March 15, 2021 Campus Voices | News | MSU Texas Women | Artwalk | Media | Sports | Collegiate Health 6
Celebrating MSU Tex
IN H O N O R O F W O M E N’S H I S T OR Y M ONT H, T HE WI C HI T A
JAMILAH KANGUDJA
Community engagement and leadership development graduate assistant Kangudja has worn many hats at MSU Texas. From founding the choir group Echos of Gospel to being Black Student Union President, Kangudja took every opportunity given to her. “I held all these different leadership positions I think mainly because people believed in me, even when I didn’t necessarily believe in myself,” Kangudja said, As a leader, Kangudja prefers to work behind the scenes and takes a collaborative approach when working with others. Being organized is also a necessity for her to stay on track. “I just go with the flow. I’m very organized, I like notes, I like having an agenda because I can talk and we will go everywhere around the world in 2.5 seconds if we don’t have an agenda....” Kangudja said. “I like to take a collaborative approach
because I like to seek out the best in people just like people sought out the best in me.” Kangudja has made statements that not everyone liked, but that didn’t stop her from sticking to her instincts. Her advice to young women is to stand their ground. “Standing my ground, no matter what. My gut, my instinct, I have it for a reason. If I felt like things weren’t right, even if I felt like it was going to be just me, the only person who had my back, I had to make sure I was firm in that,” Kangduja said. “You have to reaffirm yourself, you have to let yourself know that ‘I wouldn’t be here if people didn’t like me.’ Just because one person or 10,000 people say [hateful things] people put you in that position. You ended up in that position for a reason.”
CLAUDIA MONTOYA Professor of Spanish
Montoya grew up in Puebla, Mexico, and moved to the United States when she was 26-years-old to get her Ph.D. in Spanish and Spanish American literature with a second concentration in Portuguese at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Growing up in a traditional male-oriented culture gave Montoya the grit to have her voice heard. “I was taught men make the important decisions and take care of the important things, so, it was always a battle to have my voice heard and counted. That gave me a lot of resilience and determination....” Montoya said. The women in Montoya’s life have shown her the strength women can hold in groups. She is proud to be a woman and said that women’s culture is valuable to society. “Women [have the ability]
to organize as a group, to form strong bonds and help each other out. I come from a family of loud strong women, and it was very self-assuring to see them act as a group, not only in the gatherings cooking food for the entire extended family but for when there was, for example, a family emergency....” Montoya said. “I also think what makes women special is that they experience pain in more depth, the simple fact that they can give birth and endure the pains of labor tells you that they are designed to deal with pain, probably better than men.” Montoya says valuing yourself is of upmost importance. “The value you give to yourself is how other people will treat you. Be confident in your decisions, but willing to change course if you have to,” Montoya said
ELIZABE
Associate director adjunct faculty
Ysasi received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy and film studies. Upon entering the workforce, Ysasi got her foot in the door with admissions at MSU Texas as an evaluator. “When the next opportunity that arose on campus opened up, it was in an immigration advising role, and so I applied for that, thinking I could utilize my philosophy skills in terms of the critical thinking that went into that degree,” Ysasi said. From the assistant director of the Global Education Office, Ysasi has now moved back to the admissions office to grow further in her career. “This is more of the role that has been working with the welcome center, campus tours, mustangs rally and some of those signature events for students. I’m really excited to bring that skillset and excitement of
