Theresa Delgadillo always loved to read and write, she says, but "I didn't know much about the life and work of a university professor until I returned to college, after several years in the working world." Then a turning point came during a summer research program for undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Working with a professor of history to develop research about African American historic sites in Milwaukee, Theresa was "surprised at how much I took to it," she says. "I really enjoyed digging into County Historical Society archives, reading books, visiting locations and writing up what I found."

At the suggestion of a professor, Theresa had applied to the summer program, designed to encourage underrepresented students to pursue graduate study, even though she had not previously considered graduate school. In fact, she had left college once: "At the time, I was pursuing, I thought, a very 'practical' course of study, yet I felt increasingly unconnected from it." When she returned to school several years later, the opportunity to study literature motivated her. But she understood that as a personal goal, not a career direction.

During the summer research program, she learned firsthand "what a life in academia would be like," she says. Graduate studies, it turned out, were "not only possible but ideal" for her.

After earning a Master of Fine Arts at Arizona State University, Theresa arrived at UCLA in 1995, attracted by the opportunity to work with its outstanding faculty in American literature, especially multiethnic American literature. She brought with her an interest in Chicano/a and Native American literatures, "but I also wanted to expand my understanding of African American and Asian American literatures and cultures. I found that an added benefit of study at UCLA was the opportunity to hear a number of authors and scholars and view performances, films and art exhibits in literary and multicultural studies."

Theresa discovered her dissertation topic during her first quarter, in a seminar with Sonia Saldívar-Hull, now co-chair of her dissertation research. With support from Saldívar-Hull and Valerie Smith, also a co-chair of her dissertation work, she developed a project on representations of Chicano/a spirituality in contemporary literature. Rafael Pérez-Torres and Eric Avila, who also supervise her dissertation, provided valuable feedback along the way. At the heart of her dissertation is how Chicana writers "re-vision the place of religion and spirituality." These writers examine "women's particular relationship to religion, providing a nuanced critique of it and an appreciation of it as an avenue traditionally open to women for all kinds of expression: political, cultural, emotional."

"Like many Chicano/a writers in the 1970s and 1980s, women writers were questioning the value of religion, but they were coming up with different answers," Theresa says. "Rather than dismiss religion," she finds, "Chicana writers engage it, emphasizing both negotiation and female characters who are active in shaping their faith."

Theresa's dissertation topic was well-suited to the needs of the University of Arizona, where she will take up a tenure track position in Women's Studies that provides the opportunity to continue research and teaching in literary and cultural studies, ethnic studies, religious studies and women's studies. She believes that her publication record as a graduate student contributed to her job success. And she credits the financial help she received during her years at UCLA.

Theresa received a Project 88 fellowship for study at UCLA, which provided full funding for two years and a guaranteed teaching assistantship for two more. "That made a big difference in my ability to get through the graduate program," Theresa says. "It also, I have to say, was a real vote of confidence in my chosen area of study." Over the course of her education, she received several additional awards and is currently completing her year as a Ford Foundation Fellow through the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Program for Minorities. "I have been fortunate," she says. The funding "not only gave me the support and confidence to continue, it also allowed me to pursue research and publication that improved my standing in the job market." Also of great assistance in the job search was the dedication of English Department faculty in mentoring job candidates through the process-from feedback on job materials to mock interviews to guidance through negotiations.

When Theresa arrived at UCLA, Proposition 209 was being considered, and she remembers meeting many of her fellow students in English and other departments for the first time "by participating in the marches and demonstrations against 209 and, after the measure passed [ending the Project 88 program, among others], creating awareness on campus of the need to recruit and retain minorities in higher education." She also became involved in the Raza Graduate Student Association, which sponsors programs and provides support for Latino and Latina graduate students, and the Student Association of Graduate Employees.

"I think words and ideas matter-they make a difference in people's lives," Theresa says, pointing out that the role of ideas is a characteristic of literature and culture studies that she finds appealing. As she heads to the desert to begin "a life of reading, writing and thinking-always thinking," she says, "this career really fulfills that side of me." Although her activism was limited by the combined demands of the dissertation and the job market, she remains confident that her commitment to affirmative action and social justice will not diminish in the future.

Published in Spring 2000, Graduate Quarterly