Randy Villegas

he/him/his

Randy Villegas is a Ph.D. Candidate in Politics, with a designated emphasis in Latin American and Latino studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is currently a faculty member at College of the Sequoias, teaching in the Political Science department. A Kern County native, Villegas earned his B.A. in Political Science at CSU Bakersfield in 2017, and his Associates Degree in Political Science from Bakersfield College in 2015. Villegas’s research interests are rooted in the experiences and communities he comes from: Latino Politics, Immigration, Civic Engagement, Poverty, and California’s Central Valley.Before beginning graduate school, Villegas worked as a journalist and an organizer in Bakersfield, CA, where he helped lead the 2016 Social Justice series and the 2017 May Day Resistance march in Bakersfield. Villegas has written many reported pieces as well as opinion editorials in publications like the Los Angeles Times, the Bakersfield Californian, South Kern Sol, and El popular, a Spanish newspaper in Bakersfield. Randy was recently re-elected as a delegate for the California Democratic Party, representing the32nd assembly district, and serves on the board of directors for Alisal Community Arts Network (ACAN) in Salinas, CA. He has been a recipient of numerous awards, including: the American Political Science Association (APSA) Fund for Latino Scholarship, scholarships from Winterguard International, and the Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship. Randy is currently featured in the California State Capitol Museum, in their Unity Exhibit for his work around social justice issues in Kern County. After completing his Ph.D., he hopes to return to his community in the Central Valley to inspire other young scholars, and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.