The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Latina/o and Mexican American Studies program awarded Bernardo Vargas and Vanessa Ramirez recipients of the Crossing Latinidades Mellon Humanities Fellowship.

Vargas a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Philosophy and Religion was nominated by the University of North Texas and was one of the 30 Crossing Latinidades Mellon Fellowship for the 2023-2024 academic year, which is part of the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative directed by the University of Illinois Chicago.

Vargas, a current teaching assistant interests lies in Philosophy of Race, Decoloniality, Environmental Justice, Mexican-American Philosophy, Latinx Philosophy, and Social & Political Philosophy will receive a two semester and a summer term stipend totaling $30,000.

Bernardo earned his master's in philosophy from Houston Christian University and a bachelors in communication studies from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Crossing Latinidades is a cross-institutional and cross-regional comparative research training of doctoral students, and new scholarship in emerging areas of inquiry about Latinos.

About Philosophy and Religion is the home of the nation's leading Doctoral Program in environmental ethics/philosophy and the nation's first master's Program in the field.

About Latina/o and Mexican American Studies Latina/o and Mexican American Studies Program offers a 15-hour LMAS Certificate. The LMAS certificate was introduced in 2014 for the purpose of enriching student's critical thinking and cultural understanding. The certificate requires students to take two required classes (6 hours), three classes (9 hours) from at least two different departments. *

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