The Mellon Family


Our new cohort was announced in Spring 2009. We are tremendously excited to add these undergraduate scholars to the Mellon Mays family here at UC Berkeley.


Sonia Gutierrez '11
Sonia Gutierrez joins the 2009 MMUF cohort as a transfer student pursuing Anthropology. Through MMUF, Sonia hopes to conduct research in osteology or pathology, specifically researching the effects of extreme diet and exercise on the human skeleton. Among Sonia's accolades includes the 2009 Phi Theta Kappa All-California Academic Team, 2009 Coca-Cola Silver Scholar, and the 2009 Academic Excellence Award in Anthropology. She demonstrates her commitment to the community through many of her volunteer activities as a tutor and fundraiser. Sonia hopes to continue her commitment to students by starting out as a community college professor after receiving her doctorate in Forensic Anthropology, and later teaching at a four-year institution while working as a medicolegal consultant. She plans to become involved with the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley, dedicating time and effort to human rights cases at home and abroad.


Daniela Jimenez '11
Daniela Jimenez is a transfer student majoring in Anthropology and Ethnic Studies. As an MMUF scholar, Daniela will explore the effects of globalization on indigenous communities, specifically how the Mayan communities in Guatemala face difficulties conserving their culture and knowledge when exposed to Western thought. Daniela compliments her academic interests through her participation in student organizations that work toward the support, education and dissemination of Chicana/ Latina and Native American women's issues, such as Xinaxtli and Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS, Women Active in Letters and Social Change). She plans to earn her doctorate in either Ethnic Studies or American Studies and provide support for other students of color who are pursuing higher education.


Jacqueline Larios '11
As a History major and English minor, Jacqueline Larios joins the 2009 MMUF cohort with the intent to study and research France's Political and Industrial Revolution and its effects on other countries. Jacqueline is a highly motivated young scholar demonstrated by her achievements as a Regent's and Chancellor's Scholar for Academic Distinction. As an enthusiastic mentor to low-income and minority students, she dedicates her time to the community through her participation in Circle K and as a mentor and Social Coordinator at Longfellow Middle School through Project S.M.I.L.E. Through MMUF, she is confident to receive the intellectual support to develop her natural curiosity in History and become a Professor of History.


Ernesto Lopez '11
Ernesto Lopez is a Rhetoric major joining MMUF. Under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Wintroub of the Department of Rhetoric, he plans to examine the intrinsic relation between the rhetorical figure of occulta and reification as fetish, and how this relation comes to view within normative social and scientific discussions; particularly discussions of genetics and race. Through his research as he sets his goals towards earning a Ph. D. in Rhetoric or Philosophy, he hopes to further articulate and provide active theoretical reflections which seek to examine practical problems within academic discourse.


Jasmine Smith '11
Jasmine Smith is an American Studies major and Education minor joining the 2009 MMUF cohort to study the effect of neighborhood, environment, and cultural background on the lifestyles and professional success of African American youth and young adults. As an Assistant Director of the Black Recruitment and Retention Center at UC Berkeley, Jasmine participates in outreach efforts to middle school, high school, and community college African American students to encourage the pursuit of higher education. Because of Jasmine's love for her heritage and academia, she aspires to earn a doctoral degree in African American Studies and educate and empower others about issues pertinent to the Black community in the future.



Our Inaugural MMUF cohort was selected in the Fall of 2008. They represent a variety of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences and include both transfer and continuing students. They are students with great promise and, through programs such as the MMUF program, will later become scholars of the highest distinction.


Cecilia Caballero '10
Cecilia Caballero is a double major in English and Chicano Studies. Under the faculty mentorship of Dr. Genaro Padilla, Cecilia is interested in studying the comparisons between Californian Native American and Mexican American biography and narrative in the Bancroft archives. She is also interested in researching the colonial Mexican origins of La Virgen de Guadalupe/Tonantzin and her representation in contemporary Chicano/Chicana literature and poetry. Through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, Cecilia wants to pursue opportunities that will help advance her studies at the doctoral level, eventually becoming a professor in ethnic and Chicano/Latino literature. Cecilia Caballero is a Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar, an active resource for community college students through Transfer Colectiva, an intern for the Chicano/Latino Student Development Office, a discussion section leader for Other Voices (an ethnic literature course), and is a published poet and short fiction writer.


Eliazar Chacha '10
Eliazar Chacha is an African American Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies double major who joins the UC Berkeley MMUF program under the faculty mentorship of Professor Percy Hintzen in the Department of African American Studies to study the effects of globalization in relation to the Middle Passage. As an aspiring doctoral student in African American Studies, Eliazar is motivated to someday contribute as a professor who educates students about the intersection between international laws and race in the United States. Eliazar will be conducting research in the Caribbean delving into the motivations of skin lightening. He is passionate about contributing to the community through his involvement as a tutor for Longfellow, King, and Willard Middle Schools, introducing sports and tutoring to young, underprivileged African American and Latino males.


Jarvis Givens '10
Jarvis Givens is a Business and African American Studies double major joining the inaugural MMUF cohort to conduct a historical survey of Black Masculinity during the Black Power movement under the faculty mentorship of Dr. Ula Taylor of the African American Studies Department. As an exemplary student committed to the community, Jarvis is passionately involved with community service activities as president of Alpha Phi Alpha, as program director of a minority mentor program(Berkeley Scholars to Cal), and as a mentor for Kipp Middle School. He is a Gates Millenium scholar in addition to receiving the Freshman and Sophomore of the Year awards, the Distinguished Collegian Award, and the Naomi Sewell Richardson Scholarship through his community service involvement and academic achievement. Jarvis wants to continue bringing social change in the community and the classroom as he strives to pursue African American Studies for his graduate studies.


Teresa Jimenez '10
Teresa joins the inaugural UC Berkeley MMUF cohort as an English major and Creative Writing minor, with a particular interest in minority and multicultural literature. Under the guidance of Dr. José Saldivar, she plans to research the cultural theories of W.E.B. Dubois (double consciousness) and Gloria Anzaldua (mestiza consciousness), in relation to the narrative fictions of Toni Morrison and Sandra Cisneros. She ultimately intends to become a Professor of English, and looks forward to this role as an opportunity to inspire and encourage students of color, and other minorities, to pursue their own academic and creative inspirations. Teresa tutors non-native English speakers in her community, and helps recruit for the Transfer Alliance Project, which assists underrepresented minorities in applying and successfully matriculating to UC Berkeley. She has published poetry in Penumbra (Cal State Stanislaus, 2007), and CLAM (UC Berkeley, 2008).


Diana Sandoval '10
Diana Sandoval is a first generation college student pursuing a double major in Native American Studies and Ethnic Studies. Her interest in the effects of the US-Mexico border militarization to the Tohono O'odham Reservation motivated her to pursue the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship under the faculty mentorship of Dr. J. Diane Pearson in Native American Studies. She hopes for the MMUF experience to serve as an introductory platform for her ultimate plans of completing a doctorate in American Indian Studies. In the future, she aspires to become a professor as a way of helping communities of color. Diana Sandoval is a Gates Millenium Scholar and is involved with Centro Legal de la Raza.


National Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
     http://www.mmuf.org/

Social Science Research Council
     http://www.mellonmays.ssrc.org