Tre is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and intends to study organizational social structures, laws, and decisions which have disparate and oppressive impacts upon racial, ethnic, and other minoritized groups, and which seek to maintain the current socioeconomic structure of power. He aspires for his research to have a positive influence on policy, and on social understandings regarding the ongoing socioeconomic structure of power and its regressive impact on society.

Tre grew up in Portland, Oregon, and has a deep familial history in the state. As a child and continuing through his adult life, he witnessed most of his Black family members suffer from the oppressive conditions created by structural racism. Being aware that these oppressive structures exist is what sparked and drives Tre’s interest in wanting to not only understand their origin and cause, but to explain them as well. It was this interest that led him to study sociology at the University of Oregon as an undergrad, and to earn his B.A. in sociology and Spanish in 2020.

Being a first-generation graduate student and coming from a low-income background, Tre is genuinely inspired, and honored to have been selected as a Raymund Fellow. The recognition the fellowship provides serves as fuel to further drive his studies, as it gives them intention. On the other hand, the support the fellowship offers privileges him the time and resources to adequately engage and pursue these studies. Being recognized as a Raymund Fellow serves as one of the foundations of motivation in Tre’s graduate studies and research.