CSU Trustees’ Award Adds to Accolades for History and Latin American Studies Major

As soon as Vivian Hernandez was old enough to read, she began to ask her mom to buy encyclopedias from the children’s section at Marshalls. Starting with A and working her way through the alphabet, she soaked up each topic, but especially fell in love with reading about history, global affairs, and cultures around the world.  

More than 15 years later, she is writing her own way into the history books as a burgeoning scholar and on the brink of becoming the first in her family to attend a university and earn a degree. 

“Education was always extremely important to our family. My parents really wanted my sisters to have opportunities they didn’t have,” she said.  

If all goes according to plan, she will not just graduate from college but eventually be teaching at one. With plans to eventually apply for a PhD program and become a university professor, Hernandez will graduate in May 2022 as a double major with degrees in history and Latin American studies, and minors in Spanish and global development studies.  

She has racked up numerous awards and scholarships throughout her undergraduate career, including an Adelante Postbaccalaureate Pipeline Program Grant, a Lt. Robert Merton Rawlins Merit Award, and a 2021–22 Sally Casanova Pre-doctoral Scholars Award. 

This week, Hernandez adds one more highly acclaimed accolade to her ever-growing list—the CSU Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Achievement. The award, one of the most prestigious in the entire CSU system, is given each year to students who demonstrate superior academic performance, personal accomplishments, community service, and financial need.​​​ She received the Schools First Federal Credit Union Scholar Award and a $6,000 scholarship. 

“Each of these awards mean so much to me because they help ease any doubts I may have in the path I’ve chosen,” she said. “And as a first-generation, Latinx college student, I do sometimes have doubts. The recognition both validates that I’m making the right decisions in my academic career and they also motivate me to keep going.” 

History professor and former department chair Steve Lewis, her faculty mentor, said students like Hernandez don’t come around very often. Describing her as “a delight,” he said it’s more than her tangible accomplishments that make her unique.  

“I feel so lucky to work with Vivian. She combines raw ability with tenacious drive and a winning personality. Her self-confidence is tempered by a healthy dose of humility,” Lewis said. “She’s a great, tireless leader who draws in more reluctant students with her infectious energy. And she never forgets where she came from and is committed to giving back to her community.” 

For the last few years, Hernandez has worked as a front desk assistant in the history department, a College of Humanities and Fine Arts student ambassador, a supplemental instruction leader and a summer peer orientation advisor. Working with and mentoring students helped push her to pursue her dream of becoming a collegiate history professor.  

“Working with students on campus here in Chico solidified that continuing in higher education, and eventually becoming a professor, is the right path for me,” she said. “I enjoy meeting with students and helping them plot out their course schedules and academic paths. I’ve seen what a difference having an academic support system can make. I didn’t have that as a freshman, but ever since, everything has fallen into place.”  

That support system includes Lewis, who guided Hernandez’ original research project