(505) 235-7275, 277-2501
azul@unm.edu
http://www.unm.edu/~azul/Index.html
August 2002
EDUCATION
Ph.D. (in progress)
Sociology - Medical and Race & Ethnicity. University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM, 2000 - present.
Principal Research Topics
HIV/AIDS in Northern New Mexico: An Epidemiological Paradox? Inter-generational
Heroin Use: Mythology or Actuality? Latinas' epidemiological paradox of
health outcomes. Mental health status of Latinas and Latinos in Enclaves.
Master of Arts
Sociology - Race & Ethnicity and Gender. Western Illinois University,
Macomb, Illinois, 1995 - 1997. Inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, National Honor
Society.
Thesis
Latinas' Disproportionate Representation in United States Prison: A
Culture of Protectiveness. Demonstrated a contradictory link between high
risk factors for incarceration and disproportionately low numbers of Latinas
in United States Prisons which indicated a cultural correlation as mediator.
Master of Arts
Geography - Urban & Regional Planning and Human Geography. Western
Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois 1996 - 1998. Inducted into Gamma
Theta Epsilon, National Geographic Honor Society.
Thesis
Public Administration As Represented By City and County Governments.
Emphasis on the landscape of professional management in public administration;
its current practices and future development.
Bachelor of Arts
Board of Governor; concentrations: Administration, Family and Consumer
Sciences, and Psychology 1995 - 1996. Western Illinois University, Macomb,
Illinois.
CERTIFICATES
Successful Pregnancies: Evidence of The Epidemiological Paradox
in Latinas. 2002
This research paper explores
the "epidemiological paradox or contradiction" associated with Latina health
outcomes in the United States. The research was conducted on a national
data set compiled by United States Department of Health and Human Services,
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Nested pair, logistic regression, and principal component analysis techniques
were used to examine the effects of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, substance
abuse, age, and marriage on successful and unsuccessful pregnancy outcomes.
The results of the research indicate that ethnicity has an effect on successful
pregnancy. Specifically inferred from the research results is that the
epidemiological paradox concerning Latinas in the United States appears
to be real. Latinas' rate of successful pregnancies is similar to and or
higher than EuroAmerican women. The paper was presented at the Dolores
Gonzales Colloquium at University of New Mexico, in April 2002, and it
has been accepted for publication in the Sociology Graduate Student Association's
"Southwest Working Paper Series."
The Cebolleta Land Grant, Cebolleta, New Mexico. June
2001.
Qualitative, historical
research paper which depicts the loss of land in New Mexico generally,
and the Cebolleta Land grant in particular, by Native American and Mexican,
through chicanery, deception and trickery. The paper was presented at the
"Who Owns America Conference III," at the University of Wisconsin's Land
Tenure Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Day JFK Died. November 23, 1993.
A retrospective examination
of the existential meaning of John Fitzgerald Kennedy's death to a young,
ignorant, ghetto boy in prison, on the very day of the president's assassination.
A guest editorial printed in the Davenport, Iowa, "Quad-City Times." It
was also picked up by a number of other newspapers.
From My Side of the Hill. November 1990.
An essay on the need to
energize economic development through action research and multilateral
political and community involvement and investment. Printed in "Developing:
the Magazine of Economic Growth," v1(2).
Freedom. February 1978.
A short story about a young
boy's stint in solitary confinement - naked in a cell exposed to the wintery
elements - in which insanity and freedom appear to be interchangeable realities
explored through biological stimuli. Printed in "The JOVE Journal," San
Diego, California."
Drug Users' Access to and Use of Treatment Services: Ethnographic
Research.
This research project will
provide the New Mexico (NM) Department of Health, which is funding the
project, with ethnographic research that will examine the treatment-seeking
behavior of illicit drug users in Rio Arriba County, NM. This will lead
to in-depth description, analysis and policy recommendations to optimize
drug users' access to, and use of, treatment services. The ethnographic
research includes in-depth, semi-structured interviews with key informants
and observations in the field. The Primary Investigator is Cathleen E.
Willging, Ph.D. with the University of New Mexico Medical School, Division
of Community Health.
There are two other important
aspect to this research: 1) Rio Arriba County is reported to have the highest
per capita rate of heroin overdoses of anywhere in the United States, and
2) Rio Arriba County is also reported to have, current and active, inter-generational
heroin addiction amongst male family members. This appears to be a phenomenon
unique to this area.
Epidemiological Contradiction in Latinas' Mental and Physical Health
Outcomes.
I am attempting to prove,
or disprove, conclusively that the Epidemiological Paradox (EP) exist.
The basic premise is that Latinas' are at similar, or greater, risk of
poor mental and physical health outcomes as are other minority women in
the United States, but Latinas appear to exhibit mental and physical health
outcomes similar to, and in some cases such as depression and cancer, better
than EuroAmerican women. In particularly, Latinas should evidence the same,
or similar, outcomes as Afro-American women because Latinas have similar
or lower socioeconomic status as Afro-American women, and both tend to
be co-location and share similar settlement patterns. There is a great
deal of literature for and against the existence of EP of Latina health
outcomes.
I am also exploring a newly
created hypotheses based on historical materialism and collective medicine
methodologies. This new hypothesis looks at the collective meaning of community
status amongst Latinas vis a vis the EP, particularly in ethnic enclaves
and unacculturated life situations. Viewed from the Latinas' communal status
perspective the EP may be a moot point
Diversity Institute.
