Faculty by Undergraduate Concentration
All history majors select a geographic region of concentration as their primary area of study: Americas and Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and the Mediterranean World. Majors are encouraged to get to know the faculty in their region of concentration as early as possible.
History majors are also encouraged to carve out their own unique thematic research pathway — religion, social movements, science and environment, and gender, to name a few — and to get to know the history faculty who specialize in those research areas.
***Click on a faculty member's name to view their detailed profile information.***
- Pronouns she, her, her, hers, herself
- Title
- Professor
- Division Humanities Division
- Department
- History Department
- Affiliations Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, Kresge College, Merrill College, Stevenson College
- Office Location
- Humanities Building 1, 542
- Office Hours Winter 2025--Tuesdays 1-2 PM or email in advance to set up Zoom meeting at your convenience.
- Mail Stop Humanities Academic Services
- Mailing Address
- 1156 High Street
- Santa Cruz CA 95003
- Faculty Areas of Expertise Border Studies, Ethnicity, Chicana/o Studies, Nationalism, Immigration, Latin American and Latino Studies, Sexuality, Asian American Pacific Islander History, Mexico
- Courses History 12: Introduction to Latinx History; History 128: Chicanx History; History 190D: An Undergraduate Seminar in US Migration History; History 190E: Topics in Chicanx History: Chicana Feminism and the Open Borders Debate; History 201: Directed Research Colloquium in the Masters Essay; History 204E: Transnationalism, Borderlands, and History; History 222: Global Sexualities: A Seminar on Queering Historiographies; History 280B: Grant Writing and Academic Conferencing; History 280C: The Academic Job Market
- Advisees, Grad Students, Researchers ,
Summary of Expertise
North American Borderlands (Canada-U.S.-Mexico)
Immigration--Mexican, Asian
Gender and Sexuality
Race and Nationalism
Chinese in Mexico
Research Interests
North American border-making processes
Chinese in the Americas
Sexuality and Morals Policing
Diasporas and Transnationalism
Nationalism
Biography, Education and Training
Grace Peña Delgado is a Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, whose groundbreaking scholarship has significantly advanced the understanding of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Specializing in migration, border studies, and Latino history, she offers a deep wealth of knowledge and insight, solidifying her position as a leading voice on the complex forces that shape border regions.
Beyond her academic contributions, Delgado is a sought-after commentator on border issues and immigration policy. She has provided expert insights to organizations such as the Department of State and the Department of the Interior. Her ability to bridge academic scholarship with public discourse influences public understanding of borderland dynamics. Through accessible and compelling analysis, Delgado connects complex historical phenomena to contemporary discussions, reaching wide and diverse audiences. She earned her Ph.D. in American History from UCLA.
Honors, Awards and Grants
UCSC, Academic Senate, recipient, Excellence in Teaching Award
Making the Chinese Mexican: Global Migration, Exclusion, and Localism in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands (Stanford University Press: 2012) was distinguished as a CHOICE Academic Title.
"Border Control and Sexual Policing: White Slavery and Prostitution along the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, 1903-1910," Western Historical Quarterly (Summer 2012): 157-178, has won four awards for outstanding scholarly article:
Oscar O. Winther Award (2012) -- best article published in the Western Historical Quarterly in that year
Judith Lee Ridge Award (2012) -- best article in history published by a member of the Western Association of Women Historians
Jensen-Miller Award (2013) -- best article in the field of women and gender in the North American West
Bolton-Cutter Award (2013) -- best article on Spanish Borderlands history
Selected Publications
- 2012 - Making the Chinese Mexican: Global Migration, Localism, and Exclusion in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands (Stanford University Press)
- 2012 - Latino Immigrants in the United States (Polity Press, Cambridge, England)
- 2011 - “Neighbors by Nature: Relationships, Border Crossings, and Transnational Communities in the Chinese Exclusion Era,” Pacific Historical Review 80, no. 3: 401 - 429.
- 2004 - “At Exclusion’s Southern Gate: Changing Categories of Race and Class among Chinese Fronterizos, 1882 - 1904” in Continental Crossroads: Remapping the History of the U.S.-Mexico Border, eds. Samuel J. Truett and Elliot Young, Duke University Press, 183-208.
Teaching Interests
U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
Chicano/a History
Latino American History
Nationalism
Asian and Latino Immigration
