Tomás Rivera

Tomás Rivera
Occupation	writer, poet, educator

Tomás Rivera (December 22, 1935 – May 16, 1984) was a Chicano author, poet, and educator. He was chancellor of the University of California, Riverside, the first Mexican American to hold the position at any university of the University of California. He is best remembered for his 1971 Faulknerian stream-of-consciousness novella ...y no se lo tragó la tierra, translated into English as ...and the earth did not swallow him. This book won the first Premio Quinto Sol award.

Youth and family

Rivera was born in Crystal City, Texas to migrant farmworkers. In his youth, he accompanied his parents as they labored in various parts of the Midwest, and went out to work as a labourer until he was 20. These experiences had a discernible impact on his writing and his determination to succeed. Rivera graduated from the Southwest Texas State University and taught at public schools until he could further his education at the University of Oklahoma. He married Concepción Garza on November 27, 1958, and the couple had three children.

Education and career

Rivera graduated from Crystal City High School and worked in the fields alongside his family before attending Texas State University-San Marcos, where he earned a B.S. in English in 1958 and a MEd in education administration in 1964. He taught in public schools and at Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde, Texas. He then attended the University of Oklahoma where he earned a Master's degree in Spanish literature and a doctorate in Romance languages and literature in 1969. He then taught at Sam Houston State University and helped plan the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he filled several positions before becoming the chief executive officer of the University of Texas at El Paso in 1978. He left to become chancellor of UCR in 1979, a position he held until 1984.

Civic activities

Besides writing, educating, and administering, Rivera traveled worldwide and was active in the professional community. Both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan appointed him to commissions on higher education, and he headed the National Council of Chicanos in Higher Education, which he helped to found. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute then at Pomona College (now at USC, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2005. He also served on the boards of the Carnegie Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Educational Testing Service.

List of works

Novella

• ...y no se lo tragó la tierra. Tomás Rivera. Pinata Books ISBN 1558851518

Contributed

• The Ties that Bind : Questioning Family Dynamics and Family Discourse in Hispanic Literature. Ed. Sara E. Cooper. Lanham, MD: UP of America, 2004. ISBN 0761826491

Poetry

• The Searchers : Collected Poetry. Tomás Rivera. Ed. Julián Oliveres. Houston: Arte Público, 1990. ISBN 155885018X

Complete works

• Tomás Rivera : the Complete Works. Tomás Rivera. Ed. Julián Olivares. Houston: Arte Público, 1991. ISBN 1558850392

In translation

• This Migrant Earth; Rolando Hinojosa’s Rendition in English of Tomás Rivera’s ...y no se tragó la tierra. Houston: Arte Público, 1987. ISBN 0934770557 (pbk.)
• ...y no se lo tragó la tierra. Tomás Rivera. Trans. Evangelina Vigil-Piñón. Houston: Arte Público, 1987. ISBN 0934770727 (pbk.)

Film

• --and the earth did not swallow him. American Playhouse Theatrical Films presents a production of KPBS and Severo Perez Films; produced by Paul Espinosa; written and directed by Severo Perez. New York, NY : Kino International : Kino Video, c1997.

Legacy

Dr. Rivera died in his Fontana home in 1984. The following are named in his honor: a University of Texas at Austin professorship, the primary University of California, Riverside library and a plaza, , a Riverside Unified School District elementary school, a Val Verde Unified School District middle school, a Crystal City (his hometown) elementary school, a Mexican American children's book award named in his honor, an honorary doctorate from Santa Clara University and was named a distinguished alumnus by Texas State University-San Marcos. His work is studied in courses of American and Chicano literature, and the Pomona College institute bearing his name continues to publish studies on educational, immigration, economic, and other issues important to Hispanic Americans.

At the University of Texas at San Antonio, a tutoring center is named in his honor. At Texas State University-San Marcos Student Center Drive was renamed Tomas Rivera Drive in his honor.

External links

• The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California
• reference regarding UCR dates
• The Tomás Rivera Center for Student Success at the University of Texas at San Antonio

References

• Patell, Cyrus R. K. (2004), "Emergent Ethnic Literatures: Native American, Hispanic, Asian American", in Hendin, Josephine G. (ed.), A Concise Companion to Postwar American Literature and Culture, Malden, MA: Blackwell, ISBN 978-1405121804.