Dr. Jesus Jaime-Diaz joins the community

CSUP’s Chicano Studies program acquires tenured tract professor

By DEBORAH MARTINEZ MARTINEZ

What does a migrant kid from rural Northeastern Oregon have in common with Pueblo?

New CSUP Chicano Studies Assistant Professor Dr. Jesus Jaime-Diaz, that’s what!

Fall began a new life in a new state for Dr. Chuey, as he is called, when he joined the faculty at CSUP as assistant professor of Chicano Studies and director of Aztlan Research Center. He is teaching Chicano Studies 101 for the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CHASS).

According to Matthew Garcia, Chicano Studies coordinator, Dr. Chuey is a very qualified teacher and CSUP was very lucky to attract him. “We started the search in October 25, after the retirement of long-time Chicano Studies Professor Judy Baca, and concluded the national search eight months later.”

“His hiring will give Chicano Studies the opportunity to grow now that we have a full-time, tenured track dedicated person,” Garcia said. “He has worked with community colleges and will have time to make the curriculum the most relevant and up-to-date.

Dr. Chuey described his background in a rural community caught in a circle of low wages, little opportunity, and no hope for a better life. He entered Blue Mountain Community College in 2002 and, through his studies, learned about the Movemiento, which motivated him to read about Cesar Chavez.

“A humbling and powerful experience in my life was when I was in support for the United Farmworkers in Oregon in their efforts for fair wages and better treatment of dairy workers. “Then in 2009, in Santa Cruz, CA, I worked with Barrios Unidos countering gang violence. We worked to get students away from violence, drugs, and criminal activities,” he said. 

“But I didn’t start there. I was the oldest of six kids. I was a pushout (encouraged to drop out) from high school, barely knew how to read, write, or count. I was told in school I didn’t even know how to talk.” All the hopes of the familia were on the youngest brother May, as our redemption for what we perceived as our own failures, he said. In 2001, his younger brother Luis was awarded his GED while in prison. This encouraged me to pursue my GED to hopefully encourage my youngest brother May to continue his education. “I was in a state of ‘resignado” or resigned to my fate, but had the highest hopes for him. I was working at an exploitive job at Walmart Distribution Center, moving heavy freight, it was exhaustive and back-breaking work. We talked about him going to college. He could do algebra!”

“Then, on a cold night, of February 23, 2002, our trailer caught fire, and May did not make it out, all our hopes left with him.

“When he died, I didn’t have a high school diploma; I didn’t know how to read, write, count or supposedly even speak English correctly. I was in pain.” He says he obtained his GED three months after May passed in June 2002, then entered Blue Mountain Community College. During those difficult days, his GED teacher asked him, “What if you woke up and loved what you did?What if you did not have to wake up hating what you do? You have lived through a lot and can make a difference in people’s lives. What if you went to college to do just that?” 

What a concept! Those words for Dr. Chuey seemed impossible for Mexicans/Chicanos from what he had personally lived and observed.

“I promised my fallen brother May that I would pursue a higher education in his memory. I would do for him what I wanted him to do. We had talked about him being a ‘Beaver’ (mascot of Oregon State University), so when I completed my Associate of Arts Degree, I transferred to Oregon State University (OSU) in September of 2006.” 

There, his professors immediately began to closely critically mentor him, and said his purpose in life was to be a voice for the dispossessed. He was awarded his BA with a double major in Ethnic Studies (emphasis Chicana/o Studies) and speech communication in June of 2009. He would continue graduate school and complete his Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) in June of 2011. His thesis research focused on testimonio and critical ethnographic methods for exploring how Mexican American community college students in Oregon use their lived experiences as a catalyst to “empower” them to pursue higher education.

Although he had not thought about advanced degrees, his professors, mentors and community encouraged him to continue on to his doctoral studies, and he moved to San Antonio, Texas, in August of 2011 to begin his Ph.D. studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). “It was very tough work, but I had a really strong Chicana feminist mentor, Dr. Josie Méndez-Negrete”. Dr. Chuey worked relentlessly and, through her mentorship, he soon began teaching courses within the Mexican American Studies Program at UTSA. 

Then tragedy intervened along his journey. On a visit back to Oregon for Christmas break, he lost a second brother, Luis, who was murdered on December 23, 2012. He was completely shattered and demoralized. By this point, he had dedicated 10 years of his life to higher education. But he decided to relocate to continue his doctoral studies; it had been too much to humanly endure, and he transferred to the University of Arizona (UAZ) in August of 2013 to be closer to family in Oregon and to continue and complete his doctoral studies. 

He was closely mentored by Dr. Rick Orozco, a native of Tucson, Ariz,, who had been his professor at OSU but had returned to UAZ. During his doctoral studies, he would teach undergraduate courses for future teacher educators in the College of Education. Dr. Chuey would defend his dissertation in April of 2018 and was awarded his PhD. in Language, Reading and Culture with a minor in Mexican American Studies. His dissertation research utilized racialized social class as a unit for analysis in the schooling experiences of Mexican American students along the Borderlands of Arizona. 

His goals at CSUP, he says, are to demonstrate how relevant Chicano Studies is to other departments, to modify the current minor, and connect Chicano Studies to the community. It is also very important that we have a strong national presence and visibility, and thus bridge with national conferences and organizations that support Chicano Studies.

Most interesting is his professional work experience with a grant at the University of Arizona was “Semillas del Pueblo Project,” when he returned in the fall of 2019 to UAZ during a short hiatus teaching Ethnic Studies at OSU after completing his Ph.D. He worked for five years in the M.Ed. Secondary Education Alternative Pathway Program, within theDepartment of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies, College of Education, University of Arizona. During this time, his doctorate with an interdisciplinary focus enabled him to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses.

“Semillas was a teacher training making actual connections to language, culture, and identity,” he said, “which was to be used all over Arizona. We were planting that hope in teachers collaborating with their students at the grassroots level. We wanted to mentor and guide students to finish their education.”

He has written or is in the process of writing 18 refereed articles in academic publications such as:” Linguistic apartheid: Testimonios of immigration, labor, socialization and schooling along the community college pathway,” in Ethnic Studies Pedagogies, with K Kiser-Chuc; “Disrupting hegemonic whiteness: Testimonios as critical race counter-narratives along the community college pathway, in Andragogical Studies;” and “Considering intergenerational, historical & chosen traumas in schooling: A review,” in Open Access Journal of Addiction and Psychology.

His offices are near the Hoag Hall lobby at Art/Music building 119. His email is jesus.jaime-diaz@csupueblo.edu