Rita Sanchez (born May 20, 1937 in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

). is an American academic in the field of Chicana/o studies. Sanchez' family roots are in

Bernalillo, New Mexico Bernalillo () is a town in and the county seat of Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 8,977 at the 2020 census. Bernalillo is part of the Albuquerque metropolitan area. History Wine Festival In the 1620s, the wine ...

, but her grandfather took a second home in San Bernardino in 1910 because of his work with the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

, and sold the Bernalillo home in 1919. Rita Sanchez was born in San Bernardino on May 20, 1937, the seventh of eleven children. She graduated from San Bernardino High School in 1956 and studied journalism at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

as one of the first Mexican-Americans to attend college, but did not finish her degree. She returned to college in the 1970s as a single mother of two daughters, earning a B.A. in English in 1972, a master's degree in education in 1973, and an M.A. in English in 1974, all from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. While at Stanford, she taught the first Chicana studies course there. She taught at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

from 1974 to 1984 while simultaneously doing graduate studies at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

.. In 1977, she married her second husband, Mario Acevedo, and they had two more children. Leaving academia in 1984, Sanchez founded the Acevedo Gallery in San Diego with Acevedo and his father, artist Guillermo Acevedo. The gallery primarily showed works by Chicano artists, but also included art from Latin America and Native American art from the southwestern U.S. Sanchez returned to teaching again in 1990, joining the faculty at

San Diego Mesa College San Diego Mesa College (Mesa College or Mesa) is a public community college in San Diego, California. It is part of San Diego Community College District and the California Community Colleges system. The college is accredited by the Accrediting ...

. At Mesa College, she chaired the Chicano Studies department from 1996 to 1999, and in 2006 she led the department to change its name to the department of Chicana and Chicano Studies. She married one of her academic collaborators, Richard Griswold del Castillo, in 2005. Sanchez was inducted into the

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...

Women's Hall of Fame in 2011 for her dedicated activism...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Rita San Diego State University faculty American academics of Mexican descent Stanford University alumni Living people 1937 births People from San Bernardino, California San Jose State University alumni