Two CoE students recognized by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
Two College of Education students, doctoral student Henedina Tavares and undergraduate Tianna Andresen, have been awarded funding from the UW’s Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies.
The Bridges Center works to establish the study of labor as a central concern in higher education by supporting students and faculty in labor studies, funding research, and cultivating connections with labor communities locally and around the world. Read about why Tavares and Andresen were recognized by the Bridges Center and the important work they do below:
Henedina Tavares
Henedina Tavares, a fourth-year doctoral student in education policy, organizations and leadership, received a Graduate Student Research grant for her study of family engagement and leadership within migrant Latinx farmworker community contexts. By examining the sociopolitical and economic factors associated with labor migration that impact how schools, families, and communities collaborate, her case study will provide insight on forging relationships that will facilitate more equitable education for migrant children.
“By centering the community knowledge of Latinx migrant families, we are working collectively to re-imagine and redesign educational school systems,” Tavares said. “Part of my collaborative work with families is creating and driving futures for minoritized communities to thrive.”
Shortly after receiving her bachelors with honors in American Ethnic Studies in 2013, Tavares entered the CoE’s Educational Leadership Policy Studies (EDLPS) program. She received her M.Ed. in 2015 and is currently in her fourth year of the EDLPS Ph.D. program. Tavares is a Community Partner Fellow and this fall, she began her fellowship with Washington STEM, a non-profit that works with minoritized families and communities to re-envision STEM educational pathways.
Tavares feels that her coursework through the College of Education has strengthened the analytical skills that are so crucial to her research and taught her to center the lived experiences of the communities she works with.
“Before beginning my academic journey at the College of Education, although I carried the transnational experiences of my immigrant family with school systems grounded in asymmetrical power relations, I did not have a theoretical framing to describe the racialized school-family relationship,” Tavares said. “I have also learned to honor the relations with communities in my work. That is, I center the narratives, embodied wisdom, and ways of knowing of Latinx migrant farmworker families in my research.”
Tianna Andresen
Tianna Andresen received the Martin and Anne Jugum Scholarship in Labor Studies, which is given annually to students who demonstrate a strong commitment to labor organizing and labor studies.
Andresen is majoring in Education, Communities, and Organizations and American Ethnic Studies. As Political Chair for the Filipino American Student Association, Andresen worked to build relationships between the FASA and other advocacy groups at the UW and in the Seattle area. She helped found the student organization Anakbayan@UW, which strives to mobilize youth in support of liberating the Philippines while partnering with other youth organizations and standing in solidarity with other marginalized communities. This year, Andresen also worked with UW United Students Against Sweatshops to protect workers affected by the pandemic.
Andresen says that her experiences within the College of Education have given her a different perspective on her advocacy work and shaped her vision of a future in education.
“College of Education courses have given me new lenses that I can look at community organizations through as well as helped me combat my own misconceptions,” Andresen said. “People I have met have helped me deal with uncertainty surrounding my future career and have made clear the possibilities of education in the future. I have learned about the type of educator I would like to be and who I would like to work for and with.”
Story by Gabriela Tedeschi, marketing and communications student aide.