Platica Series

Welcome!

Here, you'll find information on upcoming Pláticas events, detailed information about registering for events, and how to share these resources with community members. As part of building community and getting to know our CCS faculty better, this series will highlight faculty research/teaching specialties in the department, CCS approaches, CCS careers, and any curiosities you might have!

Fall 2026

Dra. Christine Vega
Assistant Professor, San Jose State University

Thu, Nov 5 2026 | 1:30-2:45 p.m. | CL 227

Dra. Vega's research and teaching centers Motherscholars, parents, Activisms, Spirituality, Transformational Counterspace(s), and grief positivity.
Download the flyer

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Dr. Sergio Barrera
Assistant Professor, San Jose State University

Oct 15, 2026 | 3:00-4:00 p.m. | CL 227

As part of building community and getting to know our CCS faculty better, this series will highlight faculty research/teaching specialties in the department, CCS approaches, CCS careers, and any curiosities you might have!

Past Events

Spring 2024

Dr. Danny Valencia
Lecturer, San Jose State University

March 12, 2024 @ 4:30 p.m. | CL 412

Chicanx Critical Filmic Pedagogy - Danny Valendia will explore the Chicana/o film activist tradition as it connects to the broader significance of developing a critical filmmaking pedagogy capable of extending upon the nuanced relationship between theory, praxic, and activism.

Fall 2023

Lizbet Huizar
Executive Director, Southeast Seattle Education Coaltion

October 17, 2023 @ 4:30 p.m. | Via Zoom

As Executive Director of a non-profit, Liz will share how applying a Chicana & Chicano Studies lens can transform the community and those providing direct services.
A proud Spartan, Liz Huizar earned a Masters in Mexican American Studies in 2016. Since then, Liz moved to Seattle, WA landing at El Centro De La Raza, a 50 year Chican@ serving community based organization. In her role, Liz connected with youth, families and community to create ethnic studies framed programming that centered identity exploration, leadership development and action driven change. Liz is now the Executive Director of Southeast Seattle Education Coalition where she leads collective strategies to build an ecosystem for educational justice. As her career has grown, integrating Chican@ studies has been a critical component of her impact strategy.
Her plática explored "how Chican@ studies can be applied to non-profit program models. I will discuss how Chican@ studies can create strength based, grassroot models that transform both the community and those providing direct services."

Spring 2023

Sara X. Hernández
Associate Dean, Inclusion and Student & Faculty Engagement, Graduate School, Cornell University

April 18, 2024 @ 4:30 p.m. | VIa Zoom

Moving Beyond Representation Within Academy - By sharing pieces of here persoanl and professional narratives, Hernández will explore ways in which she and others are trying to influence systemic change within graduate education to make it more accessible, equitable, and supportive of Black, Indigenous, and Latine scholars and others from backgrouds historically excluded from and underrepresented in the academy.
Hernández is the PI for an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation-funded grant focused on improving equity-based holistic admissions and mentoring practices for graduate students within the Sloan University Centers for Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) and Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership (SIGP) communities. She has served as a co-PI for the Cornell Sloan UCEM (University Center for Exemplary Mentoring) and NSF AGEP (Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate) Programs and is a member of advisory committees for several NSF-funded projects. Hernández is also a member of the steering committees for the national Equity in Graduate Education Consortium and Ivy+ Faculty Advancement Network. She also serves on the Diversity and Inclusiveness Advisory Committee for the Council of Graduate Schools, the Equity in Graduate Education Pathways Advisory Committee for the American Council on Education, and the Undocumented Graduate Student Advisory Board for the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
Watch as Dr. Hernández discusses her work bringing about systemic change within graduate education, with an emphasis around issues of accessbiility, equity, and support for Latiné scholars and others from who have historically been excluded and underrepresented in the academy.