STRC Summer Institute

This July, the Social Transformation Research Collaborative (STRC), co-directed by the Center for Black Diaspora and the Center for Latino Research, is embarking on a new initiative: a one-week Summer Institute for newly admitted students.Twenty-six students have been selected to attend the institute, which will run from July 24th- 29th. The primary purpose of the institute is to build community at DePaul by introducing new students to faculty and peer mentors, and familiarizing them with important campus resources for student success, including DePaul’s Multicultural Resource Centers.

Students in the Summer Institute will be earning college credits as they participate in the mini-courses taught by the faculty co-leads of the institute, Dr. Juan Mora-Torres and Dr. Monica Reyes. As Dr. Mora-Torres explains, “The course will use Chicago as an extension of the classroom. [Students] will attend field trips to different inner-city neighborhoods so that they can experience such concepts as segregation, boundaries, gentrification, inequality, resistance, and so on. In brief, [the course] will introduce new students to Chicago as a site of learning about the world.” Dr. Julie Moody-Freeman, one of the co-directors of the STRC, points out that, “Some exciting stuff is going to go down! Just hearing the curriculum and activities that the faculty have planned is so exciting – I want to be a student in that class!”

Participants in the Summer Institute come from a diversity of backgrounds and from all across the country -- including Texas, California, Tennessee, Minnesota, Louisiana, and of course Illinois! As Dr. Bill Johnson González explained, "We couldn't have done this without the support of Dr. Margaret Storey in the Dean's Office. We have all put quite a lot blood, sweat, and tears into organizing this Summer Institute. Everyone has worked so hard, and we have pulled resources and support together from across the university, so we can’t wait to meet the incoming students and introduce them to DePaul.

SUMMER INSTITUTE LEAD FACULTY 2022

JUAN MORA-TORRES

Dr. Juan Mora-Torres is an Associate Professor of Latin American History at DePaul University. A former Teamster, he has worked in the agricultural fields, canneries, and as an adult education instructor. Dr. Mora-Torres has a long history of working with community organizations and cultural groups. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He teaches courses on Latin American, Mexican, Latina/o and Chicana/o history, including Discover Chicago. His research and writings focus on the history of the U.S.- Mexican borderlands, Mexican migration, popular culture, social movements, working class formations, and Mexicans in Chicago. The author of The Making of the Mexican Border, he is currently working on two book projects Mexicans in Babylon: Barrio Making in Chicago’s West Side, 1917-1983 and “Me voy pa’l norte (I’m Going North)”: The First Great Mexican Migration, 1880-1940.”

MONICA REYES

Dr. Monica Reyes is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Writing & Discourse Studies at DePaul University. She is a proud HSI graduate of The University of Texas-Brownsville where she received her B.A. and M.A. degree in English. After teaching for several years at a community college as well as The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, she obtained a PhD in English Studies (Cultural Rhetorics) from Old Dominion University. Prior to her time at DePaul, Dr. Reyes’ teaching was recognized in 2019-20 with the highly selective University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award. Dr. Reyes’ scholarship is inspired by her ongoing volunteer work with people seeking asylum in the U.S. Her research aims to understand the rhetorical practices that support immigrants’ efforts to tell required stories about asylum experience. Her scholarship has led to an ongoing initiative to partner writing teachers with people seeking asylum who require help with the written portion of their asylum claim. Her research has been featured most recently in Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing & Culture (2020); Postcolonial Text (2019); as well as the news outlet Latino Rebels. In addition, Dr. Reyes received the Short-Term Research Publication Grant from the American Association of University Women for her book project, Shelter Rhetorics: Storytelling within the U.S. Asylum Process.