Dr. Rosario Ceballo
Being a Latinx scholar and researcher in the academy has often felt like a lonely enterprise, said Dr. Rosario Ceballo, an associate dean of social studies and professor of women’s and gender studies and psychology at the University of Michigan (U-M).
And she is not alone.
A 2019 study of the characteristics of postsecondary faculty done by the National Center for Education Statistics showed that Latinx men and women make up only 6% of all full-time faculty, despite making up almost 20% of the American population.
Dr. Deborah Rivas-Drake, a professor of psychology and education at U-M, noted that the feeling of isolation can be more extreme because Latinx scholars are spread out in their institutions across different disciplines, working in silos. To bring them together, she and Ceballo co-founded the U-M Working Group to Advance Social Science Scholarship and Teaching on Latinx Youth and Families.
The working group, established in the fall of 2018, unites scholars (faculty and graduate students) from both in and outside of U-M, crossing disciplinary boundaries to discuss research, share advice, and form a strong community of Latinx scholars. Members have joined or participated from across a wide range of studies, including psychology, education, social work, romance languages, sociology, American culture, and political science.
The group is funded in part by U-M’s National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) Think-Act Tank Grants program.Dr. Tabbye Chavous, director of NCID, said that the Latinx working group creates a unique opportunity “for building scholarly communities for innovation, for shared sense of purpose, and to make broader social impacts.”
