The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies invites nominations for the 2009 NACCS Scholar Award. The Award was established in 1981 to recognize “life achievement” contributions of scholars to Chicana and Chicano Studies. To ensure the special quality of the NACCS Scholar award, nominees should be scholars whom the majority of the NACCS membership would readily recognize.

This award is not necessarily an annual award. Nominations can only come from a Foco, Caucus, Research Divisions, or the Board -- not from individuals. See past Scholar recipients

The nomination must be limited to a CV and a two-page letter of nomination describing how the candidate meets the criterion set forth. In addition to the letter of nomination, a complete packet must include supporting materials: for example, a selected list of publications, additional letters of support, etc. (Recent NACCS Scholars have had in excess of five additional supporting letters from prominent Chicana/o studies scholars across the country.)   All letters submitted must be originals and contain signatures.

The packet must be presented in a professional manner – this is the highest honor given by NACCS and packet should reflect this. The nominating Foco, Research Division, or Caucus should encounter little difficulty in gathering that necessary materials if time is factored in the planning. 

Nominations must be addressed to the NACCS Scholar Committee, must be submitted in paper form, and must be received on or before October 4. Nominations received after the deadline or received in electronic format will not be considered.

Nominations from past years may be resubmitted only with additional supporting materials, although earlier supporting materials may also be reused provided they are not more than two years old. However, NACCS will not keep any previously submitted packets. Materials will not be returned.

Criteria to be considered for the NACCS Scholar Award include both of the following. Nominating letters should speak to both criteria.

1. A scholar’s history of involvement in the development of Chicana and Chicano studies as a discipline AND/OR an individual’s significant contributions to scholarly research and writing on the Mexican population of the United States; AND

2. An individual’s significant contribution to the NACCS organization.

The award is presented at the Annual Conference and carries a lifetime membership in NACCS.

Nominations deadline is October 4, 2008, POSTMARKED. NO faxes or e-mail are accepted. Since our address is a P.O. Box, no "overnight" delivery service will accept to deliver the package other than the U.S. Postal Service.  However, since items must only be POSTMARKED, overnight delivery is not needed.

Mail your nominee packet to:
NACCS
P.O. Box 720052
San Jose, CA 95172-0052

Questions regarding a packet should be addressed to your Foco representative, Caucus or Division chair, the NACCS Chair or the Executive Director.

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This year, the NACCS membership is fortunate to be honoring two most deserving scholars in Austin, Norma Cantú and Kevin R. Johnson. While equally deserving of receiving this recognition, their work and interests separate them apart but its their work and interests in our community, in our universities, and in NACCS that makes the year’s recipients so extraordinary. Each embodies the mission, commitment and corazón that makes this award unique for any scholar. The NACCS Board is pleased to announce Professors Kevin R. Johnson and Norma Cantú as the 2008 NACCS Scholar recipients. 

The Chicana Caucus, the Lesbian, BiMujeres Trans Caucus, and the Tejas Foco, came together to nominate and honor Dr. Norma Elia Cantú, a Tejana from the Laredo borderlands, for her exceptional academic and literary contributions as well as for her gifts of mentorship and leadership.

This Chicana Tejana has dedicated her life and work for over three decades to Chicana and Chicano Studies both nationally and internationally. She was one of the first Chicanas to obtain a doctoral degree in English (1982). In her own words, she states, “given that I did not know a single person with a Ph.D. when I graduated from high school, I find it quite remarkable that I earned one. No one in my family, indeed no one from my neighborhood or my barrio community, had traveled that path before; only a precious few had earned a high school diploma” (Telling to Live). Cantú has contributed her research to the fields of Folklore, Women Studies, Border Studies, and US Latina/o Studies and continues to open new academic and community spaces for Chicanas and Chicanos. She was instrumental in creating the first doctoral program in English with an emphasis on Chicana/o and Latina/o cultural production at the University of Texas, San Antonio where she currently teaches in the department of English, Classics and Philosophy. Larisa Mercado-López, a student in that program comments that “a conversation with Dr. Cantú es como una limpia, a spiritual cleansing in a non-sanctioned space (the university). It is in her office and through her words that I am revitalized and reinvigorated with the spirit of Chicana activism, the energy to seek social/political/academic change.”

Cantú has challenged mainstream and Chicano patriarchal and discriminatory notions by inscribing the voices of women, indigenous, and working class people into her various fields of study. As a creative and critical writer, her work is also recognized nationally and abroad. She has organized scholars to assert recognition and create Chicana/o academic spaces in organizations such as the Associations of Modern Languages and Literatures (MLA), American Studies (ASA), Latin American Studies (LASA), National Women’s Studies, and the American Folklore Society. Dr. Amelia de la Luz Montes testifies to Dr. Cantú’s full support of young scholars: “I come from a working-class family and because of Dr. Cantú’s presence in my life, I knew I could overcome the racism, sexism, and homophobia in academia in order to survive and flourish in my scholarship and creative writing.” Within Chicana/o Studies, specifically, Cantú has contributed significantly to both NACCS and Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS). In all the academic organizations mentioned above, she has held leadership positions and organized panels with undergraduate and graduate students, junior and senior faculty, and activists.

