Institute for the Study of 'Race' and Social Justice welcomes new director

The University of New Mexico's Institute for the Study of "Race" and Social Justice will welcome Shiv Desai as its new director starting July 1. Former director Shinsuke Eguchi will leave UNM for Wake Forest University in North Carolina this summer.

Desai is an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Sciences (COEHS). Before UNM, he was a former elementary/high school teacher and an assistant professor at Thomas More University. He was also co-director of Project ASPIRE at The Ohio State University, working with faculty to help train student teachers to be successful in urban schools because they had a solid foundation in culturally sustaining pedagogies, anti-racist/anti-oppressive practices and socio-cultural literacies.

During his time as a Lobo, Desai has examined hip hop and how it can serve as a tool for empowerment and liberation. He also works with the Albuquerque Public Schools-UNM Ethnic Studies Education and Health Research Practice Partnership to study how ethnic studies teachers promote healing and wellness, engage in decolonizing practices, foster ancestral knowledge, and affirm students' identities.

Eguchi, a professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism, who served as the institute's director for one year, will join Wake Forest University as a professor of Asian/Asian Diaspora Studies in the Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies. Eguchi has been with UNM since the fall of 2012. "Despite many challenges and struggles, I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to grow into the scholar I aspired to become. So I say, 'The path was rarely easy, but every step shaped the scholar I am today,'" Eguchi said.

Sociology professor and co-founder of the institute, Nancy López, previously held the director's title for 15 years.

The Institute was established in 2009 to offer certificate programs for undergraduate and graduate students, and to host events focused on discussions about race and social justice issues. It is run entirely by volunteers and has no programming funds. To support the Institute for the Study of "Race" and Social Justice, click HERE.