2025-2026 BAF Student Council Chairperson Vision Statement

In Dr. Bill Anderson’s oral history, he recalls a story about why he began rollerblading. He shares, “I saw a man who looked to be in his eighties rollerblading, having a blast. This guy was not restrained at all. He had a big smile on his face, twirling around, completely joyful… I said to myself, if he can do it, I can do it. I bought a pair of rollerblades, and I have been rollerblading ever since. I can see why he had a smile on his face.”

As I step into this role as the elected Chairperson of the BAF Student Council, that story feels less like an anecdote and more like an invitation. For me, it’s a reminder that joy, movement, and courage are not things we outgrow, but things we choose to carry forward. Bill’s reflection lingers with me because it mirrors the moments that still ground me—riding my fixie bike, feeling the thrill of momentum without breaks. Putting on my headphones on the LA Metro and watching the train glide past cars stalled in traffic. Seeing the pride on my father’s face when I became the first in my family to finish college, and the excitement he carried when I told him I was pursuing graduate school.

These moments matter because graduate school has a way of narrowing our vision. Not because it is empty or isolating, but because we invest so deeply in our work that we forget to step outside and reconnect with what animates us. Joy becomes scarce not from absence, but from exhaustion.

That is why the feeling I get when I step off a plane or walk into the Omni hotel lobby for the Natural Hazards Workshop is so familiar. It feels like fresh air when I run into BAF Fellows, sharing laughter in passing hallways and feeling immediately grounded in community. It reminds me that while conferences and workshops are intellectually and physically demanding, I am at my most powerful when my people surround me.

Now, as the elected BAF Student Council Chairperson, I carry that history with me. I am deeply thankful for the trust placed in me—I thank all past chairs and Student Councils—and I am grounding my vision for the Student Council in two commitments: critical thinking and creativity. My goal is to help cultivate a space where collaboration is the norm, where both rigorous critique and imaginative work are supported, and where we continue pushing the field toward research that is just, accountable, and rooted in the communities most impacted by disaster.

For critical thinking, I return to bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress, where she writes, “I came to theory because I was hurting—the pain within me was so intense that I could not go on living. I came to theory desperate, wanting to comprehend—to grasp what was happening around and within me. Most importantly, I wanted to make the hurt go away. I saw in theory then a location for healing.” As a collective, we are navigating persistent pain within a crumbling society and a strained higher education system. At this moment, theory must be more than a tool for publication or professional advancement. It must be something we turn to for grounding, meaning, and healing. Creativity is inseparable from this. As Paulo Freire reminds us, “To study is not to consume ideas, but to create and re-create them.”  In our classrooms, our writing, and our organizing, we should encourage one another to reinvent the wheel. To push ideas grounded in hope, dance, art, and other creative practices that make knowledge alive, collective, and sustaining.

I step into this year with a deep sense of responsibility. To the Fellows who trusted me with their vote, to the legacy of Bill Anderson, and to the communities whose lives and futures shape why this work matters. I am grateful to our leaders, Nnenia Campbell and Norma Anderson, for their patience, guidance, and care, and to the Fellows who continue to show up with generosity and courage. This year is not about holding a title; it is about building something together. I am committed to cultivating a Student Council that takes risks, that centers care alongside critique, and that refuses to separate joy from rigor.

I look forward to a year that strengthens our collective voice, expands the possibilities of disaster scholarship, and moves us toward a future grounded in justice, imagination, and community.

Carlo Chunga Pizarro (they/he) is a first-generation Peruvian immigrant and a PhD Candidate in the Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy department at UC Irvine. Their research examines how immigration policy and disaster management intersect, with a focus on undocumented communities and sanctuary policy.