She is the editor of the Texas A&M University series Río Grande/Río Bravo: Borderlands Culture and Traditions; the co-editor of two foundational feminist texts: Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change and Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios, and a contributor of many essays to books and journals on folklore, language, and ethnic and gender studies. She also edited Paths to Discovery: Autobiography of Chicanas with Careers in Mathematics, Science and Engineering. Her award-winning novel Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera highlights life on the borderlands through a Chicana feminist perspective. As noted by Dr. Norma Alarcón, many of Dr. Cantú’s creative publications have “had an enthusiastic reception among readers [who are] enchanted by the ways in which she preserves the code-switching practices that are part of cultural milieu in the Texas borderlands.” This enthusiasm and enchantment of Dr. Cantú’s writings were echoed throughout many of the letters sent in support of her nomination.

In her letter of support, Dr. Antonia Castañeda (NACCS Scholar, 2007) praises Dr. Cantu’s work in the following manner: “the popular dicho inscribed at the end of Prof. Cantú’s electronic mail, ‘Cada cabeza es un mundo,’ reminds us always of the wondrous universe that each person is. It is this fundamental, abiding belief—in the value, worth, respect due, and wonder of each and every living creature—that is at the center of her research, scholarship, writing, teaching, publishing, and organizing.” Cantú is indefatigable in her research, activism and support of others. She is an expert at creating social networks and motivating people to share their stories of survival and triumph in a world that negates our Chicana/o and Latina/o existence. ¡Dr. Norma Elia Cantú, PRESENTE!

Kevin R. Johnson is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies at the University of California, Davis and still has time to be a mentor at the UC Davis Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School of Law, an active member of the Northern California Foco and a supporter of our students, fellow academics, but most importantly the immigrant communities. As though preparing himself for his immense compromiso, Johnson was a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. It is with great honor, cariño, and respect that the Northern California Foco nominated Prof. Johnson for this recognition.

The author of six books, and over 75 articles, in addition to commentaries, editorials, amicus briefs, and his daily blog, Johnson specializes in immigration law and racial identity. It is this awareness of Chicanos/as as mixed race, and their complicated issues surrounding legal and personal identity, that became the subject of his highly acclaimed autobiography How Did You Get to be Mexican?: A White/Brown Man’s Search for Identity, nominated for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 2000.

Perhaps best known for his work in the emerging field of Latino/a Critical Race Theory, known popularly as “LatCrit”, Johnson’s scholarship and personal endeavors, like LatCrit, combines legal studies, activism, and racial theory to not only address public policy, but to shape it, so it better meets the needs of the Latina/o community. This is the first time NACCS has honored a “Latcritter,” and demonstrates the growing diversity and strength of Chicana/o Studies.

Prof. Johnson  advocates for undocumented immigrants (laborers and students). His commitment to the real dilemmas faced by immigrants extends beyond academia in his daily efforts to make a difference. Along with two of his colleagues he hosts a blog (http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/) is immensely valuable for anyone who needs to keep up to date on the diverse political, cultural and legal issues pertaining to immigration. He also speaks to groups of students (of all levels) in the community about the possibilities of higher education and law in particular. Kevin Johnson is a civil rights lifer. He does not go a day without intending to make a difference in the community-where people live out the risky ordeal of being immigrant and targeted. Most people celebrate the manifestations of consciousness that the marches of 2006 and 2007 have represented with thousands of people taking to the streets to declare their rights in the United States regardless of their immigrant status. But Johnson has been involved in this quotidian endeavor even before there were cameras, blogs, or internet spaces. He has a passion for justice and in doing this labor he remains humble and grounded.
 
As Rhonda Rios-Kravitz, NCal Foco rep, wrote in her letter of nomination: “Professor Johnson’s compelling, gripping, and deeply moral and ethical voice in the areas of civil rights and immigration law have been heard nationally and internationally.  He is one of the most noted voices on the hardships and racial profiling suffered by immigrants.” Other supporters such as Guadalupe T. Luna, Bill Hing, and Jennifer Chacon, noted his commitment to students and junior faculty, and his active inclusion of both in the mentoring pipeline. Professor Johnson epitomizes the NACCS Scholar, deftly weaving prolific scholarship alongside teaching, mentoring, and community activism.

Please come join us in Austin as we recognize these two amazing individuals on Friday, March 21, 2008.