Annel Mena

Annel Mena is a student at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) studying Anthropology with a minor in Linguistics. She has been actively involved in conducting research as a first year anthropology student, she participated in an interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with computer science and engineering students and faculty to conduct research on the mobility needs of older adults in El Paso, TX. Annel participated in surveying 150 older adults at 11 different senior centers to gather information that would help in the development of a mobile phone application to help senior citizens move around the city without the fear of getting lost. Annel Mena also participated in Campus of Undergraduate Research Institute (COURI) on the impacts of Title IX in promoting women’s sports at UTEP.  

Over the past four years, Annel referees for soccer and football games, and serves as an umpire for softball. Annel Mena is currently the only woman in El Paso to be a high school football referee and she is one of four women soccer referees in El Paso. Her goal is to be the first woman in El Paso to be part of a football varsity referee crew. Also Annel is part of a theater group called “Yo Soy Teatro”, a group that speaks up against domestic and sexual violence in the border by telling the stories of women who have experienced violence. Finally, Annel Mena has participated at various conferences such as the “Mujeres Actives en Letras y Cambio Social” (MALCS) summer institute, the Women’s History Conference at UTEP, and the Society for Applied Anthropology (SFAA) annual meeting.