Rosa Molina has made it her life’s mission to be an advocate for recent immigrants for many years, first with Nevada Hispanic Services (NHS) and now with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN). She has labored quietly to operate an immigration program that handles the bulk of the community’s caseload and which handles all of the low- and no-cost deportation cases. This is especially remarkable given the recent increase in immigration enforcement which has increased the number of court cases compared to just a few years ago. It is because of her dedication that these vital services will survive the recent demise of NHS and continue in new offices under the umbrella of PLAN.

Professor Chandler teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in social welfare policy, structural oppression, women’s narratives, and community organizing. Her most recently published book, “Casino Women: Courage in Unexpected Places,” takes an in-depth look into the lives of women who work in the casinos of Nevada and their strength to unionize in the face of corporate oppression. Her research interests include casino women in the context of economic globalization, the condition of low wage workers particularly in Nevada, social welfare history including especially its race, gender, and class dimensions, and social workers’ relationship to issues of war and peace. Professor Chandler challenges her students to understand how oppression is historically ingrained into our society, as well as how it shapes the lives and experiences of individuals. She has encouraged hundreds of future social workers to become informed community leaders.