COMMUNITY
I consider myself a scholar-teacher-activist. I am actively involved in professional associations and have held various elected positions in the National Women's Studies Association, the Pacific Sociological Association, and Sociologists for Women in Society. At UCR, I have been involved in the UCR Guardian Scholars Program, which supports emancipated foster youth who are in college, since its inception. I am also a member of the steering committee for UCR's LIFTED Program, which expands access to higher education in prisons. UCR LIFTED will be welcoming our first cohort of students at the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) state prison in Norco, CA, in fall, 2025. These students will be able to earn a UCR Bachelors degree in Education.
In addition to teaching at UCR, I volunteer teaching English language learners (ELLs) through the San Gabriel Valley Literacy Council. My class meetings with students learning English are a highlight of each week.
Since 2012, I have been involved in advocating for animal shelter abolition and helping companion animals without homes find homes. I am a board member and an adoption coordinator for a Los Angeles-area rescue organization and have fostered dozens of dogs, mostly pit bulls, without homes until they were adopted.
I support and am involved in a range of connected social movements, including animal abolition, anti-racism, anti-militarism, immigration rights, feminism, and queer justice. I question the inevitability of capitalism and believe a different, better world is possible.
Photo: Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the UCR Guardian Scholars with alumnae. Courtesy of T. Yates.
Photo description: Three women are standing together, their arms behind each others' backs as they pose for this black-and-white photo in front of a table with balloons and gift bags on it. Only the women's bodies from their mid-thighs up are visible. The women are all smiling. The woman to the far left is a Black woman with her hair pulled back in a headband. She is wearing a light-colored blouse with a long sweater-jacket on over it, and dark pants. She seems to be holding something in her right hand. She appears to be shorter and thinner than the other two women. The woman in the middle is a Black woman with short hair that curls into her face. She is wearing dark-rimmed square-ish glasses, a shirt with a geometric print on it, and light-colored pants. The woman on the far right is a white woman with short hair and glasses that look almost frameless. She is wearing a textured blouse and light-colored pants.
Photo description: Three women are standing together, their arms behind each others' backs as they pose for this black-and-white photo in front of a table with balloons and gift bags on it. Only the women's bodies from their mid-thighs up are visible. The women are all smiling. The woman to the far left is a Black woman with her hair pulled back in a headband. She is wearing a light-colored blouse with a long sweater-jacket on over it, and dark pants. She seems to be holding something in her right hand. She appears to be shorter and thinner than the other two women. The woman in the middle is a Black woman with short hair that curls into her face. She is wearing dark-rimmed square-ish glasses, a shirt with a geometric print on it, and light-colored pants. The woman on the far right is a white woman with short hair and glasses that look almost frameless. She is wearing a textured blouse and light-colored pants.