Miranda, Tony

Dr. Tony Miranda grew up in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, California. His father was a chef at the Santa Maria Inn, and the rest of the family spent summers picking strawberries in the surrounding fields.

Miranda married and worked as a postman for a while, then began taking night school classes in order to obtain his high school diploma. He continued his education at Long Beach City College, then California State Long Beach to earn his bachelor's degree. He was offered several fellowships and chose Southern California on a Teacher Corps fellowship. A friend informed him of a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, and he chose to take it.

In 1976, before he finished the doctoral program, Miranda applied for a teaching position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He was accepted provisionally, meaning he had to complete his doctoral dissertation in one year. He successfully completed his doctorate and was offered a tenured track position.

Miranda taught Introduction to Chicano Literature for a year, and then took a post-doctoral ethnic studies course at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He returned to UNLV to teach, served as faculty senator, and held the position of chair of the anthropology and ethnic studies department from 1993 until 2004.