on issues of love and loss through a dual-culture perspective. Last spring, students in Ann Hostetler’s Latino Literature class read Urrea's “The Devil’s Highway,” a 2005 Pulitzer finalist in non-fiction writing. The novel follows 26 Mexican men as they travel through the Arizona dessert. The men encounter heat, Border Patrol and for some, death. Steph Swartzendruber, a senior,...
March 28, 2012
Domestic SST program undergoes major revisions
Starting in fall 2012, Goshen College students who choose not to take an international Study Service Term or a study-abroad equivalent will be required to do the domestic SST: Latino Studies program instead. Incoming students and current first-years will no longer have the option of taking SST alternate courses on campus. Unlike previous domestic SST units, the revised program will now last an entire school year as of fall 2012. Before, students in the program had to cram all 13 credits into a single semester, but now they will take seven credits in the fall and six in the spring....
October 26, 2011
GC students DREAM big
Goshen College first-year students Yesenia Orellana and Aranza Torres became fast friends during a summer program that helps Goshen students prepare for the transition to college. The two young Latino women found that they both knew people who were struggling with being undocumented. “We felt very lucky to have the opportunity to attend college when we knew that there were many of the 65,000 undocumented students that graduate [high school] every year that would not be able to attend college like us,” Orellana said. When Orellana talked to a local Elkhart County group, Indiana’s Dream Initative, she heard about the DREAM...
March 31, 2011
Goshen launches three institutes
The first three institutes at Goshen College—with potentially many more to come in the future—were launched at a faculty meeting this past Friday, March 25. These institutes will conduct research in ecological regeneration, Latino educational achievement and global Anabaptism. Goshen College has begun these institutes to develop new academic programs and to conduct research that the institutes will then share with the community. President Jim Brenneman, who introduced the institutes to faculty on Friday, said that he hopes that designating them as “institutes” will raise their quality and profile. The three initial institutes were established this past week, but different...
March 30, 2011
CITL presents research on Latinos in Northern Indiana
Goshen College’s Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning (CITL), in collaboration with Notre Dame’s Institute of Latino Studies, presented the results of their historic research on at a news conference Friday March 25. The results, recorded in a three-volume report, provided a look into the Latino population of Northern Indiana. The first report examines an increase in the Latino population in the early 1990s, particularly focusing on the demographic profile in St. Joseph, Noble and Elkhart counties of Indiana. The second report focuses on the historical account of the settlement and adjustments that Latino immigrant families had to go through....
February 24, 2011
Bienvenidos a Spanish Café
If you hear Spanish “jaja’s” floating through the air in the third-floor connector on Tuesday evenings, don’t be alarmed; you’re probably just overhearing the laughter at Spanish Café. Designed for Spanish-speakers of all skill levels, the Spanish Café offers a scheduled place for people to practice their Spanish conversation skills. Quinn Brenneke and Phil Scott, both freshman, started organizing the café as a regular, but informal way to keep Spanish in their lives. “Individual motivation to practice Spanish is hard, so it is nice to have something to go to,” said Scott. The inspiration for the café came from Brenneke’s experiences...
February 10, 2011
SST alternate courses alone no longer fulfill international education requirements
Students who choose not to do a traditional SST will now be required to do the Latino Studies SST instead. Faculty voted recently to eliminate the previous alternative to SST, which was to take SST alternate courses on campus. Now students will have just two options: they can either do a traditional SST in another country, or they can do the Latino Studies SST in Goshen. This change in requirements will apply to the incoming class of first-years in the fall of 2011. The Latino Studies program, which ran for the first time this past summer, will also undergo revisions....
January 20, 2010
A Struggle for Migrant Worker Justice
Ken Barger, a current professor of anthropology at Indiana University, spoke at convocation on Monday. He was asked by the SST department to introduce students to different Latino issues that will be studied in the domestic SST unit. Barger quoted from former field hand and labor organization president Baldemar Velásquez to begin his speech, saying, “Crossing a border without papers is a misdemeanor- not a felony. Just like running a red light.” Barger went on to talk about the injustices migrant workers face and what can be done in response. Barger explained that many migrant workers suffer from the “most...
September 23, 2009
New director leads domestic Study-Service Term
The planning for the new domestic S.S.T. is well underway. Anayeli Juarez, the recently hired program director for the Latino Studies S.S.T., has begun to schedule trips and service assignments within the Latino community of Northern Indiana. Five students are presently enrolled in the Latino Studies S.S.T. “At first I was worried and disappointed that not many students had signed up,” Juarez said. “However, I realize that it is typical for a new program and we’re ready to start!” This domestic S.S.T. is designed for students who cannot go on international S.S.T. Therefore, scheduling the program has been a problem...