Confluencenter Team

Javier Duran (PhD) is Professor of Latin-American and Border Studies at the Center for Latin American Studies and the founding director of the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry at the University of Arizona. He is a specialist in cultural and interdisciplinary studies along the U.S.-Mexico border and a native of the Arizona-Sonora desert region. Dr. Duran’s areas of teaching and research include U.S.-Mexico border studies, Latin American Cultural Studies, Mexican women’s literature and culture, and Chicana/Chicano-Latina/Latino narrative. He is the author of the book José Revueltas.

Yazmin joined as the Administrative Associate for the Confluencenter in 2018. Passionate about bridging the gap between academia and the community, she strives to bring interdisciplinary research to life by serving as a liaison between faculty, staff, students, alumni, outside agencies and the public.

For the last 16 years, Hiram has developed and managed education and research projects in sustainable regional development. Before moving to Tucson in December 2015, Hiram worked at the binational nonprofit organization Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans, CEDO in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. At CEDO, Hiram advocated for communities and created productive and long-lasting partnerships resulting in a better understanding and use of natural resources. In January 2018, Hiram joined the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Hi, I’m Yashi Gupta, the current Website Manager and Developer Intern for the University of Arizona Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry. I help maintain and improve the Confluencenter website, support content updates across projects and events, and work on usability and accessibility improvements to make the site more inclusive and easier to navigate.

Killian Furrer is a Retail and Consumer Science major who just recently transferred to the U of A from Pima Community College. In her free time Sage is usually engaged in something creative, which mainly consists of drawing fanart. When she isn't doing that, Sage can be found hanging out at her weekly Tabletop RPG group with her friends.

Hello my name is Esperanza Fernandez and I have lived in Tucson my whole life. I am in my sophomore year here at the University of Arizona. I am majoring in Journalism with a minor in Fashion Industry’s Science & Technology. My goal is to work for ESPN as a sideline reporter. In my free time I enjoy watching anything sports related and attending sporting events.