2026 Latino/a/x Issues Conference Schedule

March 18, 2026

Bowen-Thompson Student Union
Bowling Green State University

Schedule of Events:
All events in BGSU's Bowen-Thompson Student Union

9:00 AM

Outside of 202A Bowen-Thompson Student Union (BTSU)

Check-in for registered guests will remain open until 1:30 p.m.

 

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST 

Lounge outside 206 BTSU Theater

9:30 AM - 10:20 AM

206 BTSU Theater

Emcee

  • Dr. Luis Moreno

Land Acknowledgement

  • Daphne Bonilla

LIC Organizing Units 

  • Department of Ethnic Studies, School of Cultural and Critical Studies
    •   Dr. Luis Moreno                    
  • Latino Student Union
    • Jacqueline Ponce 
  • Latin American and Latino/a/x Studies Cluster 
    •   Dr. Susana Peña                                                  

Acknowledgements

  • Rene O. Ayala 

Award Presentations

  • Sarah Day, Lucia Virginia Myers & Jacqueline Ponce 

10:30 AM - 11:20 AM

201 BTSU Sky Bank Room

Moderator: Ava Rybka, BGSU Undergraduate Student and Guatemala Solidarity Project Intern

Translators: Prof. Amílcar Challú & Prof. Valeria Grinberg Pla 

Guatemala Solidarity Project Collaborators

207 BTSU Mylander Room

Moderator: Prof. Amy Robinson, BGSU Faculty 

From Farmlands to Foreign Lands: A Family History of Military Service

Roberto Rios, BGSU Graduate Student 

Maize and Human: The Growth of a Relationship

Anthony Hernandez, BGSU Undergraduate Student 

The Mexican Outlaw in the Age of the Chicanos: The Brown Berets and the Rhetoric of the Texas Rangers

Megan Miner, Ph.D. Candidate, Texas Tech University and BGSU Alumni 

206 BTSU Theater 

Moderator: Jacqueline Ponce, President, Latino Student Union (LSU), BGSU

Rodolfo Velasquez, President, Global Latinx Student Union (GLSU), University of Toledo 

Josie Kuth, Vice President, GLSU, University of Toledo 

Savona Olvera, Vice President, LSU, BGSU

Daphne Bonilla, Public Relations Chair, LSU, BGSU

Mayra Arroyo, Historian, LSU, BGSU

Jaime Figueroa, Treasurer, LSU, BGSU

11:20 AM - 1:30 PM

202 BTSU Lenhart Grand Ballroom, Please enter through 202A

11:20 am – Doors Open

Noon – Program begins 

Emcees

  • Rene O. Ayala and Prof. Susana Peña 

Introduction of Keynote Speaker

  • Ava Rybka

Keynote Address

  • Saul Flores

1:40 PM - 2:20 PM

207 BTSU Mylander Room

Latino/a/x Popular Culture in Print: A Hands-On Exploration

Sasha Kim, BGSU Faculty

Staff, BGSU's Browne Popular Culture Library 

201 BTSU Sky Bank Room

Moderator: Prof. Carles Ferrando Valero, BGSU Faculty 

Más allá del "Bloque Azul". El Desplazamiento Conservador del Voto Latino y la Redefinición de la Geopolítica Electoral de EE. UU. en 2024

Ela Margarita Molina Sevilla, Academic, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) 

2:30 PM - 3:20 PM

315 BTSU 

Moderator: Audrey Mae Lefeld, BGSU Undergraduate Student

Dr. Pedro Porbén, BGSU Faculty 

Dr. Olga Sanz Casasnovas, BGSU Faculty 

Students enrolled in SPAN 3830: Hispanic Literature and Film 

201 BTSU Sky Bank Room

Moderators: Prof. Valeria Grinberg Pla, BGSU Faculty 

An Investigation into Femicide and Gender-Based Violence in Puerto Rico and the United States

Natalie Altayeb, Albion College Undergraduate Student 

Magic in the Borderlands: an analysis of creative resillience in Yuyi Morales' Dreamers 

Jas Colorado, Graduate Student, University of New Mexico 

3:30-4:20 PM

201 BTSU Sky Bank Room

Moderator: Rene O. Ayala, BGSU Graduate Student 

Im/migration to Mexico: Identifying Compositional Shifts within Mexico and at the Southern Border

Grecia Garcia Castellon, BGSU Graduate Student 

El sueño americano es lograble? Las experiencias y sentimientos de los in/migrantes después de llegar a EE.UU.

Sarah Day, BGSU Graduate Student 

How Immigration Affects the U.S. 

Cámeron Barceló Santana, BG High School/BGSU Undergraduate Student 

315 BTSU

Moderators: Prof. Pedro Porbén, BGSU Faculty 

An Analysis of "Fantasma": A Queer Perspective on Complusory Heterosexuality 

Caylee Farley, BGSU Undergraduate Student 

Sumisión holográfica: Tecnologia y control patriarcal en "Irisol"/ Holographic Submission: Technology and Patriarchal Control in "Irisol" 

Natalie Moncaleano, BGSU Undergraduate Student 

The Algorithm of Flesh: Biopolitics and Technological Optimization in "Ciber-proletaria" 

Lucas Ray, BGSU Undergraduate Student 

Vidas desechables: La falacia de la responsabilidad individual en "Nada que declarar" 

Romy Nazario, BG High School/ BGSU Undergraduate Student 

4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

207 BTSU Mylander Room 

Hosted by: Latino Student Union

Updated: 03/13/2026 08:21AM