Research & Outreach on Latinos and Changing Communities in Missouri

Cambio Center Fellows

Cambio Center fellows are faculty and academic staff involved in the activities detailed in the Mission Statement. They may be members of the University of Missouri system or other academic institutions interested in cooperating with the Center’s educational, research, and outreach activities, and willing to seek to develop programs with other Center fellows.

The Cambio Center actively promotes the scholarship of its fellows and their mentored students, and supports their efforts to seek funding for collaborative work among Center fellows to address the Center's goals.

People interested in becoming fellows, are encouraged to contact the Cambio Center.

What follows is the current list of Cambio Center Fellows, and information about their interests related to the center's mission.

Faculty Fellows

• Denice Adkins, Assistant Professor, School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, College of Education
  Denice's research and outreach have emphasized services provided to Latino library users, the impact of Latino immigration on Missouri libraries, and multicultural children's literature. Current research includes a study of literacy and language choice in the Kansas City Latino population. She has been selected for a Fulbright scholarship to Honduras in 2008.
• Elizabeth Barham, Leader, Missouri Regional Cuisines Project, CAFNR, MU
  She has created the Latinos in Missouri series, that began as an outlet for the best papers on issues related to Latinos in the state, from the graduate class Dr. Barham teaches in the Sociology of Globalization. Discussions are underway to expand upon this initiative, using it as a base to gather current research papers on Latino issues from across the faculty and students of the University of Missouri.
  
