By Sydnie Harrell, Texas A&M University Division of Academic Affairs
In recognition of their Latino/a/x research involvement, doctoral students Emma Newman and Joseline González-Ajanel have been awarded the Mellon Crossing Latinidades Fellowship for the 2024-2025 academic year, making them the first Aggies to receive this honor.
Funded by the Mellon Foundation and organized by the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative, the fellowship is awarded annually to 32 doctoral students who are enrolled in a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and working on a project related to Latino/a/x studies.
“The Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative is the anchoring program of the consortium of the 21 Carnegie-designated top-tier Research 1 Hispanic Serving Institutions,” said Elsa Gonzalez, director of HSI Initiatives. “Since Texas A&M is one of these institutions, it is particularly important to see our doctoral students, Emma and Joseline, recognized with this fellowship. We proudly celebrate their accomplishment.”
Emma Newman ’23
Doctoral student Emma Newman
Courtesy of Emma Newman
“I feel incredibly grateful to have been one of the 32 students selected for the fellowship,” said Newman. “The faculty program coordinators said this was their most competitive application year yet, so it felt especially good to know that my project and work as an Aggie stood out to them.”
As part of the fellowship, Newman is being mentored by Dan Debree, an associate professor at the Bush School of Government & Public Service. She is currently working on two projects with Debree and says she looks forward to what they can accomplish together under the fellowship.
“Pushing myself to connect with scholars and students across the A&M campus has been a wonderful experience so far,” said Newman. “Having the fellowship will allow me to dig deeper into the nuanced topics of migration and immigration policy and hopefully develop meaningful, impactful work.”
Joseline González-Ajanel ’26
Doctoral student Joseline González-Ajanel
Courtesy of Joseline González-Ajanel
“I’m very honored and privileged to have been named a fellowship recipient,” said González-Ajanel. “It’s also very exciting to be part of this fellowship because they’re having us complete professional development workshops that specifically help students like me—who are first-generation and Latine—navigate academic spaces.”
For her mentorship, González-Ajanel is working with Nancy Plankey-Videla, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, on a project related to mixed-status families. González-Ajanel says she looks forward to studying how Latine identities are framed in literary and cultural productions under the fellowship.
“The fellowship is supporting not just my writing time as I work toward my dissertation, but also the exposure that I’m receiving to other scholars in the field,” said González-Ajanel. “It has helped a lot to see the trajectory of their projects and who we should be in conversation with.”