Board Members

Dr. Lea Ybarra has a BA, MA, and Doctorate in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and did graduate studies at Stanford and post-graduate studies at Harvard, including being a Scholar-in-Residence. She has been a professor and administrator for over 40 years, at CSU Fresno and Johns Hopkins University. Most recently, she retired as Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY), which identifies and provides academic programs to highly gifted students. Under her leadership, CTY enrolled 80,000 students annually from throughout the United States and over 120 countries. Dr.Ybarra spearheaded CTY’s fundraising campaigns which raised $70 million dollars for scholarships for Latino, African American, Native American, and other underrepresented students. 

A recipient of numerous awards for her teaching, research and community service activities, her research has included oral histories on topics in education, family and gender issues, immigration, and peace and conflict studies. She has also directed a variety of projects that focus on gender equity, including Project EXCEL, which promoted math, science and computer technology opportunities for young women. Dr. Ybarra has been appointed to various commissions and boards and chaired the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on Exceptional Children in Overseas School and the Johns Hopkins’ Council on K-12 Education. She also served on the Governor of Maryland’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Johns Hopkins Diversity Council, Harvard University’s Advisory Board on Hispanic Public Policy, and the State of California Commission on Juvenile Justice. She currently serves on the Mexican Heritage Center Board of Directors, Radio Bilingue Advisory Board and is Vice President of the Latino Education Advancement Fund.

Among the awards Dr. Ybarra has received are the Johns Hopkins’ Diversity Leadership Award, the top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S., Maryland’s Top 100 Women, the CSUF Exceptional Service Award for Excellence in Teaching and Community Service, the Fresno Business/Professional Woman of the Year, the Rosa Parks Award for Outstanding Community Service, Hispanic Women Making History, and 

the Promete Foundation Award in Spain in recognition of her international work with children. She has many publications, including the book and film Americanos: Latino Life in the U.S. with Edward James Olmos, as well as her latest book, Vietnam Veteranos: Chicanos Recall the War.

Throughout her work, Dr. Ybarra has never forgotten her commitment to community. She attributes this commitment to her parents, who imparted a strong sense of social justice and proud cultural identity. She also attributes her community involvement to her education at Fresno State and Cal Berkeley, during the 60’s and 70’s. “I grew up with a generation where we truly believed we could make a difference and that has always stayed with me. I am strongly committed to helping create the Mexican Heritage Center to record our community’s voices and rich history.”

Provide a historical framework and background for the overall project, lead the development of a Collections Policy create a training program for oral histories.

History Consultant

Alex M. Saragoza is Professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, where he served as Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, as Director of International Programs, and Director of the University of California Center at Mexico’s National Autonomous University in Mexico City. A graduate of Fresno State, Harvard, and the University of California, at San Diego, he has published and lectured widely on Mexico, immigration, and the history of Latinos in the U.S., among other topics. In 2012, he was visiting professor at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France and in 2027 the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award from the Osher Life-Learning Institute at UC Berkeley, among other accolades. He was selected to the Distinguished Lecturer Program of the Organization of American Historians and is now writing a book on Latinos of the Central Valley of California. Dr. Saragoza was the history adviser for the Caminos exhibit on the Latino population of the Central Valley, sponsored by Arte Americas of Fresno, California, an exhibit presented during 2019 to 2023 in Fresno, Visalia and Merced. A native of Madera, California, during his youth he worked in the fields with his parents and siblings throughout the Central Valley.

Professor Fontes grew up in Fresno, 4th generation Chicano, where he currently lives. He received his PhD in American History from Stanford University. Titled “Paradise Shackled: The Criminalization of The Mexican Immigrant in Fresno County, 1880-1940,” his forthcoming work examines how various immigrant groups were treated by the justice system, with particular attention given to the Mexican immigrant.

Patrick’s research interests include immigration history; California Central Valley history, with an emphasis on the Chicano experience; El Movimiento in the Fresno region; and the criminalization of the Mexican American. 

