Eric Avila is a professor in the departments of History and Chicana/o Studies at UCLA. He also holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Urban Planning. He is the author of three books and numerous scholarly articles and op-ed editorials. At UCLA, he teaches courses on the history of the Los Angeles,the history of American cities, and the history of Mexican-Americans, California and the West. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Le Monde, NPR, CNN and other media outlets. He is a 'first-gen' college graduate, a fifth-generation Southern Californian and lives in downtown Los Angeles. Books by Eric Avila:"Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles," (University of California, Press, 2004)."The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City," (University of Minnesota Press, 2014)"American Cultural History: A Very Short Introduction," (Oxford University Press, 2018)Co-editor, "The Chicano Studies Reader: An Anthology of Aztlán," (Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA, 2000)Some other interesting facts about me and my career: I was a United States Senate Page during my junior year of high school, under the sponsorship of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. I was a visiting professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands in 2003, a research fellow at Harvard University from 2005-2006, a research fellow at Stanford University from 2007-2008, and currently, I proudly serve on Gucci's Changemakers' Council, helping Gucci promote equity, diversity and inclusion through scholarship support and community engagement.