Yadira Gonzalez-Dockstader Receives 2025 LEAD Graduate Excellence Award

UC Irvine M.F.A. candidate recognized for advancing interdisciplinary research and inclusion in the Latine community through art, ecology and medical humanities

Department of Art M.F.A. candidate Yadira Gonzalez-Dockstader recently received the Graduate Excellence Award at the 8th Annual Latine Excellence and Achievement Dinner (LEAD). The event honors leaders, graduate students, staff and faculty who champion research and scholarship excellence in the Latine community at UC Irvine.

“I am honored to receive the UC Irvine 2025 LEAD award on behalf of the Chicano/Latine community,” said Gonzalez-Dockstader. “I aim to support and continue to fight for equity and inclusion. I will utilize the LEAD award to continue my interdisciplinary practice within arts, ecology and medical humanities.”

Gonzalez-Dockstader is a first-generation Mexican American interdisciplinary artist and curator from Southern California. She is also a UC Irvine medical humanities emphasis candidate and an art and ecology researcher at the Burns Piñon Reserve in Yucca Valley. She earned her B.A. in studio art and art history from the University of California, Riverside.

Image: (left to right) Department of Art Chair Kevin Appel, Yadira Gonzalez-Dockstader's family and Claire Trevor School of the Arts Assistant Dean Jason Valdry.

Her work spans moving images, sculpture, sound, performance, installation and hybrid modes. Her current research explores alternative methods for disseminating qualitative research in the Latine/Chicano community. Gonzalez-Dockstader aims to open dialogue around the politicization of bodies, illness and disability, and to challenge the dismissal of research through federally banned terminology. Her investigations stem from personal experience as a patient, student and researcher.

“It is vital to find alternative modes to collect and disseminate qualitative research that can make a difference in how we perceive, respond and move forward with care,” said Gonzalez-Dockstader. “I will collect the story that couldn't be told.”

To learn more about LEAD, visit inclusion.uci.edu. To learn more about Gonzalez-Dockstader’s work, visit her website at yadiradockstader.net.