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Dr. Darlene Yee-Melichar is Professor and Coordinator of the PACE-Gerontology Program at San Francisco State University (SF State) where she has worked for 30+ years. She is active as a faculty leader on both the SF State and CSU Academic Senates with extensive experience as an ASCSU Statewide Senator, chair of ASCSU Standing Committees, chair/member of CSU Systemwide Committees/Task Forces, Vice Chair of the ASCSU, Member-At-Large of the ASCSU Executive Committee, and as a nominee for CSU Faculty Trustee. She is the recipient of many awards and honors for her teaching excellence and service contributions to the campus, community and profession.

Professor Yee-Melichar’s research interests in healthy aging, long-term care administration, minority women’s health, and safety research and education are reflected in 5 books, 109 journal articles, book chapters, book reviews, technical reports, and numerous professional and scholarly presentations. She was active on the NIH Advisory Committee for Research on Women's Health, NIH Review Committee for Research Enhancement Awards Program, and AHRQ special emphasis panels on "Translating Research into Practice" and "Health Research Dissemination."

Dr. Yee-Melichar chaired the U.S. DHHS-OWH Minority Women’s Health Panel of Experts; served on the U.S. DHHS-Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Advisory Panel on Outreach and Education, and the U.S. DHHS-OWH Region IX Women’s Health Advisory Council; she co-chaired the IAGG 2017 World Congress on Gerontology & Geriatrics Local Arrangements Committee, and the Region IX Health Equity Council (RHEC IX).

Professor Yee-Melichar is a Charter Fellow of the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education, Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, Fellow of the AAHPERD Research Consortium, and Full Member of Sigma Xi, the national research society. Dr. Yee-Melichar has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Gerontological Social Work, Journal of Health Education and other peer-reviewed journals; and serves on the Board of Directors for the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR), and as an OMH Health Equity Mentor for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/darlene-yee-melichar-66461714/

Dr. Julia E. Curry Rodríguez is a unmitigated leader for social justice. Her experience as university professor spans over three decades. But her advocacy and leadership roles began while she was an undergraduate student at UCSB where she held many elected positions in student organizations seeking social justice. Prior to joining San José State University, she was an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley in Chicano Studies of the Ethnic Studies Department, and prior to that she held a joint appointment in Sociology and the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University. She is a millennial professor at SJSU having arrived on the campus in fall of 2000.

Dr. Curry is most proud of her adherence to ethics and commitments to social justice in her positions in higher education and academic leadership. She is the founding leader of the Chicana Caucus of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies which sought to make systemic changes to the organization in terms of gender and sex equity. She co-founded the Section of Latino Sociology in the American Sociological Association with Dr. Homer Garcia while she was barely out of graduate school. Other leadership roles have put her at the forefront of the struggle for student women survivors of sexual harassment and predatory behavior in the Sociologists for Women in Society, in NACCS, and in the Chicana Feminist organization of the 1990s known as MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social). For over four decades she has fought for rights for immigrants with her research, expert testimony, and policy reform advocacy.

An immigrant from Mexico, Dr. Curry has committed her life to effectively addressing cultural and social changes that redress the deficiency outlook on racial/ethnic minorities and immigrants by arguing that to be monolingual is a curable disease, and to be multicultural is the most advanced form of civic engagement. She is a leader who is inclusive and dedicated to ensuring capacity building by encouraging others to engage in leadership activities as they develop their wings, voice, and courage to stand for justice. She has been an SJSU campus senator for 5 years with two of those serving in the statewide senate.

San José State University

Professor Curry worked tirelessly to strengthen the department of Chicana and Chicano Studies by developing curriculum, leading program reviews, and speaking before campus regulatory committees in the pursuit of an undergraduate major and a stronger graduate program. She revitalized the department practices urging for equity, transparency, and opportunity. In the larger sphere, Dr. Curry has been in a leader in developing freshman seminar courses that provide non-traditional students the opportunity to develop their inner sense of excellence. She took the lead in developing the services for undocumented students serving as the faculty mentor for the first student organization dedicated to undocumented student support in the CSU. In 2017, she successfully led the effort to establish the UndocuSpartan Center with the help of the former Provost, Dr. Andy Feinstein and the Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association plus a network of colleagues called UndocuAllies.

Notable community partnership milestones are evidenced in the collaboration with the Mexican Consulate which has provided generous financial support for Mexican undocumented student scholarships. Dr. Curry’s innovative strategies of support financial seeking activities have been rewarded by external organizations such as the Dallas-based organization, Juntos Podemos, which graciously supported student scholarships for two years. With the Chicano/Latino Faculty and Staff Association, Dr. Curry has strengthened a community and campus support network for activist students in their academic endeavors, and for minority faculty experiencing difficult retention, tenure and review experiences.

Her dedication led to her recognition as the SJSU Distinguished Service Professor in 2014, and the prestigious CSU Wang Family Exceptional Faculty Service Award in 2019.

Academic interests and leadership

Julia Curry holds bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of California Santa Barbara, and master’s and doctoral degrees in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Curry is actively engaged in national and regional leadership, serving on the board of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS), the Quinteto Latino, the SJSU King Library Africana-Asian-Chicano- and Native American Studies (AAACNA) Center, and the Northern California Chapter of NACCS. She has held elected positions in the American Sociological Association, the Sociologists for Women in Society, the Oral History Association and Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. She is part of the regional spokespeople on behalf of immigrant services in the Silicon Valley. Her publications focus on immigrant women, language and bilingual education, culture and pedagogy, and land and water rights.