Background
Mario T. Garcia received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in History at the University of Texas, El Paso. He went on to receive
his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego. While going to school for his Ph.D., Garcia was a lecturer in Chicano
Studies and History at San Diego State University. He held that position from 1970 to 1974. While teaching at SDSU, he was
involved in the campaign to establish a Center for Chicano Studies on-campus, while also working closely with the student-run
organization MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán). He was also active in the Open Admissions controversy at SDSU,
and the movement surrounding Third College at UCSD, as well as a member of the Young Socialist Alliance and Raza contra la
Guerra. Garcia was awarded his Ph.D. in history in 1975 based on his doctoral dissertation titled “Obreros: the Mexican workers
of El Paso, 1900-1920.” In 1975, he began working at the University of California, Santa Barbara as Acting Assistant Professor
of Chicano Studies and History, where he continues to teach today. His other teaching positions included teaching at Third
College at the University of California, San Diego and at San Jose State College. Garcia also taught at Yale briefly from
1990 to 1992, later returning to his position as a faculty member at UC Santa Barbara. Along with being a professor of Chicano
Studies, Garcia has written a variety of articles for publication and was involved in composing the anthology entitled
New Perspectives on Chicano History. Garcia currently serves as the Director of the Latino Leadership Project and the Research Liaison between the Department
of Chicano Studies and the Center for Chicano Studies at UCSB. A 2009 Guggenheim Fellow and Fullbright Scholar, Garcia has
received numerous book awards including the 1998 Virginia McCormick Scully Literary Award and the 1981 and 1990 Southwest
Book Awards. Some of his books include
Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880-1920 (1981),
Mexican Americans: Leadership, Ideology, and Identity, 1930-1960 (1989),
Católicos: Resistance and Affirmation in Chicano Catholic History (2008) and
Blowout: Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice (2011).