The Journey of a First-Generation Chicana Professor

Dr. Loretta Ramirez is a Chicano and Latino studies professor at CSULB. Photo by Dacne Moreno.

What gave Dr. Loretta Ramirez courage, strength and determination, was growing up with tough love from her grandfather.

Being first-generation while also being the very first person in her family to attend and graduate college, meant that her guidance was limited. When it came to planning out her career, she knew that it was up to her to explore her options which allowed her to look for her own pathway and that empowered her to push forward. 

 “I loved studying, it was hard for me to choose a major. I just had a lot of curiosity in myself. I definitely wanted to study culture,” Ramirez said.   

She knew that making an impact in her own community and culture was so important for not only her, but for future generations.

She is half Apachen and half Chicana so within her career she was searching for better representations while also aiming to be that change. 

“I wanted to hear the voices of Native American and Chicanas in particular,” she said. “I was tapping into students' desires to not be talked about, but to talk for themselves, that really launched my teaching career.”

Ramirez, now a professor at California State University, Long Beach, started off by studying anthropology at Stanford University. She loved studying about people, until she realized that the knowledge she was granted throughout her education was from an outside perspective.

After graduating with a Bachelors of Arts from Stanford University with a focus on political anthropology, she searched for better representation to hear from an internal perspective for a change. 

Ramirez’s inspiration came from her grandfather who enabled her curiosity and shaped her way of thinking to seek and find answers for herself.

Robert Warrior, a Native American professor, also inspired Ramirez to push and chase her curiosity. He pushed her to go find the evidence and not just be told the answers.

Within her career, Ramirez was able to earn an honorable amount of degrees. She earned her master's degree in English from Loyola Marymount University with a focus on creative writing and narrative theories, a master's degree in Art History from California State University, Long Beach with a focus on female patronage, devotional art from medieval Spain and a master's degree in English from the University of California, Irvine with a focus on Chicana rhetoric and critical composition pedagogy. Finally, she received a Ph.D. in English with a graduate certificate in visual studies. 

With writing, Ramirez is inspired by Cherrie Moraga, a Chicana writer from Los Angeles that teaches women like herself to tap into that confidence and to use their own voice.

When Ramirez first read Moraga’s books, she remembered hearing her own voice and thoughts within Moraga’s writing.

Throughout her professional career, Ramirez was influenced by several people, just as she has impacted many herself. Michelle Seales, a close friend and former colleague, commends Ramirez for her hard work, dedication and education.

Seales met Ramirez ten years ago and her favorite memories together are the conversations they have had about their roles as Latina women working in higher education, as well as talking about their travels and how they relate to their studies in art history.   

“[Ramirez] is just fantastic all the way around, she’s very professional in everything she does, she gets things done and is focused, “ said Seals. “The list is endless for Loretta because she is so determined.”

Valerie Cortez, a former student, admires Ramirez's teaching style. Cortez thanks Ramirez for encouraging her to become a better writer, giving her advice on how to apply to graduate school and helping her understand more about Latinx culture in general. 

“When I started to get to know Dr. Ramirez, she really served as an inspiration not only as a Latina, but as a woman,” Cortez said. “During the time when I was coming up, I didn’t have family to help me through that and Dr. Ramirez was the one who helped me through it all.” In 2020, Ramirez was awarded the “Scholars for the Dream Award” by the Conference on College Composition & Communication. Ramirez now wants to be the one to motivate her students after writing her first book and waiting for the release of her second.

Ramirez said that Chicana to her means “stripping down to many loyalties even though it is hard to draw the line.” Her challenge as a Chicana is to find those lines and prioritize her wellbeing and her time, but to also celebrate all of her loyalties and bonds to family, as well as other elements that she needs to juggle. 

“I do feel that it is a full life,” she said.

In the future she wishes to see more representation among her students.

“Chicanas are performing based on what they perceive as accepted by scholars or by our own communities, so it is really hard for us to find our voice," Ramirez said.