Chia Thao | Doctoral Candidate in Public Health at UC Merced
Chia is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Public Health at the University of California, Merced. Prior to joining UC Merced in 2016, she worked as a lecturer at the California State University of Fresno. She holds a BS in Health Science with a minor in Gerontology and an MPH with a Community Health Promotion concentration. She also earned two distinguished Health Policy and Nonprofit Management & Leadership certificates at California State University, Fresno. In addition, Chia has more than 10+ years of work experience working with Community Benefit Organizations (CBOs) and coordinated health education and promotion programs in the Central Valley. She is the current Board of Directors for a non-profit organization called Elder Abuse Services Inc.
As a Ph. D. candidate at UC Merced, one of Chia's goals is to explore how environmental factors such as pesticide use affect underserved populations in the Central Valley. Chia recently completed a project on pesticide use and the wellbeing of small-scale farmers in the Central Valley, in which Chia assessed small-scale Hmong farmers’ attitudes, knowledge, and perception about the use of pesticide using a survey instrument I translated into Hmong. Chia's current dissertation seeks to explore factors that influence pesticide exposure and adverse health impacts among small-scale Hmong farmers, detailing farming practices and the dissemination of pesticide information.
Jessee Espinosa | 4th Year Political Science Student at UC Merced & City of Merced School Council Board Member
Jessee Espinosa is a 4th-year Political Science Major at UC Merced. Jessee is serves as a Board Member on the Merced City School Council. Espinosa describes himself as a fourth generation proud Mercedian. His great grandfather helped establish the “Gateway A’s” Model A Club that still runs in Merced Parades to this day. His grandparents, Donna and Richard Rogers, used to own and operate Rogers Dairy for 25 years. They now own and operate Roger’s Farms, an almond orchard in the McSwain agriculture area. Espinosa’s mother grew up in Merced as well, having moved away just long enough to meet his dad in Arkansas. That’s where Espinosa was born, but the family moved back to Merced for good when he was only 10 months old.
For more than 12 years, Espinosa’s father was a military man who taught his children the value of sacrifice and service.
Mindy Broadley | Creative Development & Sports Event Production | Past President (2018-2019) UC Merced University Friends Circle
Mindy began her career as a producer/director on the Creative Development team at the Walt Disney Company in the early 1980’s and stayed in international theme park production with Dr Jeekahn’s in Tokyo, Lotte World in Seoul, and Ocean Park in Hong Kong.
Expanding into the world of sports and spectaculars in the 1990’s, Mindy’s work continued with four MLB All-Star Games, FIFA’s 1994 World Cup Soccer opening and closing ceremonies, three NFL Super Bowl halftime shows (XXVI starring Gloria Estefan, XXVII starring Michael Jackson and XXX starring Diana Ross), and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, including the design and production of all entertainment for the host sponsor, The Coca Cola Company.
In the world of politics, Mindy has produced events for past President Carter, and late past Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush, and in the corporate world for clients including Honda, M & M/Mars, Delta Airlines, Philip Morris, Intel, and Louis Vuitton/Moët/Hennessy.
Mindy is spending her retirement as a guest director with The Young Americans International Music Outreach tour, a guest lecturer at universities, corporate leadership boot camps and executive management retreats as well as serving on multiple boards of directors.
