Dr. Paule Cruz Takash holds a Ph.D. in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley (1990). For four years, Takash has supervised and participated in the NAID Center's qualitative ethnographic research on transnational immigrants in California including a project addressing migrants' need for affordable financial services funded by the Ford and RJ Miles Foundations; and a project on Oaxacan transnational communities living and working in Southern California funded by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB). Takash is also a Visiting Assistant Professor at the UCLA Department for Chicana and Chicano Studies. Her areas of specialization include Mexican transnational immigration (U.S.- Mexico); the post-1965 immigrant settlement and ethnoracial transformation of California and other regions in the United States, and contemporary U.S. "race" relations in the context of globalization. Currently, the President of the Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists (ALLA), Takash has also received public recognition for her work on these issues from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who appointed her to the LA City Human Relations Commission in May 2006. Takash serves as a board member of several community organizations including the William C. Velásquez Research Institute (1995-present) and Casa Libre, a non-profit community based organization that houses and cares for immigrant youths 12-18 years of age.