Gladys is currently pursuing her PhD in English at UC Berkeley. She finished her coursework at the end of Spring 2005, and in December 2005, she and her husband, John, moved back to Southern California when John was offered a job as a flight-test engineer in Palmdale, CA, just 45 minutes northeast of the Nubla family home in the San Fernando Valley and an hour and a half from John's parents' home in Camarillo. They bought a house in Lancaster -- Palmdale's sister city -- in October 2006, and Gladys successfully passed her qualifying exams the following month. Gladys is now working on her dissertation proposal and will teach her first lecture course on Asian American women's history and contemporary issues in summer 2007 at UCLA.

Gladys and John married in November 2002 but were long-time college sweethearts before that, having met at UCLA during their freshman year in 1996. They received their bachelor's and master's degrees there, Gladys in English (BA) and Asian American Studies (BA & MA) and John in Aerospace Engineering (BS & MS). While Gladys was studying for her PhD, John also earned his Federal Aviation Administration certification in Airframe and Powerplant before leaving the Bay Area. (Photo taken in Mission Hills, CA, June 2006)