San José City College alumna Josie Méndez-Negrete, PhD, will give the 2024 commencement address on May 23 at Jaguar Stadium. Dr. Méndez-Negrete is a first-generation student who grew up in East San José. After graduating from Santa Clara High School, she attended SJCC and received a degree in human services and psychology. She transferred to San José State University, earning a BSW and MSW., and received her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
She is a professor emerita of Mexican American Studies in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies and the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her most recent book Activist Leaders of San José: En sus propias voces is a history of the Mexican American leaders who made the city a national model for social justice and community activism.
She is also the author of Rooted in Clay: Verónica Castillo y su rate; A Life on Hold: Living with Schizophrenia, and Las Hijas de Juan: Daughters Betrayed. Her publications have appeared in national and international journals.
A leader in her field of Mexican American Studies, Dr. Méndez-Negrete served as chair-elect, chair, and immediate past chair for Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) from 2003 to 2005. As Lead Editor, she secured 150,000 dollars from UTSA to host the Chicana/Latina Studies Journal of MALC from 2009 to 15. Dr. Méndez-Negrete retired on September 1, 2017, and was recognized as an NACCS Scholar for her contributions to the discipline in 2021.
She is the founder, publisher, and editor of Conocimientos Press, which has produced thirteen books to date. Awards received by its authors include two Gold Medals from the International Latino Book Awards for Claudia D. Hernández for Women, Mujeres, Ixoq’: Revolutionary Visions in 2018, and Teresa Villarreal Rodriguez for the first book published by an author in 2023 for Home, where memories wait to be remembered. Other awards include a bronze medal for one of its children’s books and four awards of excellence.
