2023 Conference

Keynote Speakers

Kathy Castor

Introductory Remarks

Kathy Castor

U.S. Representative, 14th District of Florida

Congresswoman Kathy Castor was elected in 2006 and represents Florida’s 14th Congressional district, which includes Tampa and St. Petersburg. She is the first woman to represent Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in the U.S. Congress.

Cecilia Menjivar

Cecilia Menjívar 

Professor of Sociology & Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair University of California, Los Angeles

Cecilia Menjívar holds the Dorothy L. Meier Chair and is Professor of Sociology at UCLA. Her research falls into two areas: immigration from Central America to the United States and gender-based violence in Central America Menjívar, with a theoretical focus on state power through bureaucracies and laws, as a connecting thread. She has focused attention on the effects of the immigration system and enforcement strategies on various aspects of immigrants’ lives. She has authored four award-winning books, edited 15 volumes, and published dozens of articles, chapters, and essays. With her scholarship, Menjívar has supported class action lawsuits seeking to reverse harmful policies for immigrants. She has been recognized with multiple awards for her scholarship, teaching, mentorship, and public sociology, and is the recipient of two ASA career awards, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. She also was named a Social Justice Hero by the Museum of Social Justice in Los Angeles. She has served as Vice-President of the American Sociological Association (2012-2015) and as its President (2020-2023).