Professor Ralph Armbruster Sandoval

When UCSB students organize to demand action from the university, you're likely to find Professor Ralph Armbruster Sandoval standing beside them. As an academic and an activist, his engagement outside of the classroom help him to connect with students inside the classroom.

Ralph Armbruster Sandoval is a Professor in the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department. He joined the Department in 1998, 4 years after a hunger strike led by Chicanx/Latinx students that resulted in his hiring and the establishment of the first-ever Chicana/o Studies doctoral program in the United States. Professor Armbruster Sandoval examined the UCSB hunger strike and other university hunger strikes in the 1990s in his book, Starving for Justice: Hunger Strikes, Spectacular Speech, and the Struggle for Dignity. He has served on the Board of Directors of Just Communities, Casa de la Raza and been involved in many social justice organizations. He is married and has two children who attend Dos Pueblos High School.

Bits of Music You May Notice: Yo La Tengo, "Georgia Vs. Yo La Tengo," Public Enemy, "Bring the Noise (No Noise Instrumental)," M|A|R|R|S, "Pump Up the Volume."

This episode was first broadcast on KCSB-FM 91.9 on October 20, 2022.