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Rebels, tune in to 'Let's Talk UNLV' with Dr. Tanya Crabb and Dr. Sammie Scales. Your express pass to everything UNLV — campus highlights, programs, and the latest buzz. Join us weekly as we chat with student leaders, administrators, and faculty, diving into the core of what makes us Rebels.
The program brings guests from different areas of UNLV every week to discuss campus highlights, programs and services, research interests that are essential to being a Rebel. Let’s Talk UNLV places its emphasis on connecting with student leaders who represent the voice of students on our campus. Guests also include administrators, faculty and staff responsible for upholding the mission of the university, which is teaching, research and scholarship.
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0:00:00
Alright, welcome to another podcast of Let's Talk UNRV on KUNV with co-host Keith and Renee. Renee, what's up? What have you been up to this weekend?
0:00:18
March Madness, man! I know!
0:00:20
My Jayhawks, they in there!
0:00:21
But what about the rest of your bracket?
0:00:22
So I ain't do a bracket.
0:00:23
It's only one team I care about, the Jayhawks. I'm going to follow the Jayhawks for as long as it takes. But the Lady Rebels, they gave a good good fight. It's been what, 20 years since they've been at the NCAA tournament. So I was really really excited to see them put in that full effort. We didn't pull off a W, but it was just so exciting to see them play with passion just being back in the dance. That's right
0:00:53
You know that's right. I get rights to build on for next season absolutely. What about you? Well, you know I was in front of TV as much as I could but I had a couple Birthday parties to go to and then I promised Landon my six-year-old that if he got you know all green faces for his behavior that we would do mini Grand Prix So I was at mini Grand Prix in that breezy wind on Sunday thinking about the game, trying to watch the games. And but but, yeah, we had a good time. Well, good. Well, hey, speaking of, you know, the weekend and back to the work week grind, I'm excited to have our guest on multiple guests on today. We're going to talk with Christina Espinoza, who is our doctoral student in the College Education, and she's also an MSI student council member. And then we'll introduce the other guests as we move along the program. So, Christina, can you tell us just a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with the Minority Serving Institution Student Council and just how this MSI week came to be.
0:02:05
Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much, Dr. Rogers and Dr. Watson for having me on this podcast again. I'm Christine Dona Espinoza. I am a third year Ph.D. student studying higher education laws and policies. So that includes things like minority serving institutions and really what ties me to what motivated me to want to be part of the student council in the first place. I was nominated by some faculty members that I have worked with at the higher education program because I had myself been at previous minority serving institutions, namely a Native Hawaiian serving institution and a dual, which is also a dual and a P.V. or Asian American and Pacific Islander serving institution. So I think all of that combined, that's kind of what led me to wanting to be involved and as far as like what led to the creation of MSI Week, I think UNLV just continues to work on becoming a truly serving MSI and so I think being part of the Student Council and being part of the first iteration last year, it's exciting to see it be a more campus-wide involved activity for this 2020 year. So, Christine,
0:03:32
lay the foundation. What does it mean to be a minority-serving institution and why is an MSI Week befitting for such a diverse and rich institution?
0:03:41
Absolutely. Thanks, Dr. Austin. So I think broadly we need to remember that minority-serving institutions is like the umbrella term. There are seven different types of MSIs. So the original ones really being historically black colleges and universities, and then soon after tribal colleges, tribally controlled colleges and universities, which were really created for the discrete purpose of serving Black and Native American students. And then as really the demographics of the United States continued to racially diversify and as more needs of more racially minoritized folks across the U.S., you know, started to kind of come to more, I mean, like to get highlighted more, there were more communities of color who advocated for additional designation. So, that's where we come with, that's where we see the emergence of Hispanic serving institutions or HSIs and then the emergence of ANAPISIs or Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander serving institutions, predominantly Black institutions, Native American non-tribal serving institutions, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions and the like. I know I could probably rant out all of these things, but I think, in summary, I think I just wanted to just point out that the emergence of these and the emergence and evolution of these minority serving institutions are really just kind of calling attention to how really communities of color have been locked out of or even, you know, not been able to access these institutions of higher education in the past, and also like they've been faced with just different kind of forms of oppression, right? So, in many ways, then, these designations are opportunities for institutions to try to serve the particular communities who are now serving or who are now enrolling at these MSIs. And I just wanted to make clear that HSIs and NAPZs are enrollment-based minority-serving institutions, so they meet particular enrollment criteria. So that's very different, right, than the historically-based HBCs and tribally-controlled colleges and universities. So I think that sort of distinction is something that we need to pay attention to.
