Over Spring Semester 2016, the DREAMers Inquiry Group sought to learn what obstacles undocumented students face pursuing a college education with an eye to clearing their paths. The group polled Cañada College students who qualified for resident tuition under AB 540 so they could present a portrait of our campus climate and the experiences of undocumented students from the results of the survey in hopes of improving undocumented students’ access to college through outreach and services. DREAMers Inquiry Group members who created this survey in spring 2016 were: Julie Carey, assistant professor of ESL; Alison Field, professor of history and coordinator of the DREAMers Taskforce; Cynthia McCarthy, adjunct faculty librarian; and Gerardo Pacheco, assistant professor of ESL. The DREAMers Taskforce staff are Alison Field, professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Anniqua Rana, interim dean of Academic Support and Learning Technologies
Lives in Limbo by Gerardo Pacheco Matus, a Mayan native, was recipient of a 2015 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Work-Study Scholarship. In 2012, The San Francisco Foundation awarded Pacheco the distinguished Joseph Henry Jackson Award.
Prof. Pacheco’s poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications including: Black Lawrence Press, Jambu Press, San Francisco Foundation, El Tecolote Newspaper, Cipactli Magazine, Amistad Howard-University, Poets Responding to SB1070, and The University of Arizona Press.
Prof. Pacheco is a former Sequoia Adult School and Cañada College graduate. He holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) with an emphasis on Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a TESOL Certificate from UCSC Extension Silicon Valley. Pacheco teaches Creative Writing at San Francisco State University and ESL at Cañada College.
Please click here to hear the story of Gerardo's decision to leave Mexico and his educational journey.
-Julie Carey
Assistant Professor of ESL
Cañada College
