DR. ERNESTO GALARZA SCHOLARSHIPS 2025-2026

(CLFSA awards multiple scholarships)

Essay Guidelines

The Chicano Latino Faculty and Staff Association invites scholarship applications that honor the work of Dr. Ernesto Galarza.  We ask you to become familiar with Dr. Galarza’s prolific academic scholarship as well as his activism on behalf of the Mexican/Chicano/Latino community. To begin, please read the biographical essay by Richard Chabrán on Dr. Galarza to learn about his scholarship and his activist contributions.  This provides a background for you to use in thinking about your essay. Dr. Galarza exemplified commitment to our communities throughout his works. After reading Chabrán’s essay, read the designated readings listed below to develop your scholarship essay. It is important that you read critically, identify key points, and analyze the significance of Dr. Galarza’s ideas about education to contemporary events, issues, or problems faced by Chicano/Latino communities today to outline your essay. Read the prompt carefully and use these readings (plus any other relevant references you wish) to write your essay.

Essay guidelines:

Length of Essay:  6-7 pages, plus a cover page and a bibliography of the scholarship you consult.

Mechanics: Use 1-inch margins, 12-point font (Times New Roman or Arial only). Include a cover page for your essay with your name, academic standing (undergrad/grad and year), and your major. Your essay must include a bibliography or reference page using Chicago/author date citation format. Avoid plagiarism by citing any excerpt you use within your essay properly. Guidelines for citing and evaluating information, as well as for avoiding plagiarism, are available at http://libguides.sjsu.edu/plagiarism

ESSAY PROMPT:

Dr. Galarza was a champion for Mexican Immigrant and Mexican American workers (hereafter referred to as Mexican). Mexican immigrants have been critical for the agricultural industry in the central valley. Yet, Mexican laborers who have been historically involved in field labor are seen as unimportant. Refer to reputable news stories or government reports to learn how these Mexican workers are described broadly in the U.S.  Then draw on your readings to learn about Dr. Galarza’s approaches to the serving Mexican laborers.  Read the designated chapter written by Dr. Galarza cited below.  Use all of these references and any additional references you consult and discuss how current immigration policies affect our Mexican communities and people and the impact of these policies. For example, immigration policies may influence career and educational decisions.  After doing careful reading, identify a focus for your essay which meets this prompt.  Use the scholarship you read by Dr. Galarza to address how his ideas and observations continue to be relevant and contribute to ways to address problems and barriers faced by our communities in the present and perhaps the future.  

CLFSA centers its mission, values, and work influenced by Chicana and Chicano Studies.  Dr. Galarza is recognized as a founding scholar of CCS.  Please read the Preamble of the National Association (NACCS) as an example that illustrates advocacy using Chicana and Chicano Studies which champions Mexican Americans/Chicana/o/x people and communities in multiple ways.  In your essay, show connections between Dr. Galarza’s perspectives and NACCS.  Be sure to include a section in your essay on concrete recommendations to address the problems you have identified.

Organize your essay using the following sections:

1. Introduction: In this section develop your thesis and describe how you are organizing your essay.
2. Body: Write about your examination and analysis of Dr. Galarza’s ideas in relation to the essay prompt. This is the body of your paper, so be certain to enrich the essay with carefully selected and cited excerpts from Dr. Galarza’s writing and any additional scholarship useful to support your essay. Be certain that you address the issues in the prompt to develop your ideas succinctly.   Cite the relevant scholarly references you used to support your essay.
3. Conclusion: Powerfully take your reader to a place of action that demonstrates your understanding of Dr. Galarza’s ideas and actions.  Show how you applied these to your essay.
4. Bibliography of the references cited including the ones provided by CLFSA and any other readings you use to write your essay.

The required readings cited below are available on reserve at this link. If you have difficulty accessing the readings, please send an email to Dr. Curry at:  Julia.Curry@sjsu.edu.

Required Reading:

Chabrán, Richard. “Activism and Intellectual Struggle in the Life of Ernesto Galarza (1905-1984).” Pp. 135-152 in Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 1985, Vol 7 No. 2.

Armando Ibarra and Rodolfo D. Torres, 2013.  Man of Fire: Selected Writings, Ernesto Galarza. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. (Available as an eBook at King Library).  Read the following book chapters:

1. Galarza, Ernesto.  “Economic Development by Mexican-Americans in Oakland, California.” Pages 76 to 99
2. Galarza, Ernesto. "The Farm Laborer:  His Economic and Social Outlook." Pages 224 to 235  
3. Galarza, Ernesto.  “Strangers in Our Fields.”  Pages 236 to 255.

Note:  The chapters are historical documents which were written when there was not a consciousness about gender inclusion and some language that is no longer common in our communities. Please do not be deterred by the masculinist language used by Dr. Galarza or by Chabrán. Instead consider how in the present your writing is inclusive of genders, roles, and contributions, (J. Curry Rodríguez).