2026 Symposium

11:00–12:00 — Session 1A: Identity, Power, and Inequality

Location: Russian River Valley Room

• Kit Walker — "The Cult of Misogyny"
• Francia N. Salas Walters — "Freedom vs. Order: The Constitutional Debate Over Hate Speech in the United States"
• Vianca Hinojosa — "The Sociology of Corridos: Understanding the Relationship Between Corridos & Mexican/Chicano Identity"
• Selwyn Noble — "BeanyBot: A Robotics-Based Approach to Ethical Cocoa Harvesting and Global Economic Equity"

Discussant: Dr. Allison Ford

11:00–12:00 — Session 1B: Race, Religion, and Rhetoric

Location: Dry Creek Valley Room

• Dylan Vargas — "Who Cares About DEI? The Stock Market’s Reaction"
• Alison Brinkman — "The Discourse of White Supremacy and Christian Nationalism Since 2016"
• Noemi Valdivia — "Faith Used As Political Strategy"
• Julia K. Kaplan — "As Are the Times, So Are the People”: Charting the Evolution of Soviet Attitudes Toward and Conceptions of Eastern European Jewry"

Discussant: Dr. Andres Martinez

12:10–1:10 — Session 2A: Community-Based Problems of Health and Welfare: Resource Mapping as a Strategy for Detecting & Developing Social Interventions

Location: Russian River Valley Room 

• Angie Saavedra — "Where the Sea Meets the Heart: An Investigation of Bodega Bay and Its Residents"
• Claire Terzich — "Building Community so Everyone is a Part of it: A Study of Emeryville, CA"
• Marissa Roberts — "West Sonoma County: Community, Inequality, and Policy for Stability"
• Stephanie Im — "Resource Accessibility and Health Determinants in Pacifica, CA"

Discussant: Dr. Zeke Baker

12:10–1:10 — Session 2B: Troubled Waters: Community, Infrastructure, and Socio-Environmental Change

Location: Dry Creek Valley Room

• Nathanael Curry, Rochelle Kneemeyer, Carly Scott, and Garrett Gorman — "Not Enough Dam Water: The Infrastructure Transition in the Potter Valley Project"
• Giana Leonelli, Angelina DeMartini, Amber George, and Araceli Martinez — "Infrastructure Neglect or Unforeseen Accident? The Guerneville Spill Revisited"
• Leo Diaz — "Behind AI Data Centers and Their Environmental Impact"
• Tristan Burman, Said Noriega, Warren Rhodes, and Xochipilli Olivera-Vera — "Rising Seas, Real Impacts: Coastal Erosion and Infrastructure at Risk"

Discussant: Dr. Emily Ray

12:10–1:10 — Session 2C: Leveraging Leadership (I): Problem-Solving for Human Rights

Location: Alexander Valley Room

• Madelyn Boyd — "Oxford Consortium for Human Rights" (OCHR)
• Ashley Crusto and Michael DaSilva— "Pipeline to Prison"
• Dorian Rivera and Juniper Lehr— "Reducing Absenteeism in Intensive Support Classrooms"
• Dante Migale — "The Invisible Threat Of Toxins"
• Miles Dillingham, Amanda Gilbert, and Victoria Weidhase — "Lessons in Leadership"

Discussant: Rev. Lindsey Bell-Kerr

1:20–2:20 — Session 3A: Governance and Policy

Location: Dry Creek Valley Room

• Samantha Rodriguez  — "The Impact of Immigration on Healthcare "
• Ella Andrada — "At the Intersection of Disability and Infectious Disease: Tuberculosis at the Sonoma Developmental Center"
• Louis Hallowes — "Social Safety Spending and Homicide Rates: A Comparative Analysis"

Discussant: Dr. Cynthia Boaz

1:20–2:20 — Session 3B: Diving Into The Wreck: Imagination & Social Action

Location: Russian River Valley Room

• Colette Cadeaux — "Menstruation is Freedom: A Dive into the Big Picture Ideas within Sylvia Plath’s 'Tulips'"
• Danielle Cobarruviaz — "Grammar as Liberation: How Learning Grammar Can Be a Source of Power through Comparative Analysis”
• Simon Foster — "Excerpts from the Project Boygirlhood"
• Violet Hendry —"Excerpts from the Story 'Late Night'" 
• Poliento Ico III — "Excerpts From Sanctuary: Poems of Change"
• Joanna Wheeldin — "The Dark Side of the Moon Cycle; What We Know and What We Don't"

Discussant: Dr. Brantley Bryant

1:20–2:20 — Session 3C: Leveraging Leadership (II): Local Solutions to Intersectional Problems

Location: Alexander Valley Room

• Viviano Lisa Cunningham and Nox Lyon — "Building Queer Community and Power"
• Edward Duran, Sara McEvoy, and Elliot Rogers — "Safe Housing and Sanitation Services for Unhoused People in Downtown Santa Rosa"
• Geneva Kissane, Tatiana Hoffman and Isabelle Kokona-Dussau — "Transforming Reproductive Healthcare Access for Unhoused Women"
• Laïla Scala and Alison Brinkman— "Fighting Hunger on Sonoma State's Campus"
• Laila Guerra and Daisy Tenorio — "The Trash to Treasure Project"

Discussant: Dr. Robert Chase

2:20–2:55 — Coffee Break & Studio Art Exhibition

Location: Sonoma Valley Room

• Joanna Wheeldin — "Menstruation Monthly"
• Charlotte Ruiz — "Garbanzo"

3:00–4:00 — Session 4A: (In)Justice and Social Harm

Location: Russian River Valley Room

• Nayeli Nuno-Ledezma, Tatiana Hoffman and Dante Migale — "White-Collar Crime in the Age of AI and Cryptocurrency: Emerging Threats and Protective Strategies"
• Jackuline Whitright, Aoife O'Brien, and Perla Sanchez Galvan — "The Felt Experience of Shame: A Reflexive Thematic Analyses"
• Tessa Thompson, Alexander Starling and Amanda Gilbert — "Loved to Death: How Inherited Colonial Ideologies Perpetuate Environmental Degradation"
• Esmeralda Y Martinez — "The Relationship between Political Wording and Wolves"

Discussant: Dr. Bryan Burton

3:00–4:00 — Session 4B: Health Justice

Location: Alexander Valley Room

• Daisy Tenorio, Wendy Hurtado, Dulce Mejia, and Laila Guerra — "Fume for Thought"
• Soren Chavanne — "Trans Fertility and Maternity"
• Alison Brinkman — "Unequal Protection: Abortion Laws and Women’s Wellbeing"
• Bailey Blanton — "Reproductive Control and Social Inequality: Ireland's Lesson for The United States"

Discussant: Dr. Ben Smith

3:00–4:00 — Session 4C: Model United Nations: A Roundtable Discussion

Location: Dry Creek Valley Room

• Vanessa Mendoza
• Louis Hallowes
• Gwyn Williams
• Andrea Rodriguez
• Victoria Weidhase
• Lia Anselmino 

Moderator: Azamat Sakiev

4:00–4:45 — Catered Reception and Presentation of Student Certificates

Location: Sonoma Valley Room

All are welcome to attend as we gather to eat, mingle, and celebrate the accomplishments, creativity, and social action work of SSU students.