It takes a village to raise a dissertation. 

Fortunately, for Aldo Barrita, that village has doubled in size thanks to the 2022-23 Crossing Latinidades Mentorship program and research fellowship.

“The fellowship supports students through the first year of their (dissertation) proposal phase. As a fellow, I get to work with a faculty committee that is external to the faculty committee I have at UNLV. They’re a great additional resource,” said the fourth-year psychological and brain sciences Ph.D. student.  

As a Mellon Fellow, Barrita received a $30,000 fellowship plus tuition, giving him the freedom to focus solely on his dissertation this academic year. All virtual, the program connects fellows and faculty mentors, providing resources for everything from brainstorming research approaches to properly citing sources. Program participants will also work on a yearlong project together.

“We’re all collaborators on the project. We’re not treated as research assistants, but rather colleagues,” said Barrita. “When the program is over, the students will have that network already established if they stay in that line of work.”

The fellowship comes on the heels of Barrita completing the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Initiative Summer Institute, which took place at the University of Illinois Chicago over the summer. 

With a goal of expanding participants’ views of the field of Latino humanities studies, the inaugural Summer Institute brought together more than 30 pre-dissertation Ph.D. students from across the country for lectures, workshops, and presentations on Latino humanities studies research methodologies and theoretical frameworks.   

Professors Help Guide Grad Student Toward Opportunities

Barrita, who was the only student to represent UNLV at the institute, said it was a privilege to attend and credits his academic advisor, psychology professor Gloria Wong-Padoongpatt, and endorsers, professors Shane Kraus of psychology and Anjala Krishen of marketing, for the opportunity. 

“There was a network of 20 or 25 scholars whose work we’d all read, who came from different institutions and fields to speak with us in seminar or panel settings,” he said. “At a large conference, everyone’s really spread out, but this was unique. It was small enough that we had the privilege of getting to know the professors personally, of having engaging conversations with them.” 
 
Wong-Padoongpatt, who has worked with Barrita for three years, encouraged him to apply for the Summer Institute. 
 
"Aldo has already accrued a long list of accomplishments from publications, to top grades, to leadership positions, which has already set him apart from his peers. And while Aldo was already poised to be successful, the additional support that focuses on methodologies and theories specifically for Latino/a/x communities provided by the Summer Institute will propel him in this graduate program and better equip him with skills to move the field," Wong-Padoongpatt said. 

Ensuring Underrepresented Students Complete Advanced Degrees

The student participants hailed from more than 15 Hispanic-Serving Institutions and many disciplines, including history, sociology, psychology, and Latinx studies.

“There’s literature out there about how we need to get more Latinx students into doctoral programs; but the other side of that is, even when Latinx students are getting into doctoral programs, some of them are not finishing. The Summer Institute is an initiative by these Hispanic-Serving Institutions to receive funding by the Mellon Foundation and send a few of their Latinx students every year so it’ll help shape their dissertation,” said Barrita. 

Barrita’s dissertation will expand on his master’s thesis, which looked at how immigration status can be weaponized in everyday conversations based on racial or ethnic assumptions. His dissertation will focus exclusively on Latinx immigrants; and, even more specifically, on forced migrants from Mexico and Central America. 

“In the Summer Institute, I learned that looking at Latinx immigrants is still too broad, so that’s why now I plan to look at Mexican and Central American forced migrants,” he said. “Through focus group interviews, I hope to learn what their experience was like when they came to the United States, if they faced discrimination or oppression, and how immigrants develop their identity. I’m a little nervous because it feels intimidating to go out and collect the data from zero again, but I feel passionate to get it done.”

Barrita’s future plans include staying in academia. 

“I have really enjoyed being able to mentor students at UNLV. I met a lot of students when I was looking for research assistants, and many of them want to go to grad school but don’t know how to get there. A lot are first-generation students. Having the power to move the needle, even just a little, has been so rewarding. I would continue to have that opportunity as a professor, and I’d still be able to do research. It will be very rewarding long-term,” he said.