Department of Social Science

María del Carmen Ochoa

Lecturer in Social Science

CV  |  Education  |  Courses Taught  |  Publications  |  Service  |  Presentations  |  Honors

Professor Ochoa brings an intense passion and love for written expression to her courses.  She takes great pride in providing her students with opportunities to "identify and tap their intellectual abilities and creative processes." 

Professor Ochoa's interests are cross-disciplinary in nature, most recently focused on oral history and the relationship of personal history to larger public narratives.   This commitment includes work with visual artists in collective settings, a women's weaving cooperative in Northern New Mexico, and women of color artists’ collectives in urban locations such as Oakland and San Francisco, California.

She recently launched a national booktour for her new book Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence, An Anthology of Creative Expression, co-edited with Barbara K. Ige. The book also features selections by Women's Studies colleague Dr. Shahin Gerami, SJSU 2007 alumnus Teresa Pedrizco Romero (Social Science) and current Sociology graduate student Hosai Eshan. Shout Out contains "a powerful collection of writing by women who are contemplating and striving to answer ... very troubling questions" such as:  "How do so many women survive the violence of their daily lives? Where do they find hope? How can this violence be allowed to continue?"   The collection offers critical examinations, creative nonfiction, and poetry from women who "provide living testimony to the need to put an end to oppression and violence."

Professor Ochoa also has a long history of involvement with local artistic communities. She served as the Executive Director of the Sun Gallery/Visual Arts Center in Hayward, and as Development Associate with the Women's Foundation in San Francisco. In both positions, she worked to increase artistic and educational opportunities for girls and women.

She is currently juggling several research projects in addition to her teaching.  A local history project involves interviewing elder residents of the former immigrant town of Russell City in Alameda County; a second project is a monograph titled Rita Hayworth and the Alchemy of Erasure.

Born and raised in Oakland, Professor Ochoa is a bilingual Chicana who speaks "a personalized form of Spanglish that emerges from my desire to express a richness and vibrancy of experience that is most fully communicated by mixing the two languages."

For more about Professor Ochoa, see her personal homepage at http://mariaochoa.com or her university homepage.

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Education

Ph.D., History of Consciousness, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, 1995

B.A. Humanities, New College of California, 1989

Courses Taught: 

SOCS 100W. Writing Workshop

SOCS 160.   Women, Race & Class

SOCS 190. Internship

AAS/SOCS/WOMS 193.   Women & Minorities in the Social Sciences

Most Recent Publications:

Russell City (Images of America) with Hayward Area Historical Society (Arcadia Publishing, 2009)

Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence, An Anthology of Creative Expression (Seal Press, 2008), co-edited with Barbara K. Ige

"Ester Hernández,"  "Judith F. Baca," "Yolanda M. López," "Latina Artists," Latinas in the United States: An Historical Encyclopedia. Ed. Vicki Ruíz & Virginia Sánchez Korrol, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.

Creative Collectives: Chicana Painters Working in Community (University of New Mexico Press, 2003).

“Looking for Home in the Homeland” in Enunciating Our Terms: Women of Color in Collaboration and Conflict, special edition of the journal Inscriptions, eds. María Ochoa & Teresia Teaiwa (Santa Cruz: Center for Cultural Studies/University of California Santa Cruz, 1995).

“Cooperative Re/Weavings” in Perspectives on Mexican American Studies (Tucson: Mexican American Studies Institute, University of Arizona, 1996)    

Professional & Community Service

Founding Member, Hayward-Ghazni (Afghanistan) Sister City Committee, 2005 - present

Board of Trustees, Oakland Museum of California Foundation, 2004 – 2006

Advisor, Heritage, Preservation, and Public History Committee, San José State University, 2005

Founding Chairperson and Member, Chabot Live! - Chabot College Performing Arts Committee, Hayward, CA, 2002 – 2004

Board of Directors, Hayward Area Recreation/Park District Foundation, 2001-2004

Member, Art Advisory Committee-Cultural Heritage Resource Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San José State University, 2003

Member, Latino History Project Committee, Oakland Museum of California, 2000-2003

Member, Public Art Selection Committee, City of Hayward, 1998-2000

Panelist, Scholarship Selection Committee, Chicana Foundation of Northern California, 1994, 1996, 2005

Recent Talks & Presentations

"Russell City: Our Voices, Our Selves," Institute for Museum and Library Services/Hayward Area Historical Society/Crossroads Summer Institute, Hayward, CA, 2006

"Globalizing the Local Routes and Roots of Women’s Studies Programs: Strategies for Increasing the Circulation of Ideas and Expansion of Programs" and "Girl Scouts: Where Girls Grow Strong," National Women’s Studies Association Conference, Oakland, CA, 2006.

"Now is the Time to Open Our Hearts" (Keynote), Chabot Community College Commencement, Hayward, CA, 2004

"Visual Arts Curriculum and Multi-Media Technology," Children's Literature Association Conference, El Paso, TX, 2003

"The Vernacular and its Effect on 20th Century Multiracial Communities," Oral History Association Conference, San Diego, CA, 2002

"Co-Madres Enchiladas: Diez Años" (Keynote), Tenth Anniversary Celebration of Co-Madres Artistas, La Raza Galeria Posada, Sacramento, CA 2002

"Love and the Dignity of Art" (Keynote), Chicana/o-Latina/o Graduation, California State University, Hayward, 2002

"Chicana Artists and Their Contributions to El Movimiento" (keynote), Semana Chicana Celebration, San Josè State University, 2002

"Documenting Chicana Arts Collectives" (plenary), Annual Conference of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1998

Honors & Awards

Learning Productivity Program Grant, “Writing in the Margins: An Assessment of Faculty Commentary on Student Writing and Student Response,” Center for Faculty Development/Linguistics and Language Development Department, San José State University, 2005

Research Grant, “Girl Scouts: Where Girls Grow Strong”: A Study of Institutional History and Social Organization, College of Social Science, San José State University, 2005

Artist’s Grant, “Russell City: Our Voices, Our Selves: An Oral History of Community Renewed, ” The Creative Work Fund, San Francisco, CA, 2001

Woman of the Year – 18th Assembly District, California State Assembly, 1999

Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1994

First Place Dissertation/Thesis Award, Pergamon-National Women’s Studies Association, 1994