Alberto Lopez Pulido, PhD

Professor, Ethnic Studies

Alberto López Pulido is the founding chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies and has been on the faculty at the University of San Diego since 2003. He grew up in the southern section of San Diego more commonly known as the South Bay and lived a life between borders and fronteras that highly influenced his fronterizo ways of understanding the world. He began his postsecondary education at Southwestern College in Chula Vista and then transferred to the University of California, San Diego, where he received degrees in Sociology and Chicano Studies. He had a desire to explore postbaccalaureate studies in Ethnic and Chicano Studies that led him to apply and was accepted to the University of Notre Dame where he studied with Julian Samora as a student in the Mexican American Graduate Studies Program established in the 1970s. Dr. Samora had successfully applied and received financial support from the Ford Foundation who at the time sought to address the protest and civil unrest throughout major U.S. cities by giving monies to start and support ethnic studies programs in higher education. Professor Pulido, better known as El Profe to his students, would represent one of fifty-seven students who would graduate from the Mexican American Graduate Studies Program at Notre Dame and proudly considers himself a Samorista.

Dr. Samora guided El Profe Pulido to examine the relationship between the Chicano Community and the American Catholic Church that led to his dissertation research on the history of the San Diego Roman Catholic Diocese. The most important scholarly work to come out of this research was his award winning essay on Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in the community of Logan Heights in San Diego.

This work inspired Pulido to examine other sites of ethnic resistance guided by sacred sources within Chicana and Chicano history that led to a long scholarly and personal journey where he learned about the Penitentes of New Mexico.  This resulted in a published book and numerous articles and monographs on the topic. He was most inspired and influenced by the brotherhood’s foundational values of charity, prayer and the good example.

With the passing of his mentor, Pulido worked with the daughter of Julian Samora (Carmen) and members of the Samorista family to organize, edit and publish a book on the Legacy of Julian Samora in order to tell the story of the first Chicano Sociologist in this nation who inspired young scholars to continue the groundbreaking work of Dr. Samora throughout his career at the University of Notre Dame.

In 2003, El Profe Pulido was hired by the University of San Diego to establish the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego. From the outset, Pulido’s vision was to honor the legacy and history of our local communities in learning and experiencing the strength and value of ethnic studies. He was inspired by many community and family voices who framed his intellectual and foundational epistemology that established his passion for knowledge and truth rooted in community and life experience. This led Pulido to align himself with several communities organizations and guides and none more important than the Chicano Park Steering Committee who serve as the stewards of Chicano Park in San Diego, California.  He learned a great deal about community organizing through collective struggle and self-determination. This would guide and inspire him to direct and co-produce an award winning documentary on the history and value of lowriding as a cultural expression in the borderlands of San Diego and Tijuana. Soon after, he would be approached by the acquisition editor for History Press to write a book that would augment the history of lowrider culture in San Diego. In conjunction with the San Diego lowrider community and Digital Librarian Amanda Makula from Copley Library, the University of San Diego is now home to the only Digital Lowrider Archive in the world.

El Profe Pulido continues his scholarly commitment to relevant education rooted in a community epistemology that guides his work as Director of the  Turning Wheel Mobile Classroom Project. Turning Wheel provides a mobile space for supporting the urgent needs and challenges of our local communities.  The Turning Wheel Project represents a partnership between the University of San Diego and the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center . Pulido serves as Vice-Chair of the museum’s advisory board. He continues his pedagogical work in linking contemplative studies with ethnic studies teaching and scholarship. In addition, he is currently at work on a history of the Logan Heights community from an ethnic studies perspective that honors the knowledge and voices of its past and current residents.

Areas of Expertise

Scholarly Work