The Department of Modern Languages and Literature at Cal State Bakersfield has an assistant professor whose career started in his home state of Taumalipas, Mexico, 1,903.1 miles away from CSUB.
Marco Antonio Huerta Alardín has been a part of the efforts that the campus is making to become more inclusive and more Hispanic. Efforts which are being made by the CSUB President Vernon B. Harper Jr., Dr. Shaylyn Marks and the Latinx affinity group.
Huerta first started his undergrad at National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), studying literature. However, due to a nine-month student strike at UNAM, Huerta changed his major from literature to communications.
While Huerta was living in México, he worked as a spokesperson for a politician in his home state of Taumalipas. Despite acquiring his undergrad in communications, he could not use it in México due to the risk of saying something that could have put him in danger.
Due to ongoing fighting between political and cartel groups in México the last 20 years, which has only gotten worse, he made the choice to come to the United States. However, Huerta not only wanted to earn a degree in higher education, but fulfill his own potential.
“This is a country that is supposed to celebrate individual freedom, all these rights we have to express who we are, be free who we want to be,” said Huerta.
His plan from the start was to be somewhere in media, a communications director or work as a spokesperson for politicians. However, becoming an educator was something that ran in his genetics, as both of his parents are educators and his grandfather founded the union for teachers in Tamaulipas.
When he moved to the United States 11 years ago, he chose to get his masters at the University of California, San Diego. It was here, where he received his Masters of Fine Arts and eventually earned a Ph.D. in Spanish.
Many people have inspired him to become the professor he is today. He has learned from all the professors, even the worst professors and the ones he didn’t like. His biggest inspiration is author and professor, Cristina Rivera Graza. The biggest takeaway he’s learned from Rivera is to ask questions in class, share the answers and concerns that students have.
The journey to becoming a professor was not easy for Huerta. During 2023 and 2024, he was having a hard time finding a job, but he never gave up because he was determined to become a professor. He would practice his interview questions to better prepare for the interview. The time he spent on practicing paid off as he was offered a position at CSUB. Huerta is now in the waiting term to hear if they will be renewing his contract for a third year.
“Even when there’s a lot of voices who claim that we’re not supposed to be here, that we don’t belong to the university, or that we don’t belong to these pieces in which these discussions are being taken place. Take it, take your place, it’s yours,” said Huerta.
He wants students to always voice their concerns and not be afraid to speak up.
Huerta is working on many projects. However, what most excites him is designing a class course that will allow students to learn more about the history of the territory that was once México, dating back before the Kitamuk tribe lived on it.
Huerta is someone who works on many projects and continues to contribute to the CSUB campus community. He is a professor who just doesn’t care for the educational aspect, but for the mental health of students. He wants students and staff that are comfortable to speak up and ask questions. He wants to be a professor who advocates for students and helps them gain answers to the questions that they have. He is a person that learns not just from colleagues, past professors, and mentors, but from all the students he has had over the years since he became a professor.
