About Professor Gutiérrez

Dr. José Angel Gutiérrez is a 1962 graduate of Crystal City High School in Crystal City, Texas. He has also earned degrees from Texas A & M University at Kingsville (B.A. 1966), St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas (M.A. 1968), the University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D. 1976) and the University of Houston, Bates College of Law, Houston, Texas (J.D. 1988). He has done other postdoctoral work at Stanford University, Colegio de México, University of Washington, and Centro de Estudios Económicos y Sociales del Tercer Mundo in Mexico City, Mexico.

His book publications include El Político: The Mexican American Elected Official (El Paso: Mictla Publications, 1972); A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans (Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico: Imprenta Velasco Burkhardt, 1974); A War of Words (co-authored) (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985); The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998); My Struggle for the Land: Autobiography of Reies López Tijerina (translated and condensed, (Houston: Arte Publico Press, forthcoming); and, a revised and expanded edition of A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans (Houston: Arte Publico Press, forthcoming). He also has written several articles and chapters over the years, the most recent being "Chicano Music: The Politics and Evolution to 1950," for an anthology edited by Lawrence Clayton for Texas A & M University Press, forthcoming; "Binacionalismo en el siglo XXI: Chicanos y mexicanos en los Estados Unidos," Fondo Editorial Huaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico, forthcoming; "Experiences of Chicana County Judges in Texas Politics: In Their Own Words," Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies, 20:1, Spring 1999; and, "Los dos Mexicos," Extensiones: Revista Interdisciplinaria de la Universidad Intercontinental, Mexico D.F., Mexico 4:1 y 2. 1997.

He currently is at work on three manuscripts: A Chicano Manual on How to Handle Gringos; Chicano Leadership: Local Elected Officials in Texas, 1950-2000, which is based on 157 oral history interviews he conducted between 1996 and 2000; and, Tracking King Tiger: The Federal and State Government Surveillance of Reies López Tijerina and the Land Recovery Movement.

During the mid-1960s through the Chicano Movement and to the present time, Dr. Gutiérrez was lead organizer, founder and co-founder of several organizations such as the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC), Ciudadanos Unidos, Obreros Unidos Independientes, La Raza Unida Party, Winter Garden Project, Becas Para Aztlán, Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement, Northwest Voter Registration and Education Project, and Grupo de Apoyo para Immigrantes Latin Americanos (GAILA). He has been the subject of many articles and film documentaries, the most recent being the PBS three-part video series, CHICANO! The Mexican American Struggle for Civil Rights, and is mentioned in many Chicano history and political science books for his activism.

Dr. Gutiérrez has received many honors including being named as one of the "100 Outstanding Latino Texans of the 20th Century" by Latino Monthly, January 2000, and "Distinguished Texas Hispanic by Texas Hispanic Magazine, October 1996. He received the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education in June 1995, and the National Council of La Raza's Chicano Hero Award in 1994.

He founded the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) at the University of Texas at Arlington in 1994 and served as its Director until December 1996, at which time he became the Special Advisor to the President of the university until December 1998.

Dr. Gutiérrez has been elected and appointed to public office since 1970. He has served as an elected Trustee and President of the Crystal City Independent School District (1970-1973), Urban Renewal Commissioner for Crystal City, Texas (1970-1972), County Judge for Zavala County, Texas (1974-1978, re-elected 1978-1981), Commissioner for the Oregon Commission on International Trade (1983-1985), Administrative Law Judge for the City of Dallas (1900-1992), and member of the Ethics Commission for the City of Dallas 1999-2000).