After 35 years of brilliant teaching, pathbreaking research, and tireless advocacy for the Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies Program, Prof. Benjamin Márquez is retiring. During his years in higher education, he has published no less than five books (two of them award-winning). Among the most notable are The Politics of Patronage: Lawyers, Philanthropy, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (2021); Democratizing Texas Politics: Race, Identity, and Mexican American Empowerment 1945-2002 (2014) and Constructing Identities in Mexican-American Political Organizations (2003). His LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American Political Organization, published in 1993, two years after he joined the UW-Madison faculty, remains a necessary reference for the study of that organization.
In addition to his brilliant scholarship, Prof. Márquez has regularly taught courses on Mexican American Politics, race and ethnicity in politics, and politics in multicultural societies, as well as the Introduction to Chicano and Latino Studies. He has mentored many students through research projects, theses and dissertations.
He has also been a staunch advocate for Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies during his time here, serving twice as Director of the program. During his most recent tenure as Director, he joined with other Ethnic Studies directors to lobby for cluster hires, which led, in the following years, to key hires that allowed us to build a major in CLS.
The Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies Program would not be the strong program it is today without Prof. Márquez’s many years of leadership, research, and teaching. The Program honors his many contributions to UW-Madison and CLS, and the faculty, staff, and students wish him well on his next adventures.
