A Brown Girl and A White Girl: The Podcast

Surviving Burn Out (w/ Diana Magaña, MA)

We interview our very own resident Brown Girl! Diana Magaña is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Education at UC Santa Barbara and fellow co-host for the " A Brown Girl and a White Girl" podcast. Diana received a B.A. in English and a B.A. in Education Sciences from UC Irvine and an M.A. in Sociology and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She was an Administrative Assistant for a TRIO Upward Bound program for a year prior to beginngin her doctoral degree. Her research interests largely revolve around the postsecondary experiences of first-generation Latinx college students, with a specific focus on how systems of support, whether they be social or institutional, influence the postsecondary experiences of first-generation Latina/o/x students and their eventual success. Her current research focuses on the relationships between first-generation Latina students and the role that parents and familial support play in undergraduate postsecondary experiences. In her free time, Diana enjoys binge watching family focused TV dramas, cross stitching, and keeping up with the British royals.

What... Is a psychometric? (w/ Dr. Melissa G Wolf)

Melissa Gordon Wolf is a Quantitative Researcher and Psychometrician. Melissa is broadly interested in the application of statistics to the social sciences and her work has focused on the intenionaity behind the design, validation, and analysis of surveys and self-report assessments. She is passionate about bridging qualitative feedback to surveys with quantitative measures to improve data collection. When Melissa is not deep in her coding and numbers, she can be found taking long walks on the beach with her dog or playing any outdoor sport with friends. Website: melissagwolf.com [melissagwolf.com]

Goals & Deadlines & Learning Curves - Oh My! (w/ Travis Candieas)

Travis Candieas is a Ph.D. (candidate) at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Candieas’s research focuses on the alignment of policy, practice, and experience particularly within educational contexts. His projects span globally with higher education research and evaluation partners located in the U.S. and Latin America. Additionally, he is developing methodologies for reducing bias in large administrative data sets and policy analysis by combining machine learning and causal inference. Travis’s research interests are inspired by his experiences growing up on a dairy farm in Northern California and simultaneously navigating public policies and educational institutions as the first in his family.

Finding Your Fit (w/ Isaac Castro, M.A.)

Isaac Castro is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Education under the Policy, Leadership and Research Methods emphasis. Working with advisors Dr. Jeff Milem and Dr. Sharon Conley, his research focuses on equity and higher education more broadly, and diverse university leaders more specifically. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Sociology in 2010 prior to serving in Americorps through Communities in Schools of Greater Phoenix. He then returned to the SF Bay Area to lead an after school program before making the shift to higher education as the PPIA Director and Student Services Advisor at the Goldman School of Public Policy. Isaac has also received MAs in Higher Education, Administration and Leadership from Fresno State and Education (Policy, Leadership and Research Methods) here at UCSB. Currently, he works as a graduate research assistant for Dean Jeff Milem and Dr. Rebeca Rios, as well as a teaching assistant in the departments of Sociology and Education. His latest research takes a critical approach to understanding how university leaders preside over institutions with diverse student bodies. http://www.linkedin.com/in/isaac-castro

Dealing with Grad School's Hidden Curriculum (w/ Fátima Andrade Martínez, M.A.)

Fátima is an undocumented first generation mujer with roots in Michoacán, México and Oakland, CA. She is a third year PhD Student in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UCSB. Fátima is a double UCSB alumni, receiving her BA in Latin American & Iberian Studies and her MA in Education. Fátima's research looks at the way that institutions of higher education serve and support undocumented college students. She is interested in looking at undocumented students holistically and looking at their needs to survive institutions that tend to other them.