Everyone was able to take a break and rest after the rigorous Fall
semester. A few of the graduate students at UWL were fortunate enough
to be able to travel in the United States as well as abroad! Read their
articles to get a snapshot of their experiences! We are all excited for the
new semester. First year students are glad to have their first semester
finished and second year students are counting down the days until
graduation!
@UWLSAAORG
#saa705
#SAABuddies
#SAAConnect
Over J-Term I traveled around Thailand for
three weeks. I was exposed to a new world of
culture, religion, and food. I spent my time
pretty equally between Bangkok, Hua Hin and
Chiang Mai. Bangkok is the largest city I've
ever traveled to. I went on canal rides and
toured Wats (temples) around the city. I also
had fun shopping and visiting sky bars in
Bangkok including Lebua, the sky bar featured
in The Hangover 2. The highlight in Hua Hin
was hiking into Phraya Nakhon Cave. This cave
has an open "roof" with beautiful flora surrounding a temple constructed by monks.
The materials were carried by foot over two mountains. My favorite part of the trip
involved a visit to an elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai. I learned so much about Asian
elephants and their history in Thai culture. I had the opportunity to feed, wash, and
ride an elephant bareback.
Over the break my friends and I decided to
take a road trip to New York City to
celebrate the New Year! The drive to the
city took us more than 15 hours, luckily we
all took shifts driving so some of us could
rest. We arrived at the hotel in the
afternoon on December 30th! We set out
exploring the city as soon as possible. We
walked around Times Square, watched a
street performance in Grand Central Park,
took a boat tour around the statue of
liberty, and we celebrated New Year’s Eve!
It was an exciting trip that was full of
wonderful experiences. In the massive
crowd of people I even ran into a family
from La Crosse, what are the odds?!
Turkey was a phenomenal experience. This was a trip that was intended to be centered around
visiting a friend from undergrad who was in Turkey for a Fulbright scholarship and meeting a long
time pen pal. It resulted in meeting a cell of the Turkish gay community in Istanbul, hanging out with
Syrian refugees who are a part of the Syrian Opposition Government, and teaching at an extremely
conservative University in Nigde, Turkey. Istanbul being a more liberal city presented quite the
contrast. A hefty portion of the Nigde students identified as strict Muslims, presenting similar
conservative judgments on things such as women's rights, LGBT issues, and in this case Americans,
in that there is a strong chance they resemble Donald Trump. Student Affairs exists if you venture to
the website of the university, but many students had absolutely no awareness. This university is
very much a weekday university with many students going home on weekends or partying and not
necessarily caring about on campus activities. Overall the contrast in politics reflects the United
States all too well. While in Nigde, I met with a professor that was very secretive about meeting and
discussing things such as the terrible treatment of the Kurdish people or even the Armenian
genocide, two instances that depending on how extreme your rhetoric was, could land you in jail.
However, in Istanbul, my friend openly discussed these politics on a crowded train while quizzing
me about American politics, with the same potential consequences looming all around. There is
always the genuine curiosity about American culture and a desire to learn, about the culture or
English. I do have students who still talk to me, some daily, wishing to improve their English and just
to learn. If anyone is interested in becoming a potential contact to talk Turkish undergraduate
students to help improve their language (potentially via skype or other social media) please feel free
to contact me and we can connect with the university and set up various boundaries as well.
Updates from the SAA Department:
1. The EdD program has been approved and will launch in the summer of 2017.
2. The SAA London tour is being planned for January 2017. We are currently writing the proposal and
itinerary. Stay tuned for more info.
3. SAA Visit Day is on Thursday, February 18. It will include orientation, program interviews, a
campus tour, lunch, and a graduate assistantship fair. There will also be a social at Howie's on La
Crosse at 5:00pm. We can't wait to meet prospective students!
I am excited to share news regarding my book which was published in December: Latina/o College
Student Leadership: Emerging Theory, Promising Practice (Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield).
My work in the area of multicultural student affairs over the past 20 years, along with my research
on the experiences of Latinx first-generation college students were inspirations for this book. Latinx
students are now the largest racial/ethnic minoritized group in postsecondary education in the U.S.
(2-year and 4-year institutions). Yet very little literature is
available regarding the leadership development of this
group. This is the first volume to focus specifically on how
Latinx students define leadership and how they
experience leadership development in college.
Traditional leadership models often do not take into
consideration the knowledge, experiences, and cultural
values of Latinx college students. I hope this book will
encourage higher education staff and faculty members to
move beyond traditional notions of leadership and
support Latinx students as they navigate the college
environment while maintaining their cultural values.
For more information:
rowman.com/ISBN/9781498520225/Latina-o-CollegeStudent-Leadership-Emerging-Theory-Promising-Practice