Alvaro M Huerta

Dr. Alvaro Huerta is an Associate Professor in Urban & Region Planning (URP) and Ethnic & Women’s Studies (EWS). As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Huerta teaches and conducts research on the intersecting domains of community & economic development, Chicana/o & Latina/o studies, immigration & Mexican diaspora, social movements & social networks and the informal economy. Among other scholarly publications, he’s the author of Reframing the Latino Immigration Debate: Towards a Humanistic Paradigm (2013) and Latina/o Immigrant Communities in the Xenophobic Era of Trump and Beyond (2019). He’s also the lead editor of People of Color in the United States: Contemporary Issues in Education, Work, Communities, Health, and Immigration, Vol. 4, (2016). 

In addition to his civic engagement, public scholarship, media coverage and speaking engagements, he’s conducted two TEDx talks on behalf of los de abajo/ those on the bottom (click here and here). Born in the U.S., he was raised in a Mexican colonia (Colonia Libertad in Tijuana, Baja California) and an American barrio (Ramona Gardens public housing project or Big Hazard projects in East Los Angeles). As a first generation elementary school, high school and university graduate, he holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley—one of the first Chicanas/os to do so. He also holds an M.A. in Urban Planning and a B.A. in History from UCLA.