0:06:00
So I want to stick right there. This is a way for us to go beyond the designations, to go beyond the just mere fact that UNLV is an Hispanic serving institution or an MAPZ institution based on enrollment. And so talk about your specific event, which will invite faculty to have these conversations about where is UNLV and where does UNLV need to go? What kind of poignant questions are you hoping to have in that discussion?
0:06:31
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. So for the culmination of MSI week on April 1st, we will be hosting a second iteration of a panel with five faculty members across UNLV to talk about UNLV as an Ana-PZ HSI, so Taurus, Asian Pacific Islander, and Latinx Servingness. So this is a slight pivot from the panel that we had last year, which was more broadly entitled like UNLV is an MSI, ANAPISI, and HSI. And so the reason or the rationale for this slight pivot is I thought this might be a good opportunity for the university community to engage in, well, yes, UNLV is an MSI, but it's also a particular type of MSI, actually particular type, plural, of MSIs, right? So, I think for me, some questions that I've worked on include just having the faculty members comment about UNLV status as being a dual and a PVHSI ANAPISI, HSI, and how is it significant to them personally? To what extent do they identify with the ANAPISI, HSI designation? And then also, kind of going beyond the S, sorry, talking about the S or the serving part of minority serving institution and really the S or the serving part of ANAPISI and HSI, these two specific designations or eligibility-based designations that UNLV needs. So I guess I didn't get to mention the five faculty members that will be speaking on this panel include Dr. Constancio Arnaldo, an assistant professor in the Interdisciplinary Gender and Ethnic Studies program, Dr. Mark Padunpat, an associate professor of Asian American Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies, also part of that Department of Interdisciplinary Gender and Ethnic Studies. Dr. Magdalena Martinez, who is an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership in the College of Urban Affairs. And then Dr. Maria Raquel Casas, who is an associate professor in the Department of History. And then finally, Dr. Sue Kim Chung, the head of public services and associate professor in the UNLV Library Special Collections and Archives. And I particularly selected Asian American and Latinx faculty to represent on this particular
0:08:55
panel for this year. I'm always impressed with your just engagement in your education and how you're contributing to this movement and this effort around MSI, in particular the serving part. But we want to also pivot to some of our other guests, too. So we also have Dr. Ashton Ridley, who's the general manager of UNIV TV and KUMB. Thank you for letting us be on the airwaves here and always supporting this podcast. But we also want to just hear from you, Ashton, some of the work that you're doing to support the MSI Week.
0:09:26
Well, let me first just say it's a pleasure having you two on as hosts on the REVEL HD2 and 91.5 Jazz and More and the podcast itself. So just thank you for providing programming that's informative and insightful, first and foremost. When it comes to what the radio station is doing, especially the Rebel HD2, we are hosting an event called RepFest. RepFest was started back in 2016, and this year it's combined with MSI week, and we just have so much going on. There's so many moving parts this year coming out of COVID and having students back on campus. And when I say a lot of moving parts, we have over eight artists that are coming to perform that day with different backgrounds. In addition to I'm just looking at the list now, we have about seven different DJs that are going to be mixing that day. We have host one of our hosts, Christelle, like the champagne, who's also on the air. She's hosting the entire Red Fest. So she will be in the building and really is taking place at the Student Union Courtyard on the campus of UNLV. We're kicking it off at three o'clock. We have the last performer coming on at nine o'clock. We hope to wrap up by 9.30. And when I say the performers, we have a VMA award winner, Mikey P, he's coming out to perform. We have an artist that's out right now, Guapdad 4000 is the host. I mean, not the host, but the main headliner. And then we have Ken Dog, MBJ, Girls Love Dev. And if you're not familiar with those artists, as an example, one of them came out with the song Uno, Dos, Tres. So he'll be out performing at RebFest. And it's a free event that we're inviting the community out. We're on campus letting all the students know we're in front of the Student Union every Tuesday, promoting all of our events and activities. And to give you some examples of other entertainment that's going to be at RepFest. We have a video game truck that's coming out. So it's a 60-foot video game truck where students and the community can actually just come and play video games right in the truck and be part of RepFest. We also have the Southern Barbecue trailer that's coming out, and then just a host of vendors that are going to be there. So special thanks to the minority-serving institutional council for their financial support in making RepFest happen. Thanks for Aramark for making it happen, really working with the team over there Mary and Wade who I'm sure you're gonna hear from later on in this show for their financial support. We also have certified affordable housing, the 100 black men and their collegiate 100 are going to come do some tabling events. We have the black realtors are coming out doing a vendor table as well as Cali Budfest will be there and Jardine music and and its glorious music will also be in the building. And it's just really a great time to get out, have fun. And there is an after party at Crew Hookah Lounge, which is across the street from campus. So it's a lot. You had me at Budfest. That's taking place the following weekend and they came on board and they just wanted to help support our event, especially during MSI week, because that was the main thing that they wanted to get involved with, is just being a part of campus, but being a part of impactful and meaningful activities on campus. Budfest and barbecue. I'm in there.
