Retiring with the title “Distinguished Professor Emeritus” is an honor and privilege that few faculty will experience . It takes many, many years of hard work, dedication and commitment to the continued betterment of not only the academic community, but also to the location you call home. F. Chris Garcia retired in 2011 from his dream job as a professor at the University of New Mexico with the honorable title of “Distinguished Professor Emeritus”. If one wanted to know exactly how you receive such a title, all one would have to do is look back at the life of such a person like Garcia.

A 13th generation New Mexican and 4th generation Albuquerquean, F. Chris Garcia has his roots deeply embedded in the state of New Mexico. He graduated proudly from Valley High School in 1957 where he was active in student government before attending the University of New Mexico for his both his undergraduate and post-graduate studies in Political Science. Shortly after his time as a student at the University of New Mexico he would leave New Mexico for to pursue his Ph. D. at the University of California, Davis. After completing his Ph. D. in California and spending a year teaching at Fullerton College in Fullerton California, he sought to return to New Mexico to educate and enlighten the University of New Mexico student body as a professor.

Returning to New Mexico as a well-educated and prepared individual, Garcia would become an Assistant Professor and as part of UNM’s administrative staff as Assistant Director of the Division of Government Research and Institute for Social Research and Development at the University of New Mexico. This position marked the beginning of a long and fulfilling professorial and administrative career at the University of New Mexico where he would eventually go on to become A distinguished Full Professor, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, and eventually President of the University in 2002.

He retired in 2011 with 41 years of experience as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at UNM and now lives happily in Albuquerque with his wife, Sandy. She and their two daughters all o have degrees from the University of New Mexico.