Deena J. González

Deena J. González (August 25, 1952) is a Mexican-American historian and former Provost and Senior Vice President of Gonzaga University (GU). González is responsible for the releasing over 50 academic publications over the history of Chicanos/as and their presence in the United States. She is also a founding member of the national organization, Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) (Women Active in Letters and Social Change), that promotes research in Chicana, Latina, Native American, and Indigenous communities.

Deena J. González
Born	August 25, 1952 Hatch, New Mexico
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley, History (Ph.D.) University of California, Berkeley, History (M.A) New Mexico State University (BA)
Occupation(s)	Senior University Fellow and Professor of History
Employer	Gonzaga University
Notable work	Refusing the Favor: The Spanish-Mexican Women of Santa Fe 1820-1880 (1999)

In 2006 as part of the Smith College project, González has been acknowledged as one of the fifty most influential living women historians in the U.S.

Early life

Deena J. González, daughter of Santiago and Vidal Trujillo González, was born in Hatch, New Mexico on August 25, 1952. She was raised in Garfield, New Mexico as a Catholic.

González's childhood consisted of living on her family farm, where she would help her family out, but apart from that would spend her free time playing sports such as basketball or softball with the other kids in her neighborhood.

González's was inspired by her mother, Vidal Trujillo González, a liberal school teacher who ensured to instill vital life lessons in her kids. As a result of her impact, Deena and most of her siblings found careers in academia.

Living in New Mexico led to González having a high exposure to Civil Rights activism, as it was one of the centers of the Chicano Movement. Another factor that shaped her consciousness was being witness to the different struggles brought upon by class, race, and status in Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans living in New Mexico. Alongside her High School experiences, showcasing how in advanced classes there would very few Hispanic kids in a class full of whites. During the rise of the Civil Right's movement, González's sat in the trial of Reies Tijerina as part of a high school field trip. This interaction left an impression

“No one would talk about them. Everyone would talk about sameness.” González's said in regard to the lack of discourse in unfair treatment of Hispanics in the 1960s.

Education

Deena González grew up during the 1960s Chicano movement as a teen and became a Salutatorian in Hot Springs High School. Originally, She began her collegiate studies at New Mexico State University in the pursuit of a Pre-Med degree, but later changed gears to History. Once González obtained her bachelor's in History, she later attended UC Berkeley starting from 1974 to 1983 to receive her Ph.D. in History.

Toward the tail end of her Ph.D. pursuit, González became an instructor at Pomona College in 1983, teaching history and Chicano/a Studies. After noticing the student body mainly consisted of a White demographic with very few minorities, she chaired the affirmative action board for the next ten years in an effort to increase the student diversity in the college. Through the help of Pomona College funding, González was able to finish her dissertation.

With her Ph.D., in 1985, she began teaching classes at Pomona College as an assistant professor, gradually building herself up to the position of Associate Professor of History/Chicano Studies.

In 2001, Deena J. González, left her post at Pomona College to work at Loyola Marymount University, becoming the chair and professor of the Chicano and Chicana Studies department there until 2009. During her time at LMU, she began to build a reputation of leadership and was sent to American Council and Education in 2010-2011 to train for an executive role. González describes this as being an "inspiring experience" and "meant that I was able to see the impact that executive leadership and administrative leadership could have in an institution". Giving up the chair, she began her executive path as a Director of Faculty Development in 2011-2012, then took the position of Associate Provost for faculty development in 2012.

Staying in that position for nearly a decade, she moved over to Gonzaga University as Provost and Senior Vice President (2019-2021). After returning to the faculty as Senior University Fellow and Professor of History, she retired from full-time teaching in 2024.

Scholarship

Monograph- Refusing the Favor: The Spanish-Mexican Women of Santa Fe 1820-1880 (1999)

González's dissertation was published as "The Spanish-Mexican Women of Santa Fe: Patterns of Their Resistance and Accommodation, 1820–1880." in 1985. The monograph is a continuation of that specific study. The book focuses on the impact of the annexation of New Mexico into the United States, and specifically how it affected Mexican American Women. The book goes over the legal disputes Spanish-Mexican Women had to endure and provides a feminist reconstruction of Gertrudis Barceló.

The work was meant to correct the role women had in history as they've been relegated to smaller roles when they've truly had been responsible for more than they've been given credit.

The title "Refusing the Favor" is supposed to represent the sentiment "I refuse the favor of your colonization of me!"

“Malinche As Lesbian: A Reconfiguration of 500 Years of Resistance” (1991)

Released in the journal, California Sociologist, the author focuses on why Malinche wasn't talked about as much when she's been credited with a pivotal role in the conquest of the Aztec empire. Upon closer inspection, there's a distinction of her treatment being similar over time to the treatments lesbians endure, thus making the simile more rhetorical on the treatment through a queer lens. By using this lens, she's able to create a compelling argument over how marginalized the queer community is and how prejudice just serves as a vehicle to reach that point.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States (4 Volumes, 2005)

González was a co-editor-in-chief, along with Suzanne Oboler, to compile knowledge regarding the Latinx community as there wasn't a major encyclopedia to have done so. The encyclopedia was meant to be a comprehensive collection of works representing different communities from the Latin Americas living in the U.S. The first Encyclopedia ended up being a success, calling for the following three volumes to be made which signaled a positive shift in bringing Latino/Latina History to a broader scale in the U.S. and internationally.

Key parts of the four volumes later ended up being included in the definitive Oxford encyclopedia titled The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in Contemporary Politics, Law, and Social Movements, bringing together the scholarship on the political landscape of Latinos in the United States.

MALCS

MALCS, which stands for Mujeres Activas En Letras Y Cambio Social (Women Active in Letters and Social Change), is a national academic organization created to advance academic Chicana/Latina literature during a time when the literature was mainly focused on male studies. Deena J. González was the co-founder of the Organization alongside Antonia Castañeda, Ada Sosa Riddell, Adela de la Torre, Lupe Frias, Beatriz Pesquera, Arlie Hochschild, Teresa Cordova, and Margarita Decierdo. Each woman specialized in a different area of study which put together focused on furthering the studies on Chicana women living in the United States.

This organization was put together in 1982 by González and her colleagues who came together to speak for the "Mujeres en Marcha" (Women on the March) panel at the NACS (National Association of Chicano Studies also now known as NACCS National Association of Chicano and Chicana Studies) which addressed "the sexism and hidden barriers that were present in academia".

MALCS went on to publish their journal "Chicana/Latina Studies" which is a comprehensive collection of articles specifically pertaining to the furthering of academic study of Latina/Chicana/Native Americans.The Journal also included her work in a couple of the journals releases. Deena J. González spoke on panels for MALCS on different subjects within feminist Chicana history and also served on both the editorial and planning board from 1982-1990. While no longer on the board, González continues to show for the conferences.