University of Pittsburgh issued the following announcement on Sept. 18.
The University of Pittsburgh’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month kicked off in earnest with a virtual town hall on Wednesday titled “What Does it Mean to be Hispanic/Latina/e/o/x in the United States?”
The focus of the discussion centered around the diversity within the Hispanic/Latinx community in the U.S.—a population of more than 60 million people representing many different ethnicities, races and identities. The panelists discussed their experiences of often being “boxed in” by racial labels and stereotypes, and they also shared different aspects of what makes their culture so unique.
In opening remarks, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher said that growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, allowed him to witness the “incredible diversity” of the Latinx community firsthand.
“For me, this is a celebration worth having,” he said. “It’s about celebrating the vibrancy and richness of this incredibly broad umbrella of cultures, languages and ethnicities that represent this community.”
Moderated by Gina Garcia, associate professor in the School of Education, and Marialexia Zaragoza, a School of Education doctoral student, the panelists represented diverse backgrounds within the Hispanic and Latinx community:
- Antonio Ponce-Meza, an undergraduate student in Pitt’s School of Computing and Information
- Briana Rodriguez, a doctoral student in Pitt’s School of Education
- Shenay Jeffrey, assistant director of PittServes in Student Affairs
- Kenya Dworkin, associate professor, in Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Modern Languages, Hispanic Studies
- Bianca DeJesus from Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion
- Cathy Bazán-Arias, senior engineer at consulting firm DiGioia Gray
- Iván Cao-Berg, research software specialist at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
- Samyd S. Bustos, a postdoctoral research fellow at Pitt/UPMC
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