Graduate Alum in the Spotlight

Irasema Coronado is a Ph.D. graduate from 1998 in comparative politics, focusing primarily on the role of trans-boundary political elites on the U.S.-Mexico border and public policy. She is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, a contributing faculty member of the Environmental Science and Engineering Ph.D. program, and recently appointed Associate Provost, at The University of Texas at El Paso, effective 15 July 2008. She is co-author of the book titled Fronteras No Mas: Toward Social Justice at the U.S.-Mexico Border and several academic articles "Conflictos Ambientales Internacionales e Intranacionales," "Legal Solutions vs Environmental Realities: The Case of the United States-Mexico Border Region." She has co-edited Digame! Policy and Politics on the Texas Border. Presently, she is co-authoring a book on Latina Firsts in Texas Politics to be published by UT-Austin Press in 2008. She served as a member of the Environmental Protection Agency Good Neighbor Environmental Board from 1999-2002 and co-chair of the Coalition Against Violence Toward Women and Children on the Border. Her research interests continue to evolve around the role of women in politics and cross-border cooperation at the local level on the U.S.-Mexico border. She is currently the recipient of a Border Fulbright and is teaching and researching at the Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez. She served as Associate Dean of the Liberal Arts College for three years.

Jeff J. Corntassel (Cherokee Nation, Wolf Clan), received his Ph.D. in 1998 and recently was promoted with tenure as Associate Professor. Jeff is also Graduate Advisor in the Indigenous Governance Program at the University of Victoria (British Colombia, Canada). Professor Corntassel's research and teaching interests include global Indigenous rights, Indigenous political mobilization/social movements, and international law/organizations. In his previous appointment at Virginia Tech, he was Associate Director of the Race and Social Policy Research Center and co-founded the first American Indian Studies program in the Commonwealth of Virginia by establishing partnerships with Virginia's eight state-recognized Indigenous nations. Corntassel was awarded the Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Professor of the Year award in 1997/98 and 2000/01 and served as the Cherokee Nation delegate to the annual meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1999 and 2000. His current book project, entitled Forced Federalism: Contemporary Challenges to American Indian Sovereignty (Forthcoming, 2008- University of Oklahoma Press), examines how American Indians mobilize politically in the 1990's as they encounter threats to their autonomy at the state and federal levels of governance. Jeff's current research projects focus on Peoplehood and Indigenous Governance and his research has been published in: Ayaangwaamizin, Global Governance, Human Rights Quarterly, Nationalism and Ethnic Studies, and Social Science Journal.

Gabriel R. Sanchez received his Ph.D. in May 2005 and is currently serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico. He has published articles in Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, and Social Science Quarterly. In addition, he has three forthcoming articles in American Politics Quarterly and two in Social Science Quarterly. Professor Sanchez also recently published his first book with Professor F. Chris Garcia, entitled, Hispanics in the Political System: Moving Into The Mainstream (Prentice Hall Press, 2008). His works in progress includes four submissions (two revised and resubmits), a co-book manuscript project tentatively accepted by the University of Arizona Press, and two papers. He recently received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant to pursue his research focused on public support for health care reform in New Mexico; and serves as a faculty associate with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy.

John Garcia Minority Fellows Program

The department has just received word that ICPSR and APSA's Political Methodology Section are establishing the "John Garcia Minority Fellows Program" to provide fee waivers to select minority students to attend the ICPSR Summer Program.An announcement calling for nominations should be made soon. Congratulations to John for this well deserved honor!

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