Embodying Servingness: UCR Chicano Student Programs

Season 3, Episode 3 takes us to the next level of understanding servingness. In this plática, I talk to 5 educators, activists, artists, poetas, and storytellers who take us on a journey to understanding the embodiment of servingness, meaning it is lived out daily in all practices and ideologies at Chicano Student Programs (CSP) at UC Riverside. CSP has been embodying servingness for 50 years by design. The campus and the entire UC system can and should follow CSP, and so should our listeners. Dra. Arlene Cano Matute, a community based scholar, practitioner and mother serves as the Assistant Director of CSP where she nurtures a comunidad that leads the way for Chicanx/Latinx student success in the UC system. In this episode we learn about the Encuentros, Student Participatory Action Research, and Testimonios(ESPARiTU) research project documenting the historical and present-day experiences and trajectories of Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x students at a UC HSRI. She is joined by 4 UCR graduates/alums, alexis meza, Ashley Nicole Diaz, Bibiana Canales, and Brenda De Angel Vega who share their stories of learning, growth, and healing under the care of their femtor Arlene, who embodies servingness con corazon. If you aren’t engaging students in HSI sensemaking, you should be, and this episode provides an example of what this looks like.

Guests:

Arlene Cano Matute (she/her/hers/ella), Assistant Director, Chicano Student Programs & PI, Encuentros, Student Participatory Action Research, and Testimonios (ESPARiTU)

Instagram: @arlene.cano1 | X: @csp_ucr 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arlene-cano-matute-ph-d-6a840679/

alexis meza (He/Him/His), Graduate Coordinator NYU Office of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging, M.A. Candidate in Higher Education at New York University

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alexismeza09

Ashley Nicole Diaz (She/Ella/They/Elle), Youth Development Specialist for DLI 1st/2nd Grade Students, H.E.A.R.T.S

Instagram: @pedazos_demi_alma

Bibiana Canales (she/they) 

Brenda De Angel Vega (She/Her/Ella)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-de-angel-vega-1118a4211 

IG: @b_firebaugh

APA Citation: 

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2023, September 24). Embodying Servingness: UCR Chicano Student Programs. (No.303) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast/episode/966a6021/embodying-servingness-ucr-chicano-student-programs

Attachments / Show Notes: 

• https://csp.ucr.edu/ 
• Matute, A.C. (2022). Chicanx/Latinx Student Success at UC Riverside: Capturing the History of a Thriving Hispanic-Serving Institution (pdf). UC Hispanic-Serving Institutions Initiative. Oakland, CA.
  • https://www.ucop.edu/hsi-initiative/campuses/index.html#riverside
  • https://www.ucop.edu/hsi-initiative/events/index.html
• Cano Matute, A., “Lo Que Nace del Corazón, Siempre Crece: The Origins of Serving at a Hispanic Serving Research Institution the University of California, Riverside,” [Dissertation publication in progress] University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 2023.
• UCR Chicana/o/x Student Newspapers (ESPARiTU Action Project) 
  • Digital Collection: https://calisphere.org/collections/27876/
  • https://insideucr.ucr.edu/stories/2022/12/13/historic-chicano-student-newspaper-made-available-online
• meza, a. (2023). ‘Pintando’ a Hispanic Serving Institution: The influence of muralism on Chicanx/Latinx student experience at the University of California HSI campuses. NYU Journal of Student Affairs. https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/2023-05/JoSA-Volume19-FINAL.pdf