Principal Investigators:

 

 

Kathleen “Kat” Cruz Gutierrez is Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She conducts research on modern Philippine history, Southeast Asia, science, and the environment and teaches courses derived from her specializations. She is the author of Sovereign Vernaculars: (Un)making Botany in the Colonial Philippines (Duke University Press, forthcoming). Through WIITH, Kat has expanded her interests to agricultural practices and technology, migration, Ilocos regional history, and the public humanities.

 

 

 

 

Steve McKay is Associate Professor of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz, the Director of the Center for Labor Studies, and has led three other Community-Initiated Student-Engaged Research (CISER) projects on low-wage labor, affordable housing, and mixed-status immigrant families. His research interests include community-engaged scholarship, labor, migration, race, gender, the Filipino diaspora, and Southeast Asia. Steve is co-principal investigator for the Watsonville is in the Heart research initiative and collects oral history interviews for the project.

 

Digital Archive Directors: 

 

 

Christina Ayson Plank is a scholar, archivist, and curator of Asian and Asian Diasporic art histories. Born in San Jose, California, she is currently based in Washington D.C. She is the Asian Pacific American Collections Specialist at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Visual Studies at UCSC studying contemporary art of the Filipino diaspora. She serves as the Co-Director of the Digital Archive and head curator for Watsonville is in the Heart.

 

 

 

 

 

Meleia Simon-Reynolds is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on twentieth-century Filipino transpacific migration, labor, community-formation, and image-making and collecting practices. She is the Co-Director of the Digital Archive. She also conducts oral history interviews and leads WIITH’s educational and curriculum design projects.

 

 

The Tobera Project: 

 

Dioscoro “Roy” Recio, Jr. is a native of Watsonville and the son and grandson of early manong. Recio’s extensive network in the Filipino community comes by way of his twenty years of experience as a community advocate in the San Francisco Bay Area. Recio has worked for and collaborated with organizations such as the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, the Bayanihan Center, the International Hotel, and the SIEU-USWW, the baggage handlers’ union at San Francisco International Airport. Recio founded The Tobera Project, a grassroots community organization working to raise the stories of migrant Filipinos of the Central Coast and of Fermin Tobera, the farmworker murdered during the 1930s Watsonville riots. He serves as the Watsonville is in the Heart community leader and advisor.

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda Gamban is the project coordinator for the Tobera Project. She supports graphic design, event management and the WIITH digital archive project.

 

 

 

 

 

Olivia Sawi is a Community Research Assistant for Watsonville is in the Heart. She conducts oral history interviews and gather artifacts from participating community members. She has a Master’s in 20th century U.S. History with a specialization in Filipino labor. Olivia’s research on the Watsonville Race Riots provides essential context for the WIITH initiative.

 

Undergraduate Team: 

 

 

Ian Hunte Doyle is a third-year History major at UC Santa Cruz. He received THI’s undergraduate public fellowship for 2022-2023 to work as a WIITH oral history intern. Ian is currently a 2023-2024 THI Public Fellow. He leads the WIITH’s UCHRI funded project to map the the 1930 Watsonville Anti-Filipino Race Riot and Filipino American community-formation in the Pajaro Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maia Mislang is a fourth-year History major at UC Santa Cruz. She received THI’s undergraduate public fellowship in 2022-2023 to work as a WIITH oral history intern. Maia is currently a 2023-2024 THI Public Fellow and lead for the WIITH digital archives team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Janeth Perez-Quirke is a third year Education and Literature major. She received THI’s undergraduate fellowship in. 2023-2024 to work on educational resource and curriculum design for WIITH and the Sowing Seeds exhibition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jose Maciel is a fourth year  Critical Race and Ethnic Studies major. He is apart of the evaluation team, where we create questions for participants after they experience the Sowing Seeds exhibitions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie Fintamag is a third-year history major. She received the Building Belonging Fellowship award and Koret Scholarship award to work as a mapping intern for WIITH. Julie is working on WIITH’s UCHRI funded project to map the the 1930 Watsonville Anti-Filipino Race Riot and Filipino American community-formation in the Pajaro Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharan Sethi is a fourth-year Literature and Philosophy double major and History minor at UC Santa Cruz. She started working with the team in Spring of 2023 and received THI’s undergraduate public fellowship for 2023-2024 to work as a curatorial research assistant for the Sowing Seeds exhibition.

 

 

 

 

Jacob Press is a fourth-year History major with a concentration in the Americas and Africa and is also minor in History of Arts and Visual Culture.  He received the THI undergraduate public fellowship for 2023-2024 to be a curatorial research assistant. Jacob is creating a digital timeline for the Sowing Seeds exhibition. He is also working on the WIITH digital archives.

Former Undergraduate Team Members: 

Markus Faye Portacio 

Nick Nasser 

Toby Baylon 

Ben Goldstein 

Una Lynch

Amara Marrero 

Katrina Mitsuko Pagaduan

David Mlynski 

Eva Mcbride 

Gracie Mendoza

Hana Yamamoto