CSGS Research

For immediate release:

Cal State L.A. Faculty and Students Research
Topics of Gender and Sexualities

Los Angeles, CA -- Faculty members and students at California State University, Los Angeles are currently engaged in research projects that study gender and sexuality through a special program funded by the University’s Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities (CSGS). The CSGS is part of Cal State L.A.’s new Integrated Humanities Center.

Beth Baker-Cristales (Tujunga resident), an assistant professor of anthropology, is researching “Gender, Agency, and Equity in Central American Hometown Associations.” Melina Abdullah (Los Angeles resident), assistant professor of Pan-African Studies, and Kimberly King (Los Angeles resident), assistant professor of psychology, are working on a joint project, “Motivating Factors and Organizing Models for Anti-Poverty Activism among Poor Women and Men of Color: An Ethnographic Study.” These faculty members were awarded release time under the Faculty Grant Writing program and given stipends to support a student research assistant. Additionally, Connie Corley (South Pasadena resident), professor of social work, was awarded research assistance for her project, “Women and Aging.”

Five stipends were also awarded for individual research through a competitive application process open to graduate students and upper-division undergraduates. Winners were: Courtney E.J. Bates (graduate student, communications) for her research project, “Representations of Queerness in Blaxploitation Films”; Paula Garcia (graduate student, Chicano Studies) for her thesis project, “Rebellious Voices: Mexicana/Chicana Singer in La Cancion Ranchera”; Christine Hickerson (graduate student, history) for work on her thesis, “Engendering Famine: Women in the North Korean Famine”; Andrew Lau (undergraduate senior, psychology) for his work on “Investigating Modern Homophobia: The Role of Implicit Attitudes”; and Monica Rodriguez (graduate student, anthropology) for her thesis work, “Women’s Motivations to Use Preventative Health Care Services in Los Angeles County.”

The Center’s mission is to provide support for scholars, teachers, students, and community partners who investigate gender and sexuality, in particular, work that bridges the diverse communities represented at Cal State L.A. and its surrounding area. As a multi-ethnic, federally-designated Hispanic-serving university, Cal State L.A. is uniquely positioned to explore these subjects, particularly as they intersect issues or race, class, nationality and culture. The University’s diverse cultural climate manifests different representations of gender, the study of which can lead to new opportunities for communication and understanding.

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 170,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a noted alternative energy technology initiative; an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu