HEST welcomes new department, Borderlands and Ethnic Studies

Not only has the College of HEST’s newest department brought new experts, innovators and high-quality researchers, but the Department of Borderlands and Ethnic Studies also brings a $250,000 Kellogg grant to develop a research center that will serve as a hub for community-centered, decolonial research partnerships.

The goal of the research center is to develop new frameworks for carrying out research in ways that are inclusive, solution-oriented and grounded in community knowledge.

“We plan to share resources with partners to grow a healthy Borderlands exchange of ideas,” says Dulcinea Lara, BEST department head. Lara, along with BEST professor, Manal Hamzeh, affiliate BEST professor Nicolas Natividad and geography professor Christopher Brown, are serving as co-PIs for the grant.

The grant, along with the many current and future research opportunities BEST has brought to the college, is an exciting opportunity for the department’s faculty.

BEST joined the College of HEST from the College of Arts and Sciences in 2022.