Jorge Chapa (1953-2015)

Jorge Chapa was the Interim Director of JSRI and Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology during the 1998-99 academic year. Dr. Chapa left MSU to become the founding Director of Latino Studies at Indiana University, and is currently Director of the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Dr. Chapa had focused his research on alternatives to increase the successful participation of Latinos in higher education. To that end he, with several faculty and legislators, helped formulate the Texas Top Ten Percent Plan, whereby students in the top ten percent of each high school's graduating class were guaranteed admission to one of the state's selective public universities. His move to Indiana University to help start a Latino Studies program there reflects the conviction, based on his research and experience as a student, a professor, and an administrator, that one of the best ways to increase the successful participation of Latinos in higher education is to offer courses where Latinos, along with all other students, can study, learn, and do research on Latino history, culture, and community and policy issues.