Dr. Alvaro Huerta holds a joint faculty appointment in Urban & Region Planning (URP) and Ethnic & Women’s Studies (EWS) at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Dr. Huerta teaches and conducts research on the intersecting domains of community & economic development, Chicana/o & Latina/o studies, immigration & Mexican diaspora, social movements, social networks and the informal economy. Among other scholarly publications, he’s the author of the book Reframing the Latino Immigration Debate: Towards a Humanistic Paradigm (San Diego State University Press, 2013) and forthcoming book Latina/o Immigrant Communities in the Xenophobic Era of Trump and Beyond (Hamilton Books | Rowman & Littlefield, Summer 2019). He’s also the lead editor of People of Color in the United States: Contemporary Issues in Education, Work, Communities, Health, and Immigration (Volume 4). Born in the U.S., he was raised in a Mexican colonia (Colonia Libertad in Tijuana, Baja California) and an American barrio (Ramona Gardens housing project or Big Hazard projects in East Los Angeles). He holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley—one of the first Chicanas/os to do so. He also holds an M.A. in Urban Planning and a B.A. in History—both from UCLA.