Campus Directory

Pronouns she, her, her, hers, herself

Division Humanities Division

Department/College/Unit History Department

Title Professor

Affiliation Faculty

Other UCSC Campus Affiliation Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas
Kresge College
Merrill College
Stevenson College

Faculty Type Regular Faculty

Areas of Expertise Border Studies
Ethnicity
Chicana/o Studies
Nationalism
Immigration
Latin American and Latino Studies
Sexuality
Asian American Pacific Islander History
Mexico

Primary Office Location Humanities Building 1
542

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours Spring 2024--Weds. By appointment via Zoom; email in advance to set up Zoom meeting at your convenience.

Mail Stop Humanities Academic Services

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.

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

Teaching Interests

U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
Chicano/a History
Latino American History
Nationalism
Asian and Latino Immigration

Awards, Honors 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.

Advisees, Grad Students & Researchers , (aaruck)
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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