Fall 2024

Thank you for your interest in the Race & Ethnic Studies Institute at Texas A&M University. For over 30 years, RESI has been a hub and a leader for cutting-edge work related to race and ethnic studies. It was founded with the purpose of (1) generating connections between faculty researchers, (2) promoting the excellent knowledge being generated by our faculty and students, and (3) conducting its own research to inform policymakers, researchers, educators, and the general public. It is toward this inherent research-focused mission that I direct all of my attention as Director of RESI.

It has been a true blessing to serve as the Race & Ethnic Studies Institute (RESI) Director for the last year. To play a small role in helping this institute establish new and re-establish old programs, increase the Institute’s visibility, and cultivate a community in which nascent and established scholars doing critical race and ethnic studies scholarship can thrive—to play a part in all of that has been a highlight of my career.

2023-24 was a year of tremendous growth for RESI. As of this writing, RESI’s faculty affiliates have more than quadrupled with greater than 50 in the last year, and we’ve added about 30 graduate student affiliates in our new program. These affiliates, mailing list members, and scores of additional social media followers are among the first to learn about the happenings of RESI’s 3 new working groups, faculty research colloquia, funded co-sponsorship events, and grant programs that target faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates.

RESI’s programming has exceeded my expectations. Our grant programs have been particularly successful. RESI funded 14 faculty projects, 14 graduate student projects, and 2 undergraduate student projects—our most ambitious year on record. Additionally, our grants support interdisciplinarity in clear ways: RESI’s research support efforts have gone to faculty and students in about two dozen different departments/units across nearly ten different schools/colleges at A&M. Furthermore, the events we have hosted or co-sponsored have enriched the intellectual lives of over 2,000 faculty, staff, students, former students, and members of the public.

All said, 2023-2024 was a fantastic year made possible by support from the College of Arts & Sciences, the Cantú Endowment, RESI’s exemplary staff, and the faculty and students who have been actively engaged in and by all that we do. As Director, I look forward to all the exciting scholarship and intellectual engagement that the coming year will bring.

Sincerely,