• Kay Conklin, Clinical Instructor, Physical Medicine & Rehab, Medicine, MU
  Having worked in the field of disabilities for many years, my interest in this area comes from the lack of resources for Spanish-speaking families moving into Missouri who have children with special health care needs and/or developmental disabilities. These resources are scarce, especially in rural areas, so we need to pursue a variety of ways to facilitate their access.
  Link to her web page.
• Deborah Cohen, Assistant Professor, History and the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Missouri –St. Louis
  She specializes in the interrelationship between migration and questions of race, gender, and nation formation in Mexico and the U.S. Her manuscript, “Bordering Modernities: Race, Masculinity, and the Cultural Politics of Mexico-US Migration,” examines mid-twentieth century Mexican migration to the United States to show how race, modernity, and national identity in Mexico and the United States have been made in relation to each other and have reinforced the differences screened for at the border.
  Link to her web page.
• Anne M. Dannerbeck, Research Assistant Professor, Social Work, MU
  She has been conducting research related to Missouri's Latino population since 1998. She has conducted studies of family life in Spain, Costa Rica and Mexico. With support from the Missouri Foundation for Health she is working on a project to improve family planning service access among recent Hispanic immigrants. She is particularly interested in the second generation and how to create a context of reception in receiving communities that is conducive to positive development. She is developing a Mexico study abroad program for undergraduate students with the aim of preparing them to work with their Latino neighbors in Missouri and across the region.
• Judith Davenport, Professor Emerita, Social Work, MU
  My primary interests lie in social and cultural factors influencing Latino/a immigrants' successes in, primarily, rural U.S. communities and the impacts that the Latino/a immigrants have on these rural communities. The time I have to conduct research is extremely limited due to my administrative responsibilities, but I would enjoy working with someone else around these particular broad issues.
  Link to her web page.
• Lisa Y. Flores, Assistant Professor, Educational, School, & Counseling Psychology, College of Education, MU
  She is co-director of the Center of Multicultural Research, Training and Consultation, which is housed in her department. Her research area examines the educational and career decision-making of Mexican Americans. Her expertise is in vocational psychology and multicultural counseling.
  Link to her web page.
• Keith Jamtgaard, Research Associate and Research Assistant Professor, Office of Social and Economic Data (OSEDA), MU
  He coordinates with Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) regarding the collection and reporting of data for the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP). He assists with the management and analysis of data archives related to educational achievement, structure, and improvement in Missouri.
  Link to his web page.
• Stephen C. Jeanetta,  State Specialist, Community Development, CAFNR, MU
  Steve is interested in programs that build the capacity of communities and community organizations so they can better understand and address the issues presented by recent population changes. Current Research includes developing an understanding of how the leaders of successful community organizations sustain organizational efforts over time and assessing the capacity of communities to manage change. He has expertise in organizational development, planning, facilitation and community development process.
  Link to his web page.
• Mónica Marcos-Llinàs, Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish, Romance Languages & Literatures, Arts & Sciences, MU
  Her research areas are second and foreign language learning, language teaching and pragmatics. She looks forward to contributing to the development of new knowledge and teaching practices.
• Rebecca G. Martínez, Visiting Assistant Professor in Psychological Sciences, and coordinator of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Multicultural Certificate
  She is interested on identity, cultural knowledge, and health issues and the effects of assimilation on health, as well as on reproductive health. More broadly, her interests include the experience of immigrant women from Mexico and Central America.
• Domingo Martínez Castilla, Cambio Center Coordinator; Research Associate, International Agriculture, CAFNR, MU
  Has been involved in the “Cambio de Colores (Change of Colors) – Latinos in Missouri” annual statewide conference since its inception, and was co-Chair of the 2004 “Gateway to a New Millennium” meet in St. Louis. He is interested in the process of integration of immigrants, and in comparative immigration studies in the Americas.
  Link to his web page.
• Nadia Navarrete Tindall, Senior Research Scientist, Division of Plant Sciences, CAFNR, MU
  She is interested in working to integrate immigrants into their new communities by helping them understand their new natural surroundings. She has been the founder and coordinator of Columbia Verde ("Green Columbia"), which offers bilingual conservation education events. Conservation Education will help immigrants to get connected to their new natural surroundings.
  Link to her web page.
• Gwen Ratermann, Associate Director of MU’s Center for Health Policy
  The issue of racial and ethnic health disparities is one of the primary focus areas for the Center for Health Policy. Part of that work involves building a coalition of organizations and individuals that are willing to collaborate in an effort to eliminate health disparities in Missouri. Her work is to build bridges with like-minded partners within the University of Missouri and beyond that can help collectively to achieve this goal.
• Katherine Reed, Assistant Professor, Editorial, Journalism, MU
  She is the editor of Adelante, the School of Journalism's bilingual monthly newspaper.
  Link to her web page.
• Iván Reyna, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Romance Languages & Literatures, Arts & Sciences, MU
  Iván is especially interested in the ways in which alternative and marginal discourses are created by Latino newcomers during the process of interacting with their new reality.
• Anna M. Romero, Associate Professor, Broadcast News, Journalism, MU
  She is interested in coverage of Hispanics/Latinos in media, hiring and retention of Hispanics/Latinos in newsrooms, and research dealing with Hispanics/Latinos in advertising.
  Link to her web page.
• Marjorie Sable, Associate Dean, Research & Graduate Studies, College of Human Environmental Sciences, MU
  Her research focuses on reproductive and maternal and child health policy and practice issues. She is interested in access to health and social services for recent Hispanic immigrants including the identification of barriers to care. She is the Principal Investigator on a grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health that focuses on improving family planning outreach and services for Hispanic immigrants.
  Link to her web page.
• Corinne B. Valdivia, Research Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Food Agriculture and Natural Resources, MU
  Her research focus is on livelihood strategies and the factors that contribute to economic integration, development, and well being. She studies the individual and contextual factors in the process of inclusion or exclusion in changing communities in the Midwest and Latin America.
  Link to her web page.
• James B. Wirth, Human Development Specialist, University of Missouri Extension, Springfield, MO
  His continued survey-based research on Latinos in southwest Missouri deals with perceptions by both immigrants and service providers.
  
• Juanamaría Cordones-Cook, Associate Professor, Romance Languages, Arts & Sciences, MU
• Linda M. Espinosa, Associate Professor, Learning Teaching & Curriculum, Education, MU
• Jere Gilles, Associate Professor, Rural Sociology, CAFNR, MU
• Alejandra Gudiño, Human Environmental Sciences Extension, MU
• Daryl J. Hobbs, Senior Extension Associate, OSEDA, MU
• Mary S. Leuci, Program Director, Statewide-Community Development, MU
• M. Kay Libbus, Professor, Nursing, MU
• Christina Vásquez Case, Director, Program Alianzas, University of Missouri-Kansas City
• Louise Miller, Assistant Professor, Nursing, MU
• Philip G.  Peters Jr, Professor, Law, MU
• Carol Lazzaro Weis, Professor, Romance Languages, Arts & Sciences, MU

Student Fellows

• Gerald Eldridge Kawika Allen (Educational & Counseling Psychology)
• Pedro Dozi (Agricultural Economics)
• Eleazar González (Rural Sociology)
• Verónica Medina (Sociology)
• Monique Mendoza (Educational & Counseling Psychology)
• Lizette Ojeda (Educational & Counseling Psychology)
• Rocío Rosales (Educational & Counseling Psychology)