Alumnus Tatcho Mindiola Jr. was named the director of the Center for Mexican American Studies in 1980. Photo by Pin Lim

A Cougar for more than 44 years, Tatcho Mindiola Jr., director of the University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) and associate professor of sociology, recently received the 2006 Mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Award for his contributions to higher education. A Houston native, Mindiola earned a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in sociology from UH. He returned to campus as a faculty member in 1974.

“I tell people I was born on campus,” Mindiola said, before discussing CMAS and his personal journey at the university.

Q  Why did you choose a career in academia?
A  I didn’t start out with the intention of being a professor. I was pursuing a business degree. Right before graduation, I realized that the field didn’t appeal to me. I decided to get my master’s in industrial psychology. I hoped that I could work in a field that would allow me to use what I learned from both disciplines, but one of my professors suggested that I consider sociology, which I did. I was accepted into the master’s program in the sociology department, and I received a fellowship. So, I moved in an apartment near campus and started taking graduate courses. It was the first time that I was able to attend college without working. I really enjoyed the campus experience. In addition to the intellectual atmosphere, the campus also offered many different activities. There was a pool hall, a pub, a swimming pool, movies and lectures; but it was a tumultuous time in society. We had the antiwar movement, the black civil rights movement, the Chicano movement, the Indian movement, the women’s movement, the gay movement. In my classes, we discussed all these issues, and I started to understand how society works. I enjoyed the classes so much that I began looking at my professors differently — from a professional perspective. That’s when the light came on. I decided that I wanted to be a professor.

Q  Why did you join the university faculty?
A  When I was a graduate student here, I fell in love with the university, and to come back to campus to teach after graduating from Brown University became one of my goals. When I returned to UH in 1974, the students had pushed through a plan to establish a Mexican American Studies Program, and I wanted to become involved in the program. I was the first professor to receive a joint appointment in Mexican American studies and sociology. At the time I became the director in 1980, the program was less than a stepchild. We had a paltry budget of $5,000 to $6,000 and a part-time secretary, but I was committed to helping develop a solid program. It has taken longer to build the program than I anticipated, but now we have a visiting scholars program, a publications component, graduate fellowships, undergraduate recruiting and retention efforts. Our budget is about $1 million a year, but we have a ways to go. Along the way, I was fortunate to find staff members who have the same determination and focus that I have. Lorenzo Cano, the assistant director, deserves a great deal of credit for our success and so does Helen Meza, the department business administrator, and Rebeca Trevino and Maria Cobio, who are responsible for our undergraduate initiatives. The Latino Faculty Council has also been of tremendous help.

Q  What is your vision for CMAS?
A  We want to finish our $5 million endowment campaign. We have raised $2.1 million so far. We want to establish a Mexican and Mexican American studies major. The major will include the history, culture and politics of Mexico and Mexican Americans, and to our knowledge, it will be the first of its type in the United States. We also plan to add a policy component, and we believe that the center needs it own building.

Editor’s note:
The program’s Academic Achievers, which mentors high school and UH students, received the 2005 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Star Award. The award recognizes exemplary contributions toward closing educational gaps. Additionally, CMAS’ Visiting Scholars Program, which began in 1986 to generate research about the Latino community, has attracted more than 28 scholars, of whom 40 percent have joined the university in tenured or tenure-track positions.