What is your educational background? Princeton University -- BA (1982); UC Berkeley -- MA History (1993); UC Berkeley -- PhD History (1997)
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What department do you work in at Saint Mary's? What is your job title? Professor, History; Director, Women's and Gender Studies Program
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Tell us about your first-gen background. What is your family history? My family migrated from Jalisco, Mexico to Tijuana, Baja California, on the San Diego, California border. I was born on the U.S. side of the border, in Chula Vista, but I grew up in Tijuana. I attended elementary school there, alongside my younger brother, who was born in Tijuana. When I finished 6th grade, my mother decided that we would move to Los Angeles in order for me to continue attending school. She was a single mom and could not afford to pay for me to go to middle school in Mexico, which was free in theory but had more costs associated with it than she could afford. We landed in Boyle Heights in the summer of 1972, at my grandparents' extremely modest rental home. We shared the house with several unmarried uncles. I started 7th grade and my brother started 4th grade. My mom began working as a seamstress in a series of LA sweatshops, where she would remain until she retired. I was in English as a Second Language classes for 7th grade and moved into regular classes in 8th grade. In 9th grade my teachers helped me apply for a scholarship to go to a prep school. I left LA for the East Coast to attend Phillips Academy in Andover in the ABC (A Better Chance) program starting in the 10th grade. Upon graduation from Andover I selected Princeton University from the choices I had and headed for New Jersey. I graduated in 1982, having designed my own major in Latin American Studies. After that I moved to Latin America to experience in the practice what I had read about in all those classes! I came back to the U.S. in 1990 and started graduate school at Berkeley in the History department. Seven years later, I chose Saint Mary's as my place of employment and have been here ever since.
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What does being first-gen mean to you? A great responsibility to my family, community, and the students who pass through my classes. I did not earn my degrees by myself. I did the work, of course, but my family sacrificed a lot so that I may have those opportunities. Countless anonymous men and women participated in social movements to open the doors of the universities to young people like me. Without their commitment to social change and social justice, I never would have had the access to education that I had. That experience influences everything I do, from my curriculum to my research to my relationships with students.
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How did your background help you get to where you are? What skills and experiences did you draw upon to succeed? Sometimes ignorance is a good thing. Had I known that it meant to go to prep school, I might not have gone. Had I known what it meant to be a minority at an Ivy League school, I might not have gone there either. But no one in my family knew what they were, so I was adventurous enough to say yes. And my family was flexible enough to let me do it. They were fearful; I was fearless. It turned out to be a good combination because I knew I could not disappoint them above all. My skills were an immigrant work ethic, an unflinching belief in the power of education, a willingness to forgo any fun until my school work got done, and the stubbornness necessary to finish the dissertation. Persistence went a long ways for me. And I fell into a small group of friends whose courage and wisdom carried me through all the lows. Without my Latinx and African-American friends, it would have been a different story. |
What advice do you have for current first-gen students and/or other first-gen professionals? One of the poverties of American society is its egotism. First generation students know in their bones that we are not for ourselves only. On the contrary, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, both who loved us and all those who have fought for justice since this nation was founded. Don't ever forget them. Keep their memory close to your heart and they will inspire you and motivate you in the toughest days of your college years. Trust me on that one. First generation professionals: stop being invisible. |