The College of Social Sciences offers a broad and exciting range of majors, minors and certificates that prepare students to take their place in a rapidly changing world.
This semester, the College welcomes seven new faculty members that contribute to the continued success of four of our departments: Criminology, Women’s Studies, Africana Studies and Chicano and Latin American Studies.
To better introduce these new faces to the rest of the College, we caught up with our new faculty members for Q&As, which we will be sharing with you in the coming weeks.
Department of Chicano and Latin American Studies
Dr. Luis Fernando Macías joins the Department of Chicano and Latin American Studies as an assistant professor, coming to Fresno State from The Ohio State University.
Teaching Areas: Multicultural and Global Education, Ethnic Studies, Latina/o Chicano Studies
Research Areas: Immigrant Education, Race and Ethnicity in the U.S., Latino Studies
Question: What are you most looking forward to here at Fresno State?
Answer: The opportunity to work alongside distinguished colleagues and to work with a student body population that won me over during my campus visit. The student body here has a reputation of being diverse, engaged and hard working. I wanted to be part of an institution that truly believes in excellence through inclusion and Fresno State is showing me just that.
Q: How did you become involved in your specialty area?
A: My family and I are immigrants; we lived in Mexico, then moved to the United States. I grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border (El Paso, Texas). Growing up, issues of immigration were everywhere for me (language, assimilation, integration, bilingualism) but I did not realize how much those issues shaped me until much later in life. As an undergraduate, I worked as an adult ESL teacher while pursuing a major in Spanish and translation studies. My love for language and cultures turned into an opportunity to teach overseas. That overseas experience humbled me greatly because I gained an appreciation of what it is like to immigrate as an adult. Upon returning to the U.S., I worked for a nonprofit organization supporting immigrant rights. When I began my graduate school, I focused on the issues that I was passionate about and here I am with you all today.
Q: What will your distinctive background do to elevate the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department offerings here at Fresno State?
A: I am well-versed in immigration policies, multicultural pedagogical approaches and Latino studies. That combination of specializations allows me to incorporate the legislative, social and historical elements of any issue in a way that is engaging and meaningful to students. In my classes, students do not memorize, they analyze. I end almost every class by asking them what is the “so what” of this topic, meaning how did it come to be and how does it relate to their life.
Q: When are your office hours?
A: Mondays and Wednesdays in Social Science 227.
Q: What’s a fun fact that people might not know about you?
A: Some people find it interesting that I speak Russian. My Russian neighbor seemed amused by it, at least.
Fresno State College of Social Sciences 