Current research also centers on El Movimiento at Fresno State College during the 1960s through the early 1970s. Patrick’s chapter on the events at Fresno State 1968-1969, titled “We Were in a Foreign Land,” in the recent anthology Rewriting the Chicano Movement, examines the hard-fought battle of the Chicano generation as they fought for dignity and equal representation on campus.

As a Public Historian, Fontes believes in what the El Plan de Santa Barbara states, that a Professor of Chicano Studies must actively engage the Community: Chicanismo simply embodies an ancient truth: that we are never closer to our true self as when we are close to our community.

Patrick Fontes, PhD
patrick.fontes@fresnocitycollege.edu

Provide organizational recordkeeping and reporting, serve as interim center director.

Educator and Community Scholar 

M.A. degree at CSUF with over forty years’ experience in the Fresno arts scene, most of it through Latino organizations. Related experiences include the creation of the 1975 and 1985 Directories of the Mexican American community, an active member of the Association of Mexican American Educators in the 1970s, director of the bilingual preschool Los Amiguitos, and most of all as a founder, volunteer, director, and board member of Arte Américas between 1987-2017. Her continued involvement with Arte Américas after retirement was to direct their Caminos exhibit 2017-2023 and as a volunteer. A wider participation in the arts began with the Fresno Arts Council, as board member and then director in the early 2000s. She initiated a Cultural Study of the Arts in Fresno, worked on the first Fresno (County) Cultural Arts Plan, the Arts Impact Study, and helped develop the Fresno Coalition for Arts, Science and History, later the Valley Cultural Coalition.

Eddie Varela is the President and Chief Executive Officer of El Concilio de Fresno and a founding member of a community-based Latino/Chicano advocacy organization established in the late 1960s. He is the proud son of Mexican immigrant parents—his father from the small town of Temósachic in the mountainous Sierra Madre region of Chihuahua, Mexico, and his mother from Cañadas in Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico. Like thousands of Mexican families of that era, both sides of his family fled the Mexican Revolution, joining the mass migration to El Norte in search of safety, economic opportunity, and refuge from the upheaval of civil war.

A first-generation Mexican American, Eddie embraced the Chicano Movement as it emerged and took shape during his formative years. He became the first in his family to graduate from a university, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Fresno, with a special major integrating Political Science, Public Administration, and Urban and Regional Planning. He later earned a Master of Public Administration.

Eddie has a long and distinguished record of public service, marked by leadership roles in city government and higher education. Throughout his career, he has addressed critical public policy and public service challenges while contributing to and influencing decision-making processes that impact underserved communities. His lifelong commitment includes steadfast support for La Causa and service with community-based organizations advocating for the underserved and underrepresented—particularly within the Mexican heritage community. Eddie retired after nearly 35 years of service at Fresno State, where he held a management position in Human Resources.

In recent years, Eddie has continued his community leadership by spearheading efforts to establish a site of historical significance honoring the first farm workers’ conference held in Fresno on September 30, 1962, at the Edison Social Hall—an event widely recognized as the birthplace of the United Farm Workers. He is also currently organizing and directing a city-wide César Chávez Celebration and March scheduled for March 15, 2026. Additionally, Eddie serves on the board of directors and is a founding member of the Mexican Heritage Center, a nonprofit organization established to promote, research, and document the legacy, history, contributions, and service of Mexican heritage people of California’s Greater San Joaquin region.

Oversee the MHC venue and all media matters, including recordings. 

Director, Community Center for Arts and Technology, CCAT

With a background in media and technical production, he reached the milestone of 25 years as an organization based in downtown Fresno, working with youth through classes in music, dance, theater, and technology. Over those years he engaged over 20,000 youth ages 12-20, some of whom have gone on to careers in the arts and media. These classes, and others for adults, are offered free of charge.

Oversee student interns on issues related to immigration and migrant resources 

CEO, Moreno Institute

From a labor camp in Planada, Raúl followed a path through education to become Director of CSUF Migrant Services and the Dream Center. He then went on to establish the Education and Leadership Foundation, the Education and Leadership Press, Moreno Institute, and Moreno Seeds Foundation. He also documents immigrant stories and has written six bilingual books for children. He earned the Ohtli Award, the Mexican government’s highest award to a U.S. citizen.