WAYNE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Ida Martinez Librarian III
Carlos R. Hernández joined the faculty of Wayne State University in Fall 2022 as an Assistant Professor in the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies with a joint appointment in the Department of History. He previously served as the A. Kenneth Pye Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Southern Methodist University (SMU). Hernández earned his Ph.D. in History from Yale University in Spring 2020. He also holds an M.A. in History from the University of Florida and a B.A. in Political Science and English from Texas A&M University.
A bilingual and binational scholar, Hernández maintains strong personal and professional ties to Mexico. He formerly served as the Joseph C. Fox Visiting Research Fellow at El Colegio de México in Mexico City, where he completed much of the research for his current book project, Paradise Lost: Beach Tourism, the Mexican State, and the Making of Cancún. Drawing on over a dozen national and provincial archives, and nearly forty oral interviews, the manuscript argues that sites like Cancún enabled countries like Mexico to engage in large-scale forms of privatization after decades of state-led development. The book further contends that this project came at the expense of Mexican workers, particularly women and the Yucatec Maya, inviting us to reconsider our scholarly and popular assumptions about Mexican nationalism, development, and tourism in a world that is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hernández is broadly interested in developing new approaches to Mexican nationalism and the Mexican state. His published scholarship has appeared in the Latin American Research Review, with future work in progress for International Labor and Working-Class History and other peer-reviewed journals. He is also completing preliminary research for his next book project, provisionally titled Race in Revolution: Mexican Nationalism in the Modern World.
In addition to maintaining an active research agenda, Hernández is committed to diversifying higher education through active under/graduate mentoring. His former advisees have won major fellowships, including the US Rhodes and McNair. He has also helped them secure competitive internships with public leaders like Earl Anthony Wayne, President Obama's Ambassador to Mexico. As a member of the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, Hernández welcomes queries from students and community members interested in Latin America and its diaspora.
Hernández is currently completing his first scholarly monograph, Paradise Lost: Beach Tourism, the Mexican State, and the Making of Cancú n.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Ida Martinez Librarian III
Job Titles:
- Research Grant, Society for Irish Latin American Studies, Switzerland, Summer 2005, to Research Irish Immigration in the Hispanic Caribbean
Irish Latin American Research Grant, Society for Irish Latin American Studies, Switzerland, Summer 2005, to research Irish immigration in the Hispanic Caribbean.
Job Titles:
- Director, Center for Latino / a and Latin American Studies
- Distinguished Service Professor
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor Emeritus
- Research Interest ( S ) / Area of Expertise / Latin America
Job Titles:
- Visiting Research Fellow, El Colegio De México
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Administrative Assistant for the Center for Latino / a
Biography
Juan Carlos Gutiérrez is a First-Generation Latino, proudly born and raised in Southwest Detroit. He graduated from the University of Michigan where he earned a B.A. in Environment with a specialization in Environmental Justice & Community Development.
Juan Carlos joined Wayne State University in March 2024. Prior to becoming part of the team, he worked in the non-profit sector where he advocated for the inclusion of our Southwest Detroit residents and the equitable development of our community.
Now at Wayne State University, Juan Carlos serves as the Administrative Assistant for the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, Crockett-Lumumba Scholars Program, and the Center for Gender and Sexuality. In his role, Juan is enthusiastic about supporting these three pivotal programs at Wayne State University who are dedicated to the scholarly advancement and support of our students.
Education - Degrees, Licenses, Certifications
B.A., Environment, University of Michigan
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Student Services and Program Administration
Biography
Osvaldo "Ozzie" Rivera was born in Puerto Rico and lived in southwest Detroit most of his life. For close to five decades, he has been active in community advocacy and human services. He served as mental health director for ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services), as the executive director of Latino Family Services and as Dean of Students at Wayne County Community College. In 1998, he started a ten year tenure as the Director of Multicultural Affairs and Assistant Professor (Social Work/Sociology) at Madonna University. In 2008, he provided oversight to Children/Family Special Projects for the Wayne County division of the State of Michigan's Dept of Human Services. From 2013-2016, he led community engagement efforts for Southwest Solutions. Currently he consults with a number of social service and arts organizations.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Estenia Gomez Elisevich Academic Advisor I
Biography
Dr. Esquivel-King was born and raised in the Detroit metro region of the state of Michigan. She earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her M.A. from New York University. She completed her PhD in history at the Ohio State University. Her interests are Latin American and Latinx history. She focused her doctoral research on Mexican film censorship history and its relationship to socio political issues of the Mexican Revolution. Dr. Esquivel-King has worked at Belmont University as a postdoctoral faculty fellow and Alabama A&M University as Assistant Professor of Latin American history. She has recently published an article "Unions: Foundation of the Mexican Film Industry," in Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos