Mellon Fronteridades Fellows

Fronteridades Fellows

Fronteridades fellows are UArizona students and academic professionals who engage in arts and humanities-centric interdisciplinary initiatives with U.S.-Mexico border communities.


The Fronteridades Fellowship Program funds UArizona faculty members and graduate students working on interdisciplinary research projects that explore, analyze, and elevate the lived experiences, cultural resources, and border dynamics of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Fellows' projects focus on building new public understanding and interpretation of the U.S.-Mexico border dynamics, tensions, innovations, dreams, and realities, positively impacting border communities.

The program also advances the mission of the University of Arizona Border Lab to position the University as a global leader in border research and learning. Funded fellows address one or more of the following focus areas of the Border Lab: 

Research: innovative research products/activities/initiatives (e.g., corpus, digital research tools, researcher networks, etc.) that build on and elevate the University's community of border researchers and relationships between the University and the borderlands community. 

Pedagogy: interdisciplinary, multi-modal border curriculum and pedagogical materials integrating impactful learning opportunities into the University's course offerings. 

Creative Activity: A cohesive set of creative products, activities, and events that center on the experience and narratives of borderland communities. 

2024 Mellon-Fronteridades Graduate Fellows

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(From top left to right) Alexandra Mora Medina, Dugan Meyer, Sanjukta Sarkar, Andrés Caballero, Natasha Cortinovis, and Deyanira Ibarra.

The Graduate Fellowships Program supports current UArizona graduate students to carry out interdisciplinary research projects and scholarly creative activities focused on the U.S.-Mexico border. Learn more about the 2024 Mellon-Fronteridades Graduate Fellows.

2024 Mellon-Fronteridades Faculty Fellows

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(From top left to right) Dr. Rebecca Crocker, Marcos Serafim, Dr. Gabriela Valdez, Dr. Maurice Magaña, Sama Alshaibi, and Dr. Genesis Arizmendi.

The 2024 Mellon Fronteridades Faculty Fellows work on research and creative endeavors on the U.S. - Mexico border. Learn more about the 2024 Mellon-Fronteridades graduate fellows

2023 Fronteridades Graduate Fellows

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Introducing the 11 2023 Mellon Fronteridades Fellows

(From top left to right) Juanita Sandoval, Dr. Elizabeth Oglesby, Enrique Olivares-Pelayo, Dr. Wanda Alarcón, Nathan Cordova, Jorge Manzanilla, Jazmin Gonzalez, Lucas Belury, Linda Choi, Linfei Yi, and Dr. Alejandro Nava.

The Confluencenter awarded the Mellon Fronteridades fellowship to eight graduate students from the Social & Behavioral Sciences, Humanities, Fine Arts, and Education colleges. The 2023 Mellon Fronteridades graduate fellows work on research and creative endeavors on the U.S. - Mexico border, consisting in the creation, collection, and dissemination of poems, oral histories, cultural maps, and curricula on a wide range of topics, including migration, placemaking and identity, flood justice, food justice, soundscapes, incarceration, and language usage. Learn more about the 2023 Mellon-Fronteridades graduate fellows.

2023 Mellon-Fronteridades Faculty Fellows

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The Confluencenter awarded the Mellon Fronteridades fellowship to three faculty from the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences and the College of Humanities. Through the Fronteridades program, sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, fellows explore, analyze, and elevate the voices, lived experiences, and cultural resources of the U.S.-Mexico borderland communities and promote a more nuanced, multidimensional understanding of life on the border. Learn more about the 2023 Mellon-Fronteridades faculty fellows.

2021 Mellon-Fronteridades Graduate Fellows

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The Graduate Fellowships Program supports current UArizona graduate students to carry out interdisciplinary research projects and scholarly creative activities focused on the U.S.-Mexico border.  

The 2021 Mellon-Fronteridades Graduate Fellows represent diverse disciplines, including Geography, Journalism, Art, Music, Education, Anthropology, Spanish & Portuguese, Mexican American Studies, and Latin American Studies. Consequently, this research spans diverse methodologies, from ethnographic interview research to critical archive research, collaborative dance testimonies, and bi-national co-created music composition.

2021 Mellon-Fronteridades Faculty Fellows

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Carmen King & Robin Reineke

The 2021 Mellon-Fronteridades Faculty Fellows are: (left to right) Robin Reineke and Carmen King de Ramírez.

The Faculty Fellowship Program provides support for University of Arizona faculty who are conducting interdisciplinary border research to broaden and deepen our understanding of the narratives, experiences, knowledge, histories, performances, spaces and heritages that shape and are shaped by the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. This program aims to align with the goals of the Fronteridades program as well as the Border Lab initiative and focus on an Arizona-Sonora borderlands communities. 

Learn more about our 2021 Mellon-Fronteridades Faculty Fellows.