The University of North Texas College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences faculty Dr. Alicia Re Cruz with the Department of Anthropology and colleagues, Dr. Shahla Alai-Rosales and Isabel Cunningham from the Department of Behavior Analysis received a $10,000 grant from the Lupe Murchison Foundation.
The purpose of funding will be used to field test Crianza en ArmonÃa, a bilingual program for Latino families with newly diagnosed children with autism. This work will be Isabel's dissertation and continues the line of research on culturally responsive interventions in the Community and Social Justice Lab at UNT.
"This award is one of the products of a long collaboration trajectory with the Social Justice Lab", said Re Cruz. "I'm excited to work with Shahla and Isabel", echoed Re Cruz.
Dr. Re Cruz is a full professor in the anthropology department with expertise in the areas of Applied Anthropology, Anthropological Theory, Immigration (USA and EU), Intercultural Education, Latinos in Texas, Indigenous Peasants and Migrants, Yucatec Maya, and Mexico-Latin America.
She is the author of Two Milpas of Chan Kom: A Study of Socioeconomic and Political Transformations in a Maya Community (1996) and the video producer of an ethnographic documentary The Maya Dreams of Chan Kom (2006). She has authored numerous articles on indigenous and transnational migration and is currently a member of an international and interdisciplinary research team focused on intercultural education and school policies.
Established in 2001 and with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, the Lupe Murchison Foundation focuses primarily on support to qualified organizations that administer the funding of programs that provide educational and medical benefits to children, higher and other education; support also for hospitals, including a children's hospital.