0:12:42
So talk about the need to have historically underrepresented artists to be featured. And why is that important? I mean, it's great to have a RevFest. It's great to have the experience of students participating in a music festival. But the fact that you chose artists that we might not otherwise know, why was that so significant?
0:13:03
You know, when it comes to music, a lot of the mainstream artists that you hear, they're poppy or they're developed, and they kind of lose their original edge, so to speak. So for us to host RevFest where these artists are coming out, they're performing their art, their work, and in a platform that can showcase and highlight them, especially being minority, it's hard to break into the industry. And even in the conversations that we've had in selecting artists, we even have to question, okay, who can perform on stage? Who can bring a crowd? Who has a social media following. So there's all these things that we look at when we're deciding these eight artists that we're headlining during RepFest, but it really goes to, they may not be that top person, but who can we help cultivate, not to think about Bud, but cultivate in their industry? So they may not have a high following, but bringing on Mikey P, for example, or Gromp Dad 4000, where those artists can talk to these other artists and they can kind of connect and help them take them to the next level. I will say that this lineup, we were trying to find females and we fell short on finding female artists for the lineup. And that is something that we're conscious about. And we're already reaching out thinking next year, who do we wanna bring that we can make it happen for RepFest 2023. So in this mix of artistry that you're gonna hear this time around, it really is a mix of Filipino, there's Hawaiian, there's Caucasian artists, there's Asian artists, and it really just blends it together so they can all communicate and bond and network amongst themselves. Now what was
0:14:39
the response from these artists when you all reached out to them about this
0:14:42
opportunity? At first it was, let me check my calendar, of course, and then it went into, okay, I'm free. I can do this. And how many songs do I have? What's the runtime? What's the schedule? They really didn't even care who else was on the bill. And they just wanted to have the opportunity to come out and showcase their work. And we're grateful for that opportunity from them. All right.
0:15:02
I think we need to move on to way noon from air mark. Cause when you said bring it all together, the food has got to come together.
0:15:10
All right.
0:15:10
I mean, it's got to come together, right? And we got a Taste of UNLV food festival that's also happening during MSI week. So, Wade, tell us what Taste of UNLV entails. Absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you guys for
0:15:26
allowing us to provide the service to the event and we're very thrilled and honored to be able to participate and provide food for the students. But we've been doing the cultural meals, as you all are aware, and so when we were asked by you guys to do this, we were super excited. So, Collis and Joel over in the dining commons have put together a really great menu from chicken adobo to spam wasabi and everything in between to try to touch base on all of those backgrounds and ethnicities. So, we're super excited about that. We're also going to feature Chef Camille Bustos, our very own executive chef for our campus. She's going to be showcasing some of her secret stuff. She's not let the cat out of the bag yet, so to speak. So we're excited to see what she's going to bring to the table for that showcase, for the chef showcase there. She's traveled the world in regards to food. And most importantly, she's super proud to have traveled up to Europe and as well as Asia. So definitely excited to have her showcase her stuff. We also have food trucks coming as a part of that. O-Ming's and Tiger Belly, which have all been on campus for a little while, but we are going to showcase them for this event. They'll be located just adjacent to the dining commons there. We also have 500 total vouchers being offered to faculty, staff, and students that may not have a meal plan. We have them available to pick up today, starting today through the 29th at the Student Union Student Life Maintenance Office. And there's a limited number of vouchers, but we're excited to be able to provide that on the 30th. We'd also like to give a special shout-out to Ashton and his team for all of the continued partnership with DJs in the Dining Commons, as well as allowing us to participate in the RevFest. We'll have some food trucks as well as some mocktails that we're working up for the students and community around UNLV. So we're super excited.
0:17:22
I mean that sounds exciting. I know if it's anything like the cultural meals that you hosted, I know this is going to be a tremendous success and I know that I'm already looking at my belt to see like how many holes I can loosen up, right?
0:17:35
I'm already saying a couple days before, what's my point now?
0:17:40
Got to be.
0:17:41
What meals I got to cut back? A couple of salad for lunch and dinner so I can splurge a little bit.
0:17:47
I love it.
0:17:48
Absolutely.
