Oliver Rosales
Biography
Degrees
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B.A., University of California, Berkeley
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M.A., California State University, Bakersfield
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Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
About Oliver
Dr. Oliver A. Rosales is a Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at Bakersfield College, where he previously served as Faculty Coordinator of the Social Justice Institute. His teaching and research focus on Chicano/a, California, United States, and World history. Dr. Rosales has held appointments as a Visiting Faculty member at Bard College and as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies. He is the author of Civil Rights in Bakersfield: Segregation and Multiracial Activism in the Central Valley (University of Texas Press, 2024), which received the Outstanding Book & Media Award from the Association of Ethnic Studies, the 2025 Ambassador Julian Nava Best Ethnic Studies Book award, and an Honorable Mention for the Norris Hundley Book Award from the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association. A former Board Chair for California Humanities (2022–2024), he is a recipient of the Whiting Foundation’s Public Engagement Fellowship and multiple grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Most recently, he served as a historical consultant for the National Parks Service to help reshape the public history of the National Chavez Center in Keene, California, contributing to a revised exhibit experience forthcoming for the 2027 César Chávez Centennial.
