Four Cal State LA students were selected for the 2021-22 Sally Casanova pre-doctoral scholar awards, which are granted each year to support the doctoral aspirations of students across the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system.
Each scholar receives a $3,000 award to help fund graduate exams, fees for professional conferences, and other costs related to graduate school.
Cal State LA’s 2021-22 Sally Casanova Scholars are included below.
Andy Aleman-Alvarez is working on a master’s degree in Latin American studies with the goal of pursuing a doctoral degree in the social sciences. His research examines the college experiences of marginalized individuals, specifically formerly incarcerated community members. He is interested in analyzing factors that impact these students’ success in academia. Aleman-Alvarez, who resides in Northeast Los Angeles, hopes to use his research to create a more welcoming space for these individuals on college campuses.
Brian Moreno is completing his master’s degree in Latin American studies. Through the use of literature, poetry, and testimonios as historical sources, his research is focused on studying the experience of forced displacement and the violence of migration among undocumented people from Central America. He is interested in the convergence of pedagogy, critical consciousness, and decoloniality. An El Monte resident, he plans to pursue a doctorate in the humanities after completing his graduate degree.
Bryan Cantero, a master’s degree candidate in Chicana(o) and Latina(o) studies, is focused on studying the intersection of Black hip-hop culture and contemporary corrido culture and how Black and Brown young people understand their positionalities as expressed through music. Through his research, he is also examining Mexican American youth’s contemporary take on traditional Mexican borderland ballads. Cantero, who lives in South Los Angeles, plans to pursue a doctoral degree in the humanities after completing his master’s degree.
Eduardo Carreon is a psychology graduate student whose studies focus on the psychological outcomes of racial discrimination and their effects on identity development and resilience among minority groups. He is exploring the coping mechanisms that members of different cultural groups use to overcome social inequities to achieve a better life. He is currently investigating how political activism and a positive sense of self may enhance or diminish resilience among undocumented Latinx individuals. Carreon, an East Los Angeles resident, plans to pursue a doctoral degree in the social sciences.
The Casanova award honors the late Sally Casanova, who launched the program in 1989. She was a staff member with the CSU Chancellor’s Office during the 1960s. Casanova also served as associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies at CSU Dominguez Hills from 1991 until her death in 1994. She was married to Joseph Casanova, a Cal State LA emeritus chemistry professor.
For more information, contact Karin E. Brown, associate vice president and dean of Graduate Studies at Cal State LA, at (323) 343-3820.
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California State University, Los Angeles is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 27,000 students and has more than 250,000 distinguished alumni.
Cal State LA is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility, Billie Jean King Sports Complex and the TV, Film and Media Center. For more information, visit www.CalStateLA.edu.