0:17:49
Well, thank you all for having us.
0:17:50
All right. And then we also have another guest on. We have Dr. Harry Barlow, who's the Executive Director over at The Intersection. Dr. Barlow, welcome to the show. You are a frequent guest, so we always appreciate you returning. It seems like whenever, and we haven't had you come back for the same thing yet. So you are wearing many hats and you're doing many great things in your current capacity.
0:18:12
So Dr. Barlow, could you just share a little bit about the intersections role or roles per role in MSI week?
0:18:18
Well, it's always a great time to be with you all. Thank you so much for having me. And anytime you need me, I'm willing, ready, and able to come on. For this year's MSI week, we will be showcasing the winners of our first-generation essay contest. The essay contest was held during first-generation celebration week back in November, and that contest is made possible through the generosity of the MSI Student Council. They provided the awards that went to the six winners up to $2,000 total. And we will be showcasing these graduate and undergraduate students who are the winners of the essay contest. There were two first place winners, one graduate and one undergraduate, two second place winners, and two third place winners, graduate and undergraduate, respectfully. So we are really, really excited to be a part of this this week and kudos to Dr. Watson and Christine and the MSISC Council for bringing this all to fruition and letting the intersection be part of this wonderful, wonderful activity. We're excited.
0:19:43
So talk to us about your choice to center the work of students through essay writing to tell their stories about how they have navigated, triumphed, persisted, just shown so many signs of resilience in being a first-generation college student at UNLV?
0:20:05
I wish I could take credit for that, right? However, I can't. Actually, the idea of having an essay contest started two years ago with the Black Mountain Institute. The intersection has been a partner with the Black Mountain Institute on a variety of activities, and this was one of the things that they felt like that they really wanted to spearhead. So last year, when... Well, two years ago, when we did the essay contest, it was actually sponsored by Black Mountain Institute and the Minority Student Council... Yeah, Minority Serving Student Council. And what the Black Mountain Institute wanted to do was to have an opportunity to get more connected with students. You know, that's an area that oftentimes they are looking for ways in which they can get connected with students and students can know more about them and their programs and activities and services. And so they felt like from a literary standpoint and writing standpoint that this would be a great opportunity for them to get involved. And we are certainly happy that they did so. Unfortunately, they were not able to participate as the lead this year, but we certainly thought that this was still a very, very good opportunity for our students to be able to express themselves. And of course, you have Christine there, and she was the winner of the 2021 essay contest. So it gives an opportunity for students to put down in words how they feel, what this experience is like, and the value of getting an education, particularly from UNLV as a first-generation student.
0:21:58
So Christine, tell us what made you decide to enter the contest last year? And maybe give us a snippet of what were the things that you thought were very impactful in your journey as a first-generation college student?
0:22:10
Yeah, thanks so much, Dr. Varlow and Dr. Watson. For me, I had never really disclosed publicly my own journey as a first-gen student trying to figure out the US college system and just a little bit about myself like I carry I'm like I'm a torchbearer if you will as many first like I'm the first in my family to be born in the US the first to navigate the US college system the first to try to pursue a graduate degree and I come from a like a mixed status family too so and with how I present in the world, it's as if like you might not necessarily know these different things that I carry with me. And so with this opportunity for an essay contest, I thought maybe I should write it down. In many ways, it's like kind of putting into words and honoring all of the people that I've been able to bring with me, if you will. Because I think when students cross, you know, the graduation stage, we're not just crossing on our own. We cross with everyone who has come before us, right, and who has made so many sacrifices in order for us to get there. So that's kind of really what motivated me to write and be part of that.
0:23:27
And then I guess, Christine, this question's for you as well. Could you just share a little bit about the importance of MSI week and the importance of students taking advantage and participating and engaging in the myriad of activities that's planned for that week? Absolutely. I think I'm going to be very biased in saying that it's truly a
0:23:45
privilege to be part of a minority serving institution and then to get to celebrate MSI week. I think, you know, Dr. Watson and I have talked about this, that scholarship is being done on minority-serving institutions but by people who are not even at minority-serving institutions. So I think there's so many things to talk about to lift up at UNLV with the work that we're trying to do here. With, one, we get to study in this place, we get to research about this place, we get to host activities that really center communities of color, and really for students, like this is for us, right? Like, and I mean, of course, not necessarily just for students, right? Like we are involving faculty and staff because all of us are part of this community. And I think we just remember that, again, like what I said in the beginning of this podcast, these designations are based off of student enrollment. So if we don't pay attention to that, then I feel like we're doing a huge disservice if we don't center students of color. So again, I encourage everyone to get involved, to check out all of the exciting events because, yes, I guess we are part of this MSI, so.
