José Z. Calderón

MA, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
BA, University of Colorado
AA Northeastern Junior College

Urban and political sociology; race and ethnic relations; multi-ethnic coalitions; urban community development; critical ethnography and participant observation; language rights; experiential and service learning; Chicano and Latino communities.

“Is Collaborative Community-Engaged Scholarship More Rigorous Than Traditional Scholarship? On Advocacy, Bias, and Social Science Research,” Urban Education Journal, Sage, March, 2018. With Mark R. Warren, Luke Aubry Kupsenk, Gregory Squires, and Celina Su.

“The Same Struggle: Immigrant Rights and Educational Justice.” in Mark R. Warren and David Goodman, eds., Lift Us Up: Don’t Push Us Out:  Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement.”  Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2018

Conference Presentations and Invited Talks

“The Role of the Struggle Against Racism and Rising White Supremacy for Gender Equity and Immigration Justice as Part of Movement-Building,” Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina, Nov. 2, 2019. 

Part of a group of multiracial readers in a community reading of Emily Mann’s play, “A Greensboro Requiem,” to an audience of 300, Academic Classroom Auditorium, North Carolina AT & T University, Greensboro, North Carolina, Nov. 1, 2019. 

“The Roots of Immigrant and Refugee Migration,” presentation at Migrations:  A Conference on Refugees, Immigration, and Global Movement, sponsored by Pitzer IGLAS, McConnell Center Founders Room, Nov. 8, 2019. 

 Presentation on “The Development of Charter Schools and Their Impact on Public Schools and Communities,”  as part of a screening of film, “Backpack Full of Cash” sponsored by NAACP, Latino and Latina Roundtable, and Pomona Unified School District, Indian Hill Village Academy, October 4, 2019. 

“The New Economy: Possibilities for a Sustainable, Democratic, & Socially Just Economy,” presentation at forum on New Types of Economic Policies and Models, Solidarity Center of the NAACP and Latino Latina Roundtable, June 27, 2019. 

“Fighting For Our Future” keynote presentation at Chicanx, Latinx Graduation Recognition Ceremony, California State University Channel Islands, May 17, 2019. 

“Fifty Years of the Chicano and Chicana Movement: the Past, Present, and Future” at 50th Anniversary Commemoration, Mt. San Antonio Community College, May, 14, 2019.

“Combining Research, Teaching, and Organizing for Social Change” presentation in “Activist Research in Public Discourse and Policy” Session, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, New York, August 12, 2019. 

“Intersectional Organizing and Educational Justice Movements: Strategies for Cross-Movement Solidarities” Presentation in Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements, American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, New York, August 12, 2019 

“Coalition-Building for Inclusion on Campus and Off: Connecting the Immigrant Rights and Educational Justice Movements,” Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology, ASA Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, August 15, 2017.

“Community Engagement and the Activist Intellectual,” Whitman College, Walla Walla Washington, Nov. 27, 2017

“Saving Democracy in the Age of Trump,”  at Flirting With Fascism: Trump and the Challenge to Democracy Conference, The American Institute for Progressive Democracy, Pomona College, Claremont, CA , November 4, 2017.

“Bringing to Center Stage Our Contributions,” keynote address at the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps and Youthbuild Graduation Ceremony, El Monte, CA, June 2014.

“Seeds of Knowledge for Our Future,” keynote address at the Semillas Community Schools Commencement Ceremony, Los Angeles, CA, June 2014.

“We Are Here: Cultivating Our Hope,” keynote address at the 20th Annual Raza Graduation, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, May 2014.

Kettering National Scholar Participant, Kettering Foundation Research Exchange on Work, Action, and Civic Learning, Kettering Foundation and American Association of Colleges and Universities, Dayton, OH, February 2014.

“Activist Intellectual: Combining Community-based Pedagogy, Research, and Learning with Social Change,” keynote address at the Faculty Development Symposium, Oakton College, Chicago, IL, January 2014.

“Media and Politics in the School Reform Movement,” paper delivered at American Sociological Association Urban Workshop, New York, NY, August 2013.

Professor Calderón was quoted in “Pilgrimage in Pomona Honors Cesar Chavez,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, April 12, 2014.

