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Ricardo Ortega

Biography

Dissertation Proposal Title: Latina/o undergraduates navigating the undocumented university 

Dissertation Description: Ricardo’s dissertation focuses on the plight of undocumented students and their continued efforts to thrive at prestigious universities (designated as Research 1 institutions) and how little research exists documenting their experiences.  He weaves together research methods from Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (Freirean pedagogy) and “photovoice”, a type of advocacy participatory action research, to follow eight undocumented Latina/Latino undergraduates through the maze of an “often hostile” campus over the course of one year.  Ricardo has found that the eight students are enthusiastic to share stories of what they’ve gone through in their attempt to earn a degree at prestigious research universities. In fact, Ricardo said, “the students have expressed the urgency of sharing their stories with policymakers.”

Profile: Family. That word describes in a nutshell how and why Ricardo Ortega is on the cusp of receiving his doctorate degree and why his future is so bright.  The young man with unlimited passion and drive grew up on the Mexican-California border town of Calexico halfway between San Diego and Yuma, AZ on the fringe of the desert.  It was family that lovingly nudged him to do great things in and out of the classroom.  It was family that “pushed me along my educational trajectory”, first in the public schools of his hometown, next at Cal Poly-Pomona, and then through the graduate programs at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  When not working on his dissertation, Ricardo is a teaching assistant at UCSB, which he has been doing since 2006.  That will be good practice for the young Californian, who wants to spend his professional life in academia, preferably as a professor at a top research university. 

Inspiration: Ricardo said there are so many teachers and mentors (in addition to his family) who have helped him make the right decisions over the years that it is difficult to name just a few. But he would like to acknowledge Noemi Vargas-Esquer, a teacher at his high school in Calexico who urged him to apply to Cal Poly-Pomona, Dr. Terri Gomez at Cal Poly who encouraged him to apply to graduate school and finally, Dr. Tara Yosso, his chief mentor at UCSB. 

Academic/Career Pursuits:  Once his doctoral degree is achieved, Ricardo hopes to land a professorship at a top research university. 

Making a Difference: Ricardo’s mind was made up in undergrad to dedicate his life to social justice.  It wasn’t always that way, but his eyes, heart, and brain opened thanks to a class on ethnic studies he took at Cal Poly taught by Professor Terri Gomez.  “The class not only opened my eyes to ways in which racism, heteronormativity, and patriarchy get perpetrated but also to the ways in which a professor can enact change in the classroom. It was that class that made me want to fight for social justice as an academic and it was that class that made me want to become a professor.” 

Accolades: Ricardo has been designated to give oral presentations at various academic conferences across the country, most notably in 2010 in Seattle at the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies annual conference, where he presented a preview of his dissertation, Latino Undergraduates: Navigating the Undocumented University.

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