Born and educated in Uruguay, Cristina Miguez Cruz completed a B.A. in Letters in 1999, an M.A. in Literary Studies in 2002 in Venezuela and a doctorate at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a focus on 20th Century Latin American Crime Narrative and Cinema in 2009.
Lunden MacDonald, Ph.D., is a professor of modern languages at Metropolitan State University of Denver. MacDonald started teaching Spanish at MSU Denver in 1998 and has since held the positions of instructor, assistant professor, full professor, chair of the Department of Modern Languages and director of First Year Success program. She speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese and Galician. Her areas of expertise are in Spanish language, literature, teaching, contemporary trends in foreign language study, translation, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood), Investigative trends in SIDS and SUDC research.
MacDonald has published several articles including “The Virtual Language Lab: Virtually Painless, Simply Real” in the International Association for Language Learning Technology Journal in 2009 and Spanish Translation of “La próxima etapa en Panamá: la subcontratación de pensiones” in La Prensa, Journal of Honduras, in 2007. Her research topics include Joseph Blanco White, European Enlightenment, Enlightenment (or lack thereof) in Spain, paradigms of Enlightenment in the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish language learning and teaching methods; and technology and technological applications in the teaching and learning of Spanish language, literature and culture.
MacDonald received her Ph.D. and master’s in Spanish language and literature from Princeton University in 2006 and 1997. Additionally, she also received a master’s and bachelor’s in Spanish language and literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1995 and 1993.
Chalane E. Lechuga, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Chicana/o Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her concentrations are in race/ethnicity and education, with an emphasis in Latina/o sociology.
Lechuga’s research examines the racial identities of Latina/o high school students and the relationship between racial identity and academic achievement. Currently, she is working with a local public-school district to examine school discipline and racial disparities in exclusionary practices. Further up the educational pipeline, she researches the recruitment and retention of underrepresented faculty in higher education. Lechuga has over 19 years of experience conducting program evaluation and assessment and leads the comprehensive assessment of departmental student learning outcomes.
Lechuga received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of New Mexico, a master’s of science in sociology from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s in English and ethnic studies (Chicana/o studies and black studies) from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Renee Fajardo, Ph.D., is the coordinator of Journey Through Our Heritage (JTOH) program at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She has been the program director of JTOH since 2010, which places university students of color into local high schools and middle schools as mentors. In addition, she has collaborated with community members and MSU Denver students on several projects, including the Return of the Corn Mothers with master photographer Todd Pierson and the Aurora Fox Cultural Concerts Series with the Colorado Folk Arts Council, which allows school children in Denver the opportunity to attend free cultural concerts once a month during the school year.
Fajardo has extensive knowledge of cultural, ceremonial and community traditions of numerous indigenous people. Her own Chicana/Native American (Picuris Pueblo) and European roots allow her to be sensitive to the many nuances that face today’s students of color. She has co-authored the numerous books in the Tummy Tale series, such as “Holy Mole Guacamole,” that preserve family food traditions of Colorado. She has also written hundreds of articles about Hispanic artist, culture and historic insights. Fajardo is a Denver native and graduate of the University of Nebraska.
Ramon Del Castillo is a retired professor of the Chiana/or Studies Department. He taught at Metropolitan State University of Denver from 35 years. Del Castillo’s publications include “Institutionalizing Curanderismo in Colorado’s Community Mental Health System,” “Institutionalizing Curanderismo into a Mainstream Healing System: Boundary Spanners and Innovation in Action” and “The Life History of Diana Velazquez: La Curandera Total.”
As past Chair of the Masters Program in Nonprofit Program at Regis University (1999-2005), he directed educational services and program development for the department and taught classes in the history of the nonprofit sector, leadership, ethics, managing diversity in organizations and the capstone project. He traveled to Mexico for 5 years, developing collaborative bi-national curricula between the nonprofit and civil society sectors through the “Making Connections in Mexico Program,” in collaboration with ITESO Jesuit University, located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
Del Castillo possess a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in Sociology and Mexican American Studies from the University of Northern Colorado. He obtained master’s degrees are in Social Science and Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD) and his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the same university. His master’s research was on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Chicano Viet Nam Veterans and his doctoral dissertation, examined Curanderismo, a traditional approach to holistic and spiritual healing, using theories of innovation to critique the institutionalization process within a publicly funded mental health agency.
