RESEARCH TEAM
Our CASA programs consist of both an academic research component and a community outreach component. The academic portion is founded in a combined lecture and field-based undergraduate course (at UCSD and Palomar College) rooted in the acquisition of socio-cultural historical approaches to learning as well as the development of research skills.
Every year 130 -150 undergraduates enroll in this Practicum course and through field study hours, these students volunteer in our programs as project facilitators and mentors. They are also a vital component of our research process.
The undergraduates are trained in qualitative methods, in participant observation techniques, reflexive thinking, and field note writing and during site visits students apply theoretical perspectives to promote children’s and their own intellectual, social, and academic development. Following each visit, they write ethnographic accounts and observations. This data is later analyzed by our core research team, headed by Program Founder Dr. Olga A. Vásquez, to guide development on theory, practice, and research.
Core Research Team
- Olga A. Vásquez is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and principle investigator of CASA research initiatives which focus on enhancing the optimal learning potential of bilingual and underserved youth in public school, their representation in higher education, and the social integration of their communities.
- Angelica Marcello, visiting scholar in the Department of Communication, teaches the Practicum in Child Development course. As a biological anthropologist, her work focuses primarily on children’s socio-cognitive development as it relates to the attachment histories, through an evolutionary perspective. She is currently involved in the global adaptation of CASA’s programs into hubs of expertise. Dr. Marcello, an Italian who has also lived in Latin countries, credits her own personal experience as an individual representing a different cultural and linguistic background as a driving force behind meeting and understanding the needs of American minority and minority language children. Furthermore, she has been involved with CASA for seven years and did her doctoral research with our La Clase Mágica Program.
- Alison Wishard Guerra is an assistant professor in Education Studies whose research focuses on social and linguistic development in early childhood, with particular focus on developmental competencies among Latino children from low-income families.
