Dr. Luis Alvarez was born in San Diego, where he spent the first four years of his life before he moved around the country with his family, citing Palo Alto as one of the main places that he identifies with. He is the current History Department chair at the University of California, San Diego, as well as a professor in the History Department and an affiliate professor in the Ethnic Studies Department.
In his interview he discusses his familial roots in San Diego, his educational background, and the work that he currently does as a professor and department chair at UC San Diego. Dr. Alvarez highlights his time as a student at UC San Diego in the early 90’s, discussing the political climate of the time and its relation to the political activism that has occurred in the past 10 years on the same campus. He also discusses his educational journey, stating that he once was an engineering major who quickly found a passion for history after taking UCSD’s HILD 7C course, highlighting the fact that this is now a course that he himself teaches.
The interview was conducted via Zoom as both this is the platform that worked best for both parties. The interview was conducted by Sam Sotomayor, a first year masters student, in UCSD’s Latin American Studies Program.
