SWS is proud to sponsor two Minority Fellows in the 2021-2022 ASA MFP Cohort, 48

Maretta McDonald and Evelyn Pruneda

SWS Congratulates all of the 2021 – 2022 American Sociological Association (ASA) Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) Fellows

Please click HERE to see all the 2021-2022 ASA MFPs

Maretta McDonald (Sociologists for Women in Society MFP)

Graduate Institution: Louisiana State University 

Maretta McDonald is a first-generation PhD candidate from Oakland, California, by way of Chicago. She earned her BA in criminal justice with a minor in sociology and her MS in applied sociology from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. She currently attends Louisiana State University pursuing her PhD in sociology with graduate minors in African and African American studies and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. As a graduate instructor there, McDonald teaches classes in both sociology and African and African American studies. Her research interest areas include racial inequality, gender, family, criminology, and public policy. Prior to returning to college as a freshman, McDonald worked in Louisiana state government in the Department of Children and Family Services. Her dissertation, “Enforcing Child Support in the Deep South: An Intersectional Approach” uses mixed methods to examine how race, gender, class, and place matter in the outcomes of nonresident parents who are participants in the child support enforcement system. Her project takes particular interest in understanding whether child support enforcement professionals’ practices reproduce inequality across groups and the urban/rural divide. Her dissertation research is also funded by the ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant. McDonald’s work is published in edited volumes, news media, research blogs, and Sociological Perspectives. She also has a co-authored book forthcoming, The Sociology of Cardi B. McDonald uses her sociology training in the community and has collaborated on campus climate reports; provided an overview of the demographic change of disadvantaged neighborhoods in Baton Rouge from 1900 to 2017 for an urban renewal project; assembled an accessible history of the Black community of Baton Rouge from 1699 to 2020 for use by local educators and community organizations; and co-taught a college-level course in a women’s state correctional facility. In her spare time, she listens to music, dances, and spends time with her family and friends.

 

Evelyn Pruneda (Sociologists for Women in Society MFP)

Graduate Institution: University of California-Riverside

Evelyn Pruneda is a first-generation PhD candidate at the University of California-Riverside. Originally from California’s San Joaquin Valley, she earned her BA from Occidental College and her MA in public administration from California State University-Fresno. Her research interests include critical race and gender studies, labor studies, and environmental sociology. Pruneda’s dissertation uses feminist qualitative methods to examine the working conditions and lived experiences of women farmworkers in California’s rural San Joaquin Valley. Her research explores the political and social borders that shape and exacerbate multiple marginalized identities that impact women’s labor, family, and community lives. In this work, Pruneda provides a critical analysis of the experiences of women farmworkers in the valley as they navigate a history of labor exploitation, residential segregation, and increasingly, the effects of climate change, which directly impact the health and livelihood of farmworker communities. Prior to graduate school, Pruneda worked in the nonprofit sector doing college access work with high school students and their families in South Los Angeles and the Central Valley. Her work has been published in Research in Political Sociology and has been supported by the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS) as well as various fellowships from the University of California-Riverside. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, photography, and spending time with her family.

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To learn more about the ASA Minority Fellowship Program, please click HERE.

Thanks to Brittany Battle and Andrea Gómez Cervantes of Cohort 44, 2017-2018, who are the SWS-ASA MFP Liaisons. We will celebrate with Evelyn and Maretta at our 2021 Summer Meeting Awards Reception scheduled for Friday, July 9 between 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm EDT.