Andrea Borrego, Ph.D., is the chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
She worked as a graduate research assistant and faculty associate at Arizona State University before coming to teach at MSU Denver in 2015. Borrego is involved in many MSU Denver committees and is a member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the American Society of Criminology. She served as a panel chair on Media Reporting of Crime for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Conference in 2016.
Borrego co-authored an article for The Criminologist: The Official Newsletter of the American Society of Criminology titled “The advantages and disadvantages of original data collection for doctoral students.” She also co-authored a chapter in Forensic Science and the Administration of Justice: Critical issues and directions, and has several other publications in the works. Her research focuses on fatal-police citizen encounters and LGBTQ victimization.
Borrego received her doctorate and masters in criminology and criminal justice from Arizona State University in 2015 and 2011 and a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Notre Dame in 2009.
Michael Benitez, Ph.D., is the vice president for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He is a nationally acclaimed scholar practitioner and educator in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Benitez has a critical perspectives on social and cultural issues on topics related to leadership and identity development, intersectionality, race and ethnicity, knowledge production as well as critical and inclusive pedagogy/practice in higher education.
Prior to his current role at MSU Denver, Benitez served as director of diversity initiatives at Dickinson College, director of intercultural development and the black cultural center at Lafayette College, affiliate faculty in the Graduate School of Leadership and Professional Advancement at Duquesne University, director of intercultural engagement and leadership at Grinnell College, and chief diversity officer/dean of diversity and inclusion, and Title IX and EEO officer at the University of Puget Sound.
Benitez’s deep knowledge and practice of innovative equity and inclusion-based strategies has helped to address some of higher education’s more pressing campus climate issues of today, including the Diversity Monologues- a critical spoken work initiative he helped implement and shape at multiple institutions, the campus climate community participatory framework and the Northwest 5 Consortium for supporting faculty of color.
He has authored book chapters and articles on student identity, hip hop culture, cultural centers, cultural and ethnic studies, institutional research and campus climates as well as faculty development. Benitez has also been featured in educational documentaries such as “Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity” and has appeared on talk shows such as “Worlds Apart,” “Hard Knock Radio” and “Speak out with Tim Wise.”
Benitez received his Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy with a focus on social justice in higher education from Iowa State University, a master’s in counselor education and a bachelor’s in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University.
Antonio Bellisario’s academic training is at the intersection of the fields of International Developing Planning and Environmental Geography. Current research and writing projects are at the crossroads between sustainable development (understood as a mechanism that protects ecologies while at the same time expands socio-economic equity) and the politics of resource management.
At a personal level, what drives his research agenda is his willingness to seek out opportunities for research collaboration and a strong desire to bring these experiences to the classroom to reach students. Bellisario’s regional specialization is South America, with a focus on Chile.
His early research and publications have been focused on the topic of land politics centering on the social contestation about farming and food production in Chile. In this research and publications, he has analyzed the political competition from organized non-governmental groups and political parties in society to shape the planning actions and policies of government.
As for his current research, Bellisario is working on four projects. The first project is an assessment of water resources and the impact of agricultural and mining activities in the water budget of the Aconcagua river basin in Central Chile. The second project is the ongoing collaborative analysis on the urban experience and urban popular culture during the Allende socialist government in Chile. The third project investigates the evolution of land use patterns in Chile, with a longitudinal study of a sample of farms from a rural municipality to track agricultural transformations (he and his team have a working draft for publication). The fourth project is a collaboration with Marco Marquez and Rodrigo Contreras (both professional planners practicing in Chile) that critically analyzes, with the use of key case studies, the effectiveness of territorial planning instruments in Chile.
Lisa Badanes, Ph.D., is a professor and the chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Badanes has been teaching since 2010. She previously worked as an instructor at Colorado State University and University of Denver. In addition, Badanes worked as a research associate at DU and a postdoctoral fellow at Developmental Psychobiology Research Group before joining MSU Denver. She is chair of the Institutional Review Board at MSU Denver.
Badanes has published many co-authored articles on her research including most recently for Early Childhood Research Quarterly titled “Evidence for a physiologic home-school gap in children of Latina immigrants.” Her research addresses the ways in which the experience of early life stress influences current life stress, depression/anxiety and academic success in college students. She has given many presentations on her research and areas of expertise both nationally and internationally.
Badanes received her doctorate and masters in developmental psychology from University of Denver in 2009 and 2006 respectively and a bachelor’s in psychology from University of Vermont, Burlington in 2001.
