Rising Star Grant Awardees

Assistant Professor, Department of History

Evan Taparata is an Assistant Professor of the 20th Century History of the United States in the World. His research and teaching interests revolve around migration, belonging, law, and empire in the 19th and 20th century United States. He is a member of the Migration Scholar Collaborative and has contributed to numerous digital public history projects, including the Humanities Action Lab’s “States of Incarceration” initiative and the #ImmigrationSyllabus. His scholarship has been published in the Journal of American Ethnic History, PublicBooks.org, and he has been a regular contributor to PublicRadioInternational.org both as a freelance writer and as the Interim Social Media Editor for PRI’s daily radio broadcast “The World.”

Assistant Professor, Counseling & Human Services

Darius Green earned his Ph.D. in Counselor Education from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. As a counselor, he has provided services for a diverse range of clients and client concerns, but has worked most in substance use, domestic violence, and trauma-informed counseling. His research experiences have included integrating social justice and multiculturalism into counseling, undue police violence, race-based trauma, and cyber hate.

Dr. Haruki Eda (he/they) joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2023 as an Assistant Professor. His expertise includes social theory, queer of color critique, decolonizing methodologies, and feminist pedagogy. Dr. Eda is an award-winning educator who previously taught sociology, Asian American Studies, Asian studies, and English composition at Rutgers University. As a third-generation Zainichi Korean (stateless Korean postcolonial exiles, genocide and war refugees, and their descendants in/from Japan), Haruki's academic and community duties center on social and economic justice, cultural survival, and peace-building in the Trans-Pacific region. He has been involved in the Korea Education and Exposure Program, Japan Multicultural Relief Fund, and "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, among other transnational grassroots projects.

Arlene Bjugstad (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She completed her Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) at Winona State University, her Master of Social Work (MSW) at Our Lady of the Lake University, and her PhD in Social Work at the University of Houston. Arlene has more than fifteen years of social work practice experience in non-profit organizations, county social service agencies, PK-12 schools, and in communities. Arlene's practice and research interests are at the intersection of school-based mental health, community wellbeing, and immigration. She is particularly interested in decolonized and culturally-grounded approaches to social work practice and mental health service provision.