Cecilia Vásquez, assistant professor of anthropology, received the Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship and Engagement Award from the Association of Latina/o & Latinx Anthropologists, or ALLA. 

According to ALLA’s website, the award is given to junior scholars whose scholarship and public engagement addresses relevant and timely issues in Latinx communities. 

“As the first in my family to pursue graduate school and a career in academia, the Association of Latina/o & Latinx Anthropologists has been pivotal to my professionalization and sense of community,” said Vásquez, who has been teaching at UCR since fall 2024. “Through ALLA, I met brilliant senior Latinx scholars who inspired my commitment to activist-engaged research and made me feel like I belong. Receiving this recognition is deeply meaningful, as it affirms the value of my scholarship and identity on a larger stage.”

Vásquez’s research explores grassroots responses to sanctuary policies, detention, and community care in the Inland Empire. Other research interests include citizenship and belonging, accompaniment, and abolition.