AAHHE Webinars
AAHHE Graduate Student Fellowship Program (GSFP) Workshop
Last Call: GSFP Application Workshop & Open Q&A
Thursday, March 19, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT
Description
This interactive workshop is designed to support prospective GSFP applicants as they prepare to submit their applications. Participants will have the opportunity to receive real-time guidance, ask final questions, and gain clarity on any part of the application process. Whether someone needs feedback, reassurance, or simply a community check-in before hitting submit, this session is meant to offer support and affirmation.
Members of the GSFP Leadership Team and current Fellows will be present to provide insight, answer questions, and reinforce that applicants’ stories — in all their complexity — belong in this space.
Takeaway
Attendees will leave with refined applications, renewed confidence, and the understanding that applying to the GSFP is not just a process, but an invitation into a movement rooted in community and justice.
Panelists
 Cydney Caradonna ('25)
AAHHE GSFP Co-Chair (2025-2027)
Doctoral Fellow, Black Feminist Eco Lab
PhD Candidate, University of Utah
 Mitzi Ceballos ('24)
PhD Candidate, Writing and Rhetoric
University of Utah
 Stacey Speller ('24)
AAHHE GSFP Co-Chair (2024-2026)
Howard University
AAHHE Outstanding Dissertation Award (ODA) Webinar
Transfer Conocimientos: Understanding the Pre-Transfer Experiences of Latina/o/x Community College Students Through a Family-Centered Approach
Thursday, April 23, 2026
2:00 - 3:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PT
 Ivan Valdovinos Gutierrez, PhD
Director of HSI STEM Exito
San Diego Miramar College
Dissertation Title: Transfer Conocimientos: Understanding the Pre-Transfer Experiences of Latina/o/x Community College Students Through a Family-Centered Approach
Degree Discipline: Education
Degree Granting Institution: University of California San Diego
Description
Despite enrolling over one million Latina/o/x students annually, only 2% of California Community College students transfer within two years. Using platicas and familial testimonios, this study examines family-centered transfer decision-making. Findings show that transfer choices are shaped by culture, family obligations, systemic barriers, and practical constraints, while families provided critical emotional, practical, and advocacy support. The study challenges deficit views and advances an equity-minded, family-centered framework for understanding Latina/o/x transfer success.
AAHHE Outstanding Dissertation Award (ODA) Webinar
Fight, Flight, or Fatigue: Examining How Latino/x Men Develop Validating Mentoring Relationships to Overcome Institutional Racism in Ph.D. Programs
Thursday, May 14, 2026
3:00 - 4:00 PM ET / 12:00 - 1:00 PM PT
 Edgar Lopez, PhD
Research Analyst
Institute for Higher Education Policy
Dissertation Title: Fight, Flight, or Fatigue: Examining How Latino/x Men Develop Validating Mentoring Relationships to Overcome Institutional Racism in Ph.D. Programs
Degree Discipline: Urban Education Policy
Degree Granting Institution: University of Southern California
Description
This dissertation examines how Latino/x men in social science Ph.D. programs develop validating faculty-student mentorships to navigate institutional racism and doctoral socialization. Through interviews with 18 students at R-1 universities, the study highlights mentorship strategies, key validating experiences, and barriers shaped by racial microaggressions and systemic bias. Introducing the concept of faculty aspiration fatigue, findings reveal how discrimination exacerbates self-doubt, risks of program attrition, and challenges in pursuing the professoriate, with recommendations for improving doctoral retention and equity.
AAHHE Outstanding Dissertation Award (ODA) Webinar
(In)Visibilities in the U.S. Imperial Academy: Central American Knowledge Production Outside of Disciplinary Borders
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
2:00 - 3:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PT
 Eileen Michelle Gálvez, PhD
Independent Scholar
Colorado State University
Dissertation Title: (In)Visibilities in the U.S. Imperial Academy: Central American Knowledge Production Outside of Disciplinary Borders
Degree Discipline: Higher Education
Degree Granting Institution: Colorado State University
Description
Eileen’s dissertation is a transdisciplinary ethnographic study co-constructed with U.S. Central American faculty to examine how they experience and navigate social and epistemic invisibilities. Its critical qualitative design employed Central American-informed methods–including research accompaniment, diasporic storytelling, and Black and Indigenous Central American feminist practices of re/memory– to analyze oral histories, cultural artifacts, and archival documents. The study’s findings reveal interconnectivities between coloniality, (in)visibilities, the U.S. Empire, and its academy. It also offers testimonial narratives of resistance and epistemic sovereignty, illustrates ancestral archival methodologies that promote intergenerational healing, and articulates a Black Central American Caribbean consciousness that constructs liberatory, diasporic futurities.
To view previous AAHHE webinars, please visit here. If you have any questions about our webinars, please contact [email protected].
|
