RONALD SCHMIDT
California State University, Long Beach
Political Science
1250 Bellflower Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90840
(562) 985-4717
rschmidt@csulb.edu

Brief Biography:
Ronald Schmidt received his A.B. and M.A. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley; he received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. He has served as Acting Instructor at Reedley College; Director of Education, Central California Action Associates, Fresno (an OEO-funded project of Adult Education for Migrant Farmworkers); Instructor at the University of Oregon, Eugene. He has been a professor at California State University, Long Beach since 1972, having served as Department Chair of Political Science from 1977 to 1980, and again from 1985 to 1990. He was the recipient of the CSU Long Beach Outstanding Professor Award, and has filled active leadership roles in the California Studies Association and the Western Political Science Association. He is a member of the American Political Science Association, and serves on the APSA Section on Race, Ethnicity & Politics.

Public Lecture Topics:

  • Presentation, "Language, Identity and Citizenship in Southern California," panel on "Changing Ethnic Politics and Public Identity: Negotiating Citizenship in Southern California," Annual Conference of the California Studies Association, Los Angeles, February 1998
  • Invited Lecture, "Contemporary Language Politics in the United States," Conference on "Immigration, Language Issues, and National Identity," Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, May 2, 1997
  • Speaker, "The Politics of Bilingual Education in California," CSULB Political Science Alumni Association, November 12, 1997
  • Speaker, Panel on "Language Rights and the English-Only Movement," National Conference of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Anaheim, CA, June 25, 1997
  • Invited Lecture, Odyssey Theme Year Course on "The American City" (CSULB), October 29, 1996: "Governing the City: The Art of Politics and Representation; or, How Aristotle's Political Thought Can Help Us Understand What's Wrong With L.A."
  • Panelist, "Immigration in California in the Wake of Proposition 187," California Issues Conference '95, Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs, California State University, Los Angeles, November 9, 1995

Public Projects:

  • Invited Commentator, Research Conference on "The Latino Civil Rights Crisis," co-sponsored by Harvard University's Civil Rights Project and The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, Los Angeles Intercontinental Hotel, December 3, 1997.
  • Interview on California and Minority Politics, "Beach Talk," Long Beach Cable Access TV, October 21-25, 1996
  • Guest Instructor, Seminar on "Race Relations," Covenant Presbyterian Church of Long Beach, January 21 and 28, 1996
  • Panelist, Race Relations Panel: "Korean/Black Tensions," Korean American Leadership Conference, Los Angeles (April 1992)

Publications:

  • Identity Politics and Language Policy in the United States. Philadelphia: Temple University Press (In press, due Spring 2000)
  • "The Politics of Language in Canada and the United States: Explaining the Differences," in Thomas Ricento and Barbara Burnaby, eds., Language and Politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and Realities (Mahwah, NJ; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1998), pp. 37-70.
  • "Latinos and Language Policy: The Politics of Culture," in F. Chris Garcia, ed., Pursuing Power: Latinos in the Political System (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997), pp. 343-367
  • "Latino Politics in the 1990s: A View from California," in F. Chris Garcia, ed., Pursuing Power: Latinos in the Political System (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997), pp. 457-462
  • "The Political Incorporation of Immigrants in California: An Institutional Assessment," California Politics & Policy 2 (November 1996), pp. 1-19
  • "Language Policy Conflict in the United States," in M. Crawford Young, ed., The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: The Nation-State at Bay? (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993), pp. 73-92
  • "A Selected Bibliography on Race/Ethnicity and Public Policy in the United States," Explorations in Ethnic Studies 16:1 (January 1993), pp. 85-92
  • "Language Policy and the Pursuit of Equality: Canada and the United States," in Fraga, Messina, Rhodebeck, and Wright, eds., Ethnic and Racial Minorities in Advanced Industrial Democracies, (New York: Greenwood Press, 1992), pp. 247-263

Ronald Schmidt has been listed in the Directory of California Thinkers since 16-Aug-1999 .