Professional Issues in Academia
"Learning from Latinas/os Educators About their Experience in Academia"   Learning from the past would help us build a better future. The following vignettes give us an opportunity to learn and hear from two renowned Latina and Latino professionals about their academic experience (ACA conference, Detroit, 2007).   Please click the links on the right column to see the vignettes.   Dr. Carlos P. Zalaquett University of South Florida
Dr. G. Miguel Arciniega Arizona State University   "From being the "lonely only" to developing networks with other Latinos across campus and across the country to get support took much time and energy over a lifetime career where I had to learn by trying ---which was trying. Certainly I didn't get any mentoring from the mainstream”               The lack of mentors available at the beginning of my career and the pressure to provide input for all minorities or Latinos was an exercise in futility. Then, to be confronted with being hired because I was Latino; and to direct a minority training project and be asked by my own community "how Chicano are you," was very difficult. I couldn't speak for all minorities and had no idea as to how to answer my Chicano community how Chicano I was and this constituted additional challenges. In addition the request to serve on every committee that needed a "nominal" minority representative both in the college and across campus made for being pulled in many directions with little time to develop my research which was done late at night. The emotional drain and the psychological toll this took was a major challenge that I was not prepared for.	Dr. G. Miguel Arciniega's vignette
Dr. Maritza I. Gallardo-Cooper West Palm Beach, FL   "Unfinished Business: Invisibility in Training and Practice"               My experiences and reactions to invisibility have evolved throughout the years. In retrospect, there has been a “pendulum” effect: in on end invisibility of my ethnic-self as a component of my professional persona and in the opposite end blindness to my professional expertise beyond my ethnic-self. No matter the hierarchical role I held as a student, colleague, supervisor, or administrator, invisibility has occurred overtly and covertly, from individuals and systems. Very early in my training and career I was “flying solo” as the only Latina student and practitioner with well meaning faculty and supervisors that were blind to my language and cultural dilemmas. Among my colleagues I struggled with a lack of understanding and validation in case consultations. Invisibility can also be encountered through clients, students, and interns. Sometimes invisibility is like a "pastelillo": a meat turnover pastry that contains and hides the inner substance with a barrier of soft dough.  Undoubtedly, all of these experiences have contributed to my professional self as well as continue to challenge my growth as an individual.	Dr. Maritza I. Gallardo-Cooper's vignette