A Brown Girl and A White Girl: The Podcast

We interview our very own resident Brown Girl! Diana Magaña is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Education at UC Santa Barbara and fellow co-host for the " A Brown Girl and a White Girl" podcast. Diana received a B.A. in English and a B.A. in Education Sciences from UC Irvine and an M.A. in Sociology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She was an Administrative Assistant for a TRIO Upward Bound program for a year prior to beginngin her doctoral degree. Her research interests largely revolve around the postsecondary experiences of first-generation Latinx college students, with a specific focus on how systems of support, whether they be social or institutional, influence the postsecondary experiences of first-generation Latina/o/x students and their eventual success. Her current research focuses on the relationships between first-generation Latina students and the role that parents and familial support play in undergraduate postsecondary experiences. In her free time, Diana enjoys binge watching family focused TV dramas, cross stitching, and keeping up with the British royals.

Melissa Gordon Wolf is a Quantitative Researcher and Psychometrician. Melissa is broadly interested in the application of statistics to the social sciences and her work has focused on the intenionaity behind the design, validation, and analysis of surveys and self-report assessments. She is passionate about bridging qualitative feedback to surveys with quantitative measures to improve data collection. When Melissa is not deep in her coding and numbers, she can be found taking long walks on the beach with her dog or playing any outdoor sport with friends. Website: melissagwolf.com

Travis Candieas is a Ph.D. (candidate) at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Candieas’s research focuses on the alignment of policy, practice, and experience particularly within educational contexts. His projects span globally with higher education research and evaluation partners located in the U.S. and Latin America. Additionally, he is developing methodologies for reducing bias in large administrative data sets and policy analysis by combining machine learning and causal inference. Travis’s research interests are inspired by his experiences growing up on a dairy farm in Northern California and simultaneously navigating public policies and educational institutions as the first in his family.

Isaac Castro is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Education under the Policy, Leadership and Research Methods emphasis. Working with advisors Dr. Jeff Milem and Dr. Sharon Conley, his research focuses on equity and higher education more broadly, and diverse university leaders more specifically. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Sociology in 2010 prior to serving in Americorps through Communities in Schools of Greater Phoenix. He then returned to the SF Bay Area to lead an after school program before making the shift to higher education as the PPIA Director and Student Services Advisor at the Goldman School of Public Policy. Isaac has also received MAs in Higher Education, Administration and Leadership from Fresno State and Education (Policy, Leadership and Research Methods) here at UCSB. Currently, he works as a graduate research assistant for Dean Jeff Milem and Dr. Rebeca Rios, as well as a teaching assistant in the departments of Sociology and Education. His latest research takes a critical approach to understanding how university leaders preside over institutions with diverse student bodies. http://www.linkedin.com/in/isaac-castro

Fátima is an undocumented first generation mujer with roots in Michoacán, México and Oakland, CA. She is a third year PhD Student in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UCSB. Fátima is a double UCSB alumni, receiving her BA in Latin American & Iberian Studies and her MA in Education. Fátima's research looks at the way that institutions of higher education serve and support undocumented college students. She is interested in looking at undocumented students holistically and looking at their needs to survive institutions that tend to other them.

Michael W. Moses II is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education & Qualitative Methods at the University of California, Riverside's School of Education. His research examines the experiences of students and scholars of color, the racialized implications of qualitative research methods, and academic writing and professional development. He is from the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia and played NCAA Division II soccer. When he's not scholaring, you can find him teaching yoga, opining about pop culture, and relishing in his newfound love for tacos.

Hannah Amann (she/her) is a small business owner located in La Crosse, WI. She is a freelancer who works across various projects in different industries all at the same time. Before becoming a creative consultant, she received an MA in Postsecondary Education from the University of Northern Iowa and managed events in the wedding industry. She has a passion for helping to further develop and empower groups of people along with inclusive language. In her downtime, she enjoys taking her dog on walks, mini-golfing with her partner/husband, playing board games, and reading books while eating ice cream.

Join us as we talk with Somer about finding happiness and advocating for yourself in graduate school. Somer Levine is a fourth year doctoral student at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education with a focus in literacy. Somer can be found brainstorming ways to demystify the process of learning to read for elementary students and parents, developing stewards of the ocean through marine-focused elementary reading instruction, and leading public school reform in BIPOC communities. Somer’s current research explores how parental and teacher perspectives on elementary reading align and differ in Spanish dominant schools. Somer is a first-gen college student, a state licensed reading specialist, and the first in her family to pursue a doctoral degree. She earned an Ed.M. in Reading Education from Boston University in 2012, her M.A. in Secondary Education from Loyola Marymount University in 2008, and B.A. in English from UC Santa Barbara in 2006. Somer is a mom to two brilliant elementary kiddos. In her free time she enjoys kayaking with her family, gardening, and training her 9 month old puppy.

Join us this week as we discuss the slow changes of academia with Rick Castle, M.A. Rick Castle is an international PhD student at UC Santa Barbara. He received his BA in Classics in 2016 from Brock University in Ontario and an MA in Classical Studies in 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Allison Glazebrook. His work primarily looks at the reception of Greek myth in video games with a particular view to social justice and representation of marginalized peoples. His dissertation topic is focused on Supergiant’s Hades (2018), critically acclaimed for its adaptation of ancient myth for a modern audience, specifically to queer and POC communities. Rick believes that the act of storytelling, through any medium, is central to the human experience and that any work of reception closes the distance between the past and present – an effect that Hades accomplishes with nuanced adaptions of ancient texts for a contemporary audience. Millions of people are more likely to engage with Greek myth through works of reception rather than read the source material, and his research both acknowledges the importance of popular culture’s engagement with Greek myth, as well as tackles the question of how creators and artists can do so in the most responsible way in order to illuminate the past while honoring the people of the present and future.

Janna is an incoming fifth year PhD candidate in the UCSB History Department, with an MA in South Asian Studies from the University of Washington. Janna's research specifically looks at transnational anticolonial activism and immigration restrictions and denaturalization as means of clarifying US racial construction in the early twentieth century. As such, she lives in the fields of US Legal History, Modern South Asian History, and Asian American Studies. Follow Us on Instagram or Facebook!

Alexis Spina is a UX Researcher for Amazon Web Services, where she specializes in uncovering user behavior, needs, and motivations to make products and services more delightful for customers. Prior to working in tech, Alexis was a graduate student at UCSB, where she pursued her research interests in STEM education, specifically preparing preservice mathematics teachers. With 10 years of K-12 teaching experience, Alexis' true passion is in education and she hopes to return to the field in some form one day. In the meantime, she's enjoying life in tech and how it supports her to spend quality time with her husband, pursue pottery, and spoil her two nieces.  Instagram: @bgandwg Facebook: @bgandwg

Antar A. Tichavakunda is Assistant Professor of Education at the University of California Santa Barbara. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Tichavakunda is a product of DC Public Schools. His first book, Black Campus Life: The Worlds Black Students Make at a Historically White Institution, is published with SUNY Press. Tichavakunda enjoys watching anime, eating soul food (especially savory grits), and writing in cafes.

Get to know your resident Brown Girl & White Girl and what our podcast is all about! Bringing you advice, stories, and banter about graduate school and beyond - you won't want to miss the release of our first episode on September 5! Instagram: @bgandwg