Spring Break
Professor creates courses
Calderón's pioneering leads to new interest
Laura Preston
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: LIFE
To many, history is simply an account of past events and people. To others, however, it is a solution to their curiosity and a resolution for their deepest desire to understand the world around them. To Roberto Calderón, associate professor of Mexican-American studies, the latter not only relates, but also defines him.
Calderón is just beginning his seventh year at NT with numerous accomplishments and contributions to the university behind him. He introduced six undergraduate courses, including Mexican-American Autobiography and Mexican-American Immigration and four graduate courses including Mexican-American Civil Rights History.
He is currently the faculty adviser for Phi Alpha Theta, an academic fraternity for history students, and was the adviser for many other organizations at NT. Yet the real story for Roberto Calderón is in all the years preceding his arrival to Denton.
Born in Eagle Pass, Calderón was raised by his immigrant parents along with six other children. Calderón's visible pride for being a second generation Mexican-American was what first provoked him to change his plans from going to law school to getting a doctorate in history at the University of California, Los Angeles.
During his student career as a political science major at Brown University, Calderón arranged to attend the University of Texas at Austin his junior year. The next thing he knew, he was working in a center for Mexican-American studies as a work-study student.
"It was serendipitous, a knock on the door," Calderón said. "I ran with it."
He admitted to never really thinking of history until his first history course his senior year, but his time in Austin really got him thinking about its possibilities.
"[UT] was fascinating," Calderón said. "I met grad students and people who were interested in studies I had not even thought about."
After a year in Austin, Calderón went back to Brown to complete his bachelor's degree. But soon he returned to Texas, and once again his plans to attend law school were turned around, and Calderón started a job as an administrative assistant at UT.
Calderón is just beginning his seventh year at NT with numerous accomplishments and contributions to the university behind him. He introduced six undergraduate courses, including Mexican-American Autobiography and Mexican-American Immigration and four graduate courses including Mexican-American Civil Rights History.
He is currently the faculty adviser for Phi Alpha Theta, an academic fraternity for history students, and was the adviser for many other organizations at NT. Yet the real story for Roberto Calderón is in all the years preceding his arrival to Denton.
Born in Eagle Pass, Calderón was raised by his immigrant parents along with six other children. Calderón's visible pride for being a second generation Mexican-American was what first provoked him to change his plans from going to law school to getting a doctorate in history at the University of California, Los Angeles.
During his student career as a political science major at Brown University, Calderón arranged to attend the University of Texas at Austin his junior year. The next thing he knew, he was working in a center for Mexican-American studies as a work-study student.
"It was serendipitous, a knock on the door," Calderón said. "I ran with it."
He admitted to never really thinking of history until his first history course his senior year, but his time in Austin really got him thinking about its possibilities.
"[UT] was fascinating," Calderón said. "I met grad students and people who were interested in studies I had not even thought about."
After a year in Austin, Calderón went back to Brown to complete his bachelor's degree. But soon he returned to Texas, and once again his plans to attend law school were turned around, and Calderón started a job as an administrative assistant at UT.
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