Andrew Hernandez

Andrew Hernández is a third year PhD candidate in the Department of History. His research interests include the American West, borderlands, food and agriculture, suburbanization, community organizing, and the histories of Black and Ethnic Studies programs. Previous to USC, Andrew finished his MA in American Studies at Columbia University, during which he also consulted as an historian researcher for CUNY – Hunter College’s sesquicentennial where his findings were used in the president’s speeches, celebratory events, and an ultimate book project commemorating the school’s past. Prior to that, Andrew served as a high school history teacher for five years in Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey where he advised students on the dangers and promises of history as a discipline and as a tool for social justice. As a first generation college student, he earned his undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College in 2013 where he majored in History and minored in Educational Studies. Andrew is from Ontario, California, where he first picked up the necessary historical skills of how to tell a story from the abundant chismes offered by his friends and family. He is currently a Scholar-in-Residence at Pasadena’s historic Gamble House.

• M.A. American Studies and Ethnicity, Columbia University, 2020
• B.A. History, Swarthmore College, 2013