This scholarship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students whose graduate student thesis focus on the intersection of race, gender and sexuality. The scholarship was established as part of the Queer Ethnic Studies Initiative in the College of Ethnic Studies and is funded by generous donations from faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the College.
Make sure to select "Write-in Alternative Designation" in the drop-down Gift Designation section and write in "Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship."
SF State's College of Ethnic Studies has actively promoted Queer Ethnic Studies for the past 15 years. It has aggressively incorporated curricula in sexuality studies, implemented new courses such as “AIDS and People of Color” and “Latino Sexualities” and hired scholars working at the intersection of race and queer studies. Today, one in four of our tenured/tenure-track faculty have expertise in queer studies, and a third of our graduate students pursuing one of our two M.A. degrees (Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies) are engaged in thesis projects on queer and/or trans people of color. In 2015, the College of Ethnic Studies mounted a Queer Ethnic Studies Initiative as part of its strategic plan to mobilize faculty expertise, to begin a graduate student scholarship and to investigate a degree program on queers of color. Beginning Fall 2019, students can declare a Minor in Queer Ethnic Studies.
The College's faculty, students and alumni are recognized for their leadership in the LGBTQ community and for their contributions as Queer Ethnic Studies scholars. Among the notable faculty are Former Dean Amy Sueyoshi, who was a 2017 SF Pride Community Grand Marshal, Former Dean Kenneth Monteiro, who was a 2013 SF Pride Community Grand Marshal, and Professor of American Indian Studies Andrew Jolivette, who was a finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Studies for his book Indian Blood: HIV and Colonial Trauma in San Francisco's Two-Spirit Community.
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For more information about supporting the Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship and the Queer Ethnic Studies Initiative, contact Alex Sanchez, Director of Development, at alexsan@sfsu.edu or 415-338-1032.
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For more information about applying to the Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship, contact Professor Joanne Barker at jmbarker@sfsu.edu.
Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship Recipients
Hinako Ishikawa - 2024
Hinako Ishikawa is a Human Sexuality Studies major, and was awarded the Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship in 2024. Her academic goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in Sexuality Studies to shed light on sexuality and hidden voices of Asian and Japanese women. Alongside expanding her academic prowess, Hinako also wishes to develop research on sexuality of Asian and Japanese women. The scholarship will help her fund conference expenses, books and materials, and other resources to advance her research.
Lexi Adsit - 2018
Lexi Adsit, pursuing a master’s degree in Ethnic Studies, is the 2018 recipient of the Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship. Her research examines the material history of transgender women of color as well as the history of racialized and gendered violence connected to systems of settler colonialism, colonization, and capitalism.
Bianca Louie - 2017
Bianca Louie who is pursuing a master’s degree in Asian American Studies was awarded the Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship in 2017. Her graduate student research analyzes how North American Evangelicalism transnationally serves Asians and Asian-Americans as a site for resources, cultural citizenship, and belonging in the U.S., while also utilizing explicit and implicit spiritual violence through ideology, rituals, and politics in their “civilizing mission” to normalize white hetero-patriarchy and demonize queerness and non-whiteness.
Linda Velasco - 2017
Linda Velasco who is pursuing her master's degree in Ethnic Studies was awarded the Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship in 2017. She volunteers as a prison visitation organizer for the Survived and Punished Project, a national coalition of anti-violence organizers demanding the release of survivors of gendered violence incarcerated for survival actions. Through her work, she contributes to building an approach that prioritizes community-based responses to domestic and sexual violence while actively supporting marginalized women of color caught within the pipeline of surviving gendered violence and incarceration and/or deportation.
Jacqueline Alvarez - 2016
SF State Philosophy Graduate Student and Activist Jacqueline Alvarez received the inaugural Queer Ethnic Studies Graduate Student Scholarship in 2016 for her community contributions and academic achievements. As an undergraduate student at Fresno State, she served as President of the Diversity Caucus and Radical Feminists Against Sexual Assault. At SF State, She studies policies regarding ethics or justice that dismiss or ignore gender/race/ethnicity/sexuality, categories which have shaped the marginalization perpetuated historically and in our current communities. She believes queer ethnic analysis is necessary for resisting marginalization.