UCATT Wins First Emmy for “Latino Health Disparities”

The University Center for Assessment, Teaching and Technology (UCATT) has earned its first Emmy Award for the instructor introduction video, Latino Health Disparities, at the 2025 Rocky Mountain Southwest Emmy Awards. The piece, produced by Field Production Manager Luis Carrión, shines a light on the intersection of culture, environment, and public health in Tucson’s Latino communities through the research of Dr. Ada Wilkinson-Lee, associate professor in the Department of Mexican American Studies.

“This Emmy demonstrates how our multimedia team not only supports academic excellence at the University of Arizona but also empowers our faculty to integrate storytelling into their teaching practice,” said Associate Vice Provost for Digital Learning and Online Initiatives Melody Buckner. “These stories enhance the student experience and demonstrate the meaningful impact that the university has in our local communities.”

The Emmy-winning project emerged from UCATT’s ongoing partnership model, a process in which instructional designers, videographers, and producers collaborate with faculty to bring teaching, research, and public engagement to life through digital storytelling.

The idea for Latino Health Disparities began during UCATT’s work with Dr. Wilkinson-Lee to develop course content that would help students understand how cultural and environmental factors influence health outcomes. “It started as part of a course enhancement,” Carrión said. “Dr. Wilkinson-Lee wanted her students to see the real communities behind the data and to understand that these aren’t abstract issues, they’re lived experiences. From that concept, we realized there was a much bigger story to tell.”

What began as a learning resource evolved into a powerful short video blending art, research, and community voices. The UCATT team assisted with every aspect, from pre-production and storyboarding to filming and post-production, ensuring that the visuals aligned with the research narrative.

The introductory video centers on Dr. Wilkinson-Lee’s work in community-based participatory research, which examines how neighborhood design, infrastructure, and policy decisions shape Latino health outcomes. It takes viewers through Tucson neighborhoods, where vibrant murals, gardens, and parks reflect cultural heritage while freeways and zoning decisions reveal systemic inequities.

“When you drive down these neighborhoods, what you see is culture implemented into the structures and walkways,” Dr. Wilkinson-Lee says in the video. “But you also see how city planning decisions, like where freeways are built, shape who bears the impact of pollution and reduced access to safe, open spaces.”

Carrión said the UCATT team wanted the video’s visual style to echo that complexity. “We wanted to blend the beauty of these communities with the reality of structural barriers,” he explained. “It’s both a love letter to Tucson’s Latino neighborhoods and a call to action to rethink how health is influenced by place and policy.”

This Emmy win is more than a milestone — it highlights the UCATT’s commitment to integrating creative media into teaching and scholarship. The center’s mission is to empower faculty through technology, media, and innovative course design, bridging academic work with wider audiences.

The Emmy-winning project exemplifies how UCATT brings the university’s values to life, turning vision into practice through partnership and storytelling. “That’s the beauty of how UCATT operates,” Carrión said. “We don’t just produce videos. We collaborate with faculty. We listen to their goals, we help translate their scholarship into accessible stories, and we make sure the end product serves both academic and public audiences.”