“Finding Cesar Chavez: A Transformational Moment,” TEDxClaremontColleges, March 31, 2014.

“Building on the Legacy of Cesar Chavez,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, March 27, 2014.

“Toward an Economic Justice Plan in Pomona,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, September 6, 2013.

“Affirmative Action Must Remain Part of College Admissions Policies,” Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, June 27, 2013.

Elected to Committee on Committees, American Sociological Association, August, 2017.

Chair of Public Understanding of Sociology Committee, American Sociological Association, August, 2017.

“Transformative Community Engagement: Democratic Trend for Transformative Community Engagement: Democratic Trend for the Future” in The Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement, edited by Corey Dogon, Tania D. Mitchell, and Timothy K. Eastman, Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Received the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (PEOC) Community Award for founding the PEOC and developing links between academia and day laborers, Pomona, CA, June 2014.

Invited as past recipient of the Richard E. Cone Award for Excellence & Leadership in Cultivating Community Partnership in Higher Education to join other awardees at the California Campus Compact Richard E. Cone Retreat, Ben Lomond, CA, June 2014.

Appointed to consult on the development of a new university based on community engagement at the New University on Community Engagement Forum organized by United for Rio Grande Valley and University of Texas, McAllen, TX, November 2013.

Professor Calderon and students from the Rural and Urban Social Movements class (SOC/CH155) joined local leaders, parents, students, teachers and community groups on the 12th Annual Community Pilgrimage to honor Cesar Chavez. The pilgrimage was led by Andres Chavez, the grandson the civil rights leader. Pomona, CA, April 2014.

California Alliance of African American Educators “Unsung Hero and Dreamkeeper” Award, 2009

Appointed to the American Sociological Association’s Program Committee for the 2009 and 2010 Annual Meetings in Atlanta, Georgia; ASA Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology; Emeriti president of the American Sociological Association’s Latino/a Section; ASA Committee on Sections.

Pomona City Council “Goddess of Pomona” city service award, 2006

Michi and Walter Weglyn Endowed Chair in Multicultural Studies, Cal Poly Pomona

Recipient of 2004 Richard E. Cone Award for Excellence and Leadership in Cultivating Community Partnerships in Higher Education, presented by the California Campus Compact (CACC) to individuals who demonstrate excellence in building partnerships between communities and higher education.

“One Activist Intellectual’s Experience in Surviving and Transforming the Academy,” in Transforming the Ivory Tower: Critical Analyses of Sexism, Homophobia, and Racism in the Academy, edited by Mary Danico and Brett Stockdill, University of Hawaii Press, Forthcoming, Fall, 2011.

“Lessons From An Activist Intellectual: Participatory Research, Teaching, and Learning for Social Change” in Ethnic Studies Research: Approaches and Perspectives. Timothy P. Fong (ed.) Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2008. (Formerly published in Latin American Perspectives 134:31)

“Partnership in Teaching and Learning: Combining Critical Pedagogy with Civic Engagement and Diversity” and “Connecting Classroom Pedagogies to Community-Based Service Learning” in Diversity and Democracy: Civic Learning for Shared Futures, Vol. 11, No. 2, Spring, 2008.

Race, Poverty, and Social Justice: Multidisciplinary Perspectives Through Service Learning. Herndon, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2007.

Syllabi and Instructional Materials for Chicano/a and Latino/a Studies in Sociology, Sixth edition (edited with Gilda Ochoa), American Sociological Association Teaching Resource Center, 2006.

“Organizing Immigrant Workers: Action Research and Strategies in the Pomona Day Labor Center” (with Suzanne Foster and Silvia Rodriguez) in Latino Los Angeles, Edited by Enrique C. Ochoa and Gilda Laura Ochoa, Arizona State University Press, 2004.

“Inclusion or Exclusion: One Immigrant’s Experience and Perspective of a Multicultural Society,” Minority Voices: Linking Personal Ethnic History and the Sociological Imagination. Ed John Myers. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2004: 106-120.

Finalist for the Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning, Campus Compact.

United Farm Worker’s Union “Si Se Puede” Community Award for life-long contributions to the farm worker movement.