Friday, April 30, 2010

Latino scholar to give presentation at final event of The Big Read

Dr. Jorge Chapa is the director of the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Photo Credit: Photo Provided HI-RES | WEB RELATED VIDEO:  RELATED AUDIO:  Contact for more information: Kathy Funke Director, News & Information Services 812/465-7050 email The culminating event of Evansville's The Big Read will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5 when Dr. Jorge Chapa, director of the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will give a presentation in the Browning Room at Central Library in Evansville. A reception will follow the presentation. Dr. Chapa has written many publications reflecting his research focus on policy issues pertaining to Latinos and other groups with low incomes and educational levels. Before moving to University of Illinois, Dr. Chapa was professor and founding director of Latino Studies at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University for eight years. He earned an undergraduate degree in biology with honors from the University of Chicago and an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology and a separate M.A. in demography from U.C. Berkeley. He also taught at the University of Texas, Austin. Over his career Dr. Chapa has taught classes with a Latino theme including Latino Studies, Latinos and Other Immigrants, Latino Immigrants in U. S. Society, Race and Ethnic Relations with a focus on Latinos, and Latino policy issues. In 2004, Dr. Chapa received the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award. His latest book, co-written by Ann V. Milliard, is Apple Pie and Enchiladas: Latino Newcomers in the Rural Midwest. It was nominated for the Senior Book Award of the American Ethnological Society. The text examines the historical and contemporary aspects of lives and experiences of Latinos in the Mid-West region. Modern-day concerns like ethic differences, prejudice, poverty, the social impact of a low-wage workforce, and public policy related to taxation and the welfare system are covered in the book. The Big Read offered a series of events related to short stories in the anthology Sun, Stones, and Shadows. The program, made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, was sponsored by the University of Southern Indiana in collaboration with the Evansville Literacy Coalition, Evansville Public Library, YMCA, Ivy Tech Community College, HOLA, WNIN, and the USI Foundation.

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