Francisco Jiménez was born June 29, 1943 in San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Mexico, and immigrated illegally to the United States at the age of four. His family lived in abject poverty while working as migrant farm laborers. As a result, Jiménez was not able to attend school consistently, often missing large portions of the academic year to work in the fields to help support his parents and siblings. Eventually, however, he began to excel both in his studies and his mastery of English, particularly after his family settled in Santa María, California. When Jiménez was in eighth grade, he and his family were deported, but eventually returned to the country legally. Jiménez graduated from Santa Clara University in 1966 with a B.A. in Spanish. He received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to attend Columbia University, where he received his master’s degree in 1969 and Ph.D. in 1972. While studying at Columbia, he married Laura Facchini, whom he met at Santa Clara, and they would have three children—Francisco, Miguel, and Tomás.

After teaching several classes at Columbia, Jiménez returned to Santa Clara University in 1973 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor several years later. He went on to be named the Phil and Bobbie Sanfilippo Professor and Fay Boyle Professor of Santa Clara’s Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Jiménez would hold a variety of administrative positions at Santa Clara as well, including director of the Division of Arts and Humanities, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, director of the Institute on Poverty and Conscience, and director of the Ethnic Studies Program. His prestige as a professor also led to his service on the California Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing, the California State Humanities Council, and the Western Association Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities (WASC). In 2002, Jiménez was named the U.S. Professor of the Year by CASE and the Carnegie Foundation. In addition to his work in the classroom, Jiménez also edited, translated, and co-authored various essays and books on Latin American language, literature, and culture while at Santa Clara. He officially retired from the university in 2015, after an academic career of more than forty years.

Jiménez began writing about his childhood and adolescence during his time as a student at Santa Clara University and Columbia University. His first short story, “The Circuit,” was published in 1973 in Arizona Quarterly. Jiménez did not continue writing autobiographical short stories, however, until on sabbatical from Santa Clara in 1995. He published his first story collection, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, in 1997. In the following years, he released Breaking Through (2001), Reaching Out (2008), and Taking Hold: From Migrant Childhood to Columbia (2015). Two of his stories have also been published as picture books for younger children, La Mariposa (1998) and Christmas Gift/El Regalo de Navidad (2000). Jiménez’s books have been translated into multiple languages, including Spanish, and recorded as audiobooks. His works have earned countless honors, including the 1997 Americas Award, the 1998 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the Pura Belpré Honor Book designation in 2002. Jiménez’s writings have also garnered both critical and popular acclaim for giving voice to an underrepresented segment of American society, and for celebrating the value of hard work, education, and one’s personal and cultural identity.

Bibliography

Carlile, Susan. “‘Challenges Give Meaning to Our Lives:’ Francisco Jiménez and Social Justice.” The Alan Review 32.1 (2004): 41-49. Web (Accessed June 25, 2015)

“Curriculum Vitae.” Santa Clara University Modern Languages and Literatures. Santa Clara University, 2015. Web (Accessed June 25, 2015)

“Dr. Francisco Jimenez: Short Biography.” Santa Clara University Modern Languages and Literatures. Santa Clara University, 2015 (Accessed June 25, 2015)

"Francisco Jiménez." Authors and Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale, 2000. Biography in Context. Web (Accessed June 25, 2015)

“Francisco Jimenez." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center (Accessed June 25, 2015)

"Francisco Jimenez." Directory of American Scholars. Gale, 2002. Biography in Context. Web (Accessed June 25, 2015)

“Prof. Francisco Jiménez.” Santa Clara University Modern Languages and Literatures. Santa Clara University, 2015. Web (Accessed June 25, 2015)

Santa Clara University was founded in 1851 by the Society of Jesus as Santa Clara College and is California’s oldest operating institution of higher learning. It was established on the grounds of Mission Santa Clara de Asìs, the eighth of the original 21 California missions. The college originally operated as a preparatory school and did not offer courses of collegiate rank until 1853. The institution became known as the University of Santa Clara in 1912, when the schools of engineering and law were added. For 110 years, Santa Clara University was an all-male school. In 1961, women were accepted as undergraduates and Santa Clara University became the first coeducational Catholic university in California. The number of students and faculty tripled over the next decade and the university began the largest building program in school history with eight residence halls, a student union, and an athletic stadium. In the early 1970s, the Board of Trustees voted to limit the size of the undergraduate population, an action that was intended to preserve the character and ensure the quality of the university for generations to come. In 1985, the university adopted Santa Clara University as its official name.

Bibliography

Santa Clara University. “About SCU – History.” www.scu.edu/about/history.cfm (Accessed Nov. 23, 2010)

McKevitt, Gerald, S.J. The University of Santa Clara: A History, 1851-1977. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1979.