Alicia Wyneken

Alicia Wyneken is a scholar, writer, artist, and educator. She is currently living in California. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, a Master’s in Fine Arts, Creative Writing Poetry, and Literature from Antioch University, Los Angeles, and a Master’s of Science in Psychology. She is currently an Art M.F.A. student, as well as a Ph.D. student in Cultural Studies at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont. Alicia is also a consultant for the Foster Kinship program at Antelope Valley College, Palmdale.

Alicia is an advocate for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She adopted four children from the foster care system and is dedicated to advocating for their needs and other foster care children. Her research interests include Foster Youth, Latina/x/o identity, Latinidad, Afro-Latinidad, global concepts of identity and community, gentrification, and effects on identity and sense of belonging. Alicia grew up in Nice, France, and has family ties to Martinique. Her research, writing, and heart are connected to both landscapes.

Alicia’s creative work, essays, and poetry have been published in the US and the UK. As an undergraduate, she revived and edited a journal at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, titled Ice Box, which continues to thrive over twenty years later. She was not only an honor student in the English Department but a student assistant nominated several times for university awards and one of the students who participated in a National Sigma Tau Delta conference.

Alicia has attended multiple conferences, from the Critical Race in Education Association national conference to the National Conference in Arts and Education to Leading Advocacy Diversity and Inclusion and the California Association in Sociology conference, to name a few. She presented at the Pacific Sociology conference in Seattle, Washington in 2022 as well as at the Equity conference in Claremont California in 2024.

Alicia taught various undergraduate English and French courses. She also was a Teaching Assistant for Graduate level Psychology courses, including Diverse Populations and Research Methods. Alicia is trans-disciplinary by nature and links all her research, art, and resources towards one common goal: improving the lives of marginalized populations.