0:25:04
This is a follow-up question for Dr. Barlow. Dr. Barlow, could you just remind our listeners when this this podcast does air what those cash prizes are for the
0:25:17
essays again in case they missed it. Yes the first place winners received 750 second place winners received I'm trying to remember making sure no I'm sorry the first place winners received $200. It was a total of $2,000 that the MSISC provided to us to distribute to students.
0:25:54
All right.
0:25:55
Well, we'll get you all out of here on this last question. or part of this that's offered this week are you most looking forward to participating in or experiencing with? We'll start with Ashton since he's in the studio with us. RevFest. RevFest. Of course. That's what it is. The music. The music and the art. That's it. And that barbecue, right? Oh, yes. The barbecue. Well, then that goes back to the event for the Aramark that they're putting together. Yeah, tasting UNLV.
0:26:28
Yes, tasting UNLV. They're like neck and neck.
0:26:30
All right, and Wayne, what about you?
0:26:32
The food, of course, I would be out of it if I didn't say the food. That's what we do, right? So I'm excited for the food. But I am also excited to hear the music and things from the RebTest as well.
0:26:42
And Dr. Barlow?
0:26:43
I think that I'm excited about the week in general. And looking at the calendar, there are so many wonderful and exciting activities that are going on. I feel like that obviously I got to check out the RevFest because you know I don't want to say my age but you know some of these folks I've never heard of so I just want to kind of broaden my horizons but of course thinking about the food that's going to be available and then obviously celebrating our students anytime that we have an opportunity to celebrate our students I just think that that's an exciting opportunity so I'm looking forward to it.
0:27:17
And, Harriet, I was thinking I was feeling the same way because I was listening to the names. But, you know, I don't know a lot of the artists nowadays anyway, but, you know, the music, I love music, so I can't wait to experience it too. And then, Christine, we open with you and we'll end with you to have the last word.
0:27:33
I'm going to have to follow Dr. Barlow on this one. I'm really excited for the entire week. We had Google Calendar invites go out for each of these events, and I said yes to all of them, so I think that should probably say something about me. I will highlight something I didn't say, is that I am excited that the campus will get to meet, at least, the MSI Student Council itself. We are going to have a particular event where it's like a meet and greet with us on Tuesday, March 29th, because we are going to be in work actually we are now in recruiting a recruitment mode for new council members so I think I think this is also an opportunity for the community to get to know who we are too. I'm just generally excited though and I look forward to you know truly feeling that the feeling of being at an MSI because I think that's really what it's about going beyond the enrollment right? That's what you had asked me before. And so, yeah, I think it's just cultivating this feeling of as we walk through campus, do we know we are on an MSI?
0:28:35
Renee, what was your takeaway from today?
0:28:37
Well, my takeaway is, comes really from Christine, that this is an opportunity for us to kind of lift up, but also reflect, because it's not just enough for us to have these programs, but not take time to reflect on where are we going? How are we going to get there? How are we going to be intentional about our next steps? I also like that she said, you know, we are bringing students with us. We are bringing these artists with us. We're bringing these stories with us. We're bringing these scholars with us to kind of guide the way and say, we can do better. We know what other schools are doing. We just need to be intentional and we need to be deliberate about what we're doing. And so I'm just really excited about that. And my favorite event is going to be the meet and greet, because I get to possibly meet students that I'm going to be able to advise on this council, and to see the projects that they have, you know, in mind that we can help cultivate that UNLV's never seen. UNLV's never seen Christina Espinoza doing data disaggregation. They've never seen a Ray Fletcher put on a music festival. They've never seen Daniel Perez doing an open access fund to get publication funds for grad students. And so I can just only imagine what the next five council members are going to bring to the table, building on the work that's already been done from the 12 now seven council members that we have. So I'm just excited for it all. What about you, Keith? I mean, similar.
0:30:02
I mean, you know, I've already confessed. I'm looking forward to the to the bud part and to the to the food. But in addition to that, you know, things that stand out to me for the programming, it's going to be the activities on Monday. So I'm looking forward to because I've not experienced the murals. First hand, I want to hear the guy to tour sort of the inspiration behind the murals and artists who they selected to sort of represent that vision. And then also just some of the showcases. And the thing that I like most of all is that a lot of this is being led by the students. And the students are really the highlight of this work. And seeing the students just take that leadership role and really bring us along in a sense as well as we plan out this week. And so I just can't wait to just experience it firsthand.
0:30:51
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Transcribed with Cockatoo