I am a founding member of
a group that is creating a research institute which will concentrate on
Action Research methodologies. Our first project is research to assist
homeless women in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is our belief that, given
the opportunity and appropriate tools, homeless women will design interventions
that will assist them in permanently escaping the cycle of poverty. The
specific research aims are to guide homeless women in a self-directed approach
facilitate by women for women . The current project is based on extensive
research done by the Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University
of New Mexico, Susan Tiano, Ph.D.
2000e. Successful Pregnancy Outcomes: Evidence the Epidemiological Paradox in Latinas. John M. Roberts, PhD., UNM.
2001d. Community Access Program, Evaluation Research. Summer Kalishman, Ph.D., UNM Medical
2001c. The Epidemiological Contradiction in Latinas' Health Outcomes: Fact or Fiction? Howard Waitzkin, M.D., Ph.D. Celia Iriart, Ph.D. MPH
2001b. The Epidemiological Paradox in Latinas, Low Rates of Low Birth Weight Births as Evidence: Or Confirmation of a Historical Contradiction. Ray Liedka, Ph.D., UNM.
2001a. The Cebolleta Land Grant, Cebolleta, New Mexico. Felipe Gonzales, Ph.D., UNM.
2000. Preventing HIV/AIDS: A Look at Latinas and Latinos. John Bock, Ph.D., UNM Medical
1998. Public Administration As Represented By City and County Governments. Siyoung Park, Ph.D., Western Illinois University.
1997. Latinas' Disproportionate Representation in United States Prison: A Culture of Protectiveness. Mary F. Radosh, Ph.D., Western Illinois University.
PROGRAM AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
I designed and implemented a self-esteem and customer relations training program designed specifically for the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico, entitled "The Citizen as Customer and Boss." The main trust of the program was to promote better interaction between line-staff and the citizenry by increasing the line-staffers sense of self-worth relative to their employment. Two departments that dealt directly with the public - Public Utilities and Customer Services - were trained in this manner.
Based on grounded research, I wrote the proposal, and created the curriculum for an employment training program (New Chances). The program was funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the auspices of the Taylor Street Residential Council of the Housing Authority of the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico. New Chances was predicated on the projected needs of the people involved, and prepared residents of the public housing development, primarily women, to transition from Welfare to self-sufficiency. At New Chances training was provided in mental health skills (self-esteem, active listening, dress for success, and financial management), Community First Aid and CPR, World of Work skills, and computer operations or state certified day care operations. Employment placement, monitoring, and followup were also provided: New Chances had an 85 percent success rate.
I created the project concept, and submitted a proposal to create a resident-own cooperative which would operate a child daycare facility. The project was funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the auspices of the Taylor Street Residential Council of the Housing Authority of the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico. When I left Las Cruces to begin the Ph.D. program the project was going out to bid.I created "Project New Start," a data processing training and employment placement program for poor and minority people. The program was funded by the Federal Department of Labor and implemented in San Diego, California, and Lincoln, Nebraska.
I designed and created the first Risk Management and Insurance Program for Woodbury County, Iowa. As the County's first Administrator, I proposed a complete overhaul of the risk the county transferred to underwriters and reinsurance markets. I designed a program where the county would retain much of the risk and cover it in a self-insurance pool, and underwrite the larger ricks directly through reinsurance sources. When I left, the program had been successfully in place for two years.
Instructor
Starting in 1997, I have
experience in curriculum development and classroom teaching. I have taught
for the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM), New Mexico State University(Las
Cruces, NM), Carl Sandburg Community College (Galesburg, IL), and Spoon
River Community College (Macomb, IL). In this capacity the classes I have
taught include:
Research Assistant
For more than a year,
I did research on New Mexico Land Grants given by the Spanish and Mexican
governments, between 1600 and 1835, to settlers of the northern most provinces
Mexico, which are now part of the United States. I did the research under
the auspices of the Southwestern Hispanic Research Institute. The research
culminated in presenting an original research paper on the Cebolleta land
grant at the Who Owns America Conference III, held at the University of
Wisconsin's Land Tenure Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Technical Assistant
For three years during
the completion of two masters' degrees, I provided training and technical
assistance related to computers and computer programs for the staff and
students of the entire Student Residential Services Department of Western
Illinois University - Student Residential Program Administration, Student
Residential Program Conference Center, Student Residential Programs Graduate
and Family Housing, and Student Residential Programs Resident Halls. I
maintained all the computers for all the programs from the mother boards
up, and including the Novell networks LANS, and interface with the Universities
mainframes. I worked on developing and implementing the University's first
electronic student identification system.
Executive Management
As an upper-level
executive in the private and public sectors for more than 15 years (in
the positions of City Manager, County Administrator, Executive Vice President,
and Executive Director) I directly managed annual budgets of $225,000 to
$27,000,000, directly supervised more than 15 department heads, and had
direct management responsibility for workforces of from 100 to 450 full
time equivalent employees. The major duties and responsibilities of these
positions were:
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
PROGRAM INVOLVEMENT
ADVISORY BOARD
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OTHER SKILLS
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
I read, speak and write
Spanish fluently. I have studied Spanish at an undergraduate and graduate
level, as well as studied in Mexico. I have professionally translated manuscripts
and other documents into Spanish from English. I have traveled extensively
throughout Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
I draw, paint and have written fiction and non-fictions stories and articles. As an administrator, I a number of editorials and economic development pieces I wrote were published by newspapers and magazines.
COMPUTERS
Ten years cumulative experience
in most aspects of computer operations, including:
Outstanding Service Awards