Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change: Stories of Relational Organizing on Campus and Beyond
An Imagining America virtual Teaching and Learning Circle event
Thursday September 7, 2023
12:00-1:00pm PST
In this virtual Imagining America Teaching and Learning Circle (TLC), Maria Avila will engage in conversation about her new book Building Collective Leadership for Culture Change: Stories of relational organizing on campus and beyond (2023). She will be joined by book collaborator Celestina Castillo, Joanna B. Perez, and Scott Peters, co-editor of Cornell University Press’s book series: Publicly Engaged Scholars: Identities, Purposes, Practices.
Maria Avila, Independent Consultant and scholar, formerly Associate Professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills
Maria Avila is an independent consultant and scholar, formerly associate professor of social work at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She is currently a fellow with the Urban Institute. She was the founding director of the Center for Community Based Learning at Occidental College and was there from 2001 to 2011. She is the founder of the Southern California Organizing Cluster, formerly affiliated to Imagining America. She is the author of Transformative Civic Engagement through Community Organizing and several other publications.
Celestina Castillo, Executive Director, Center for Community Based Learning, Occidental College
Celestina Castillo is the Executive Director of the Center for Community Based Learning at Occidental College. She was involved with the Southern California Cluster from the beginning and is co-author of a chapter in Maria’s new book titled Regional Organizing for Culture Change, that talks about the cluster and its approach to creating culture change. She is currently a doctoral student at UCLA’s Gender Studies program with a concentration in American Indian Studies, and the author/co-author of several publications.
Joanna B. Perez, Associate Professor of Sociology at California State University, Dominguez Hills
Joanna B. Perez is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Interim Director of the Office of First-and Second-Year Student Experiences at CSUDH. She is coauthor of a chapter in Avila’s book entitled “Reimagining Civic Engagement and Academia,” which is focused on integrating arts, humanities, and design in community engaged courses. Her research lies at the intersection of immigration, family, education, and social movements.
Scott Peters, Professor, Department of Global Development, Cornell University
Scott Peters is professor in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. He is co-founder and co-editor of Cornell’s new book series: Publicly Engaged Scholars: Identities, Purposes, Practices. Scott was co-director of Imagining America from 2012 to 2017. He is the author of several publications, including his most recent one In the Struggle: Scholars and the Fight against Industrial Agrobusiness in California
Funding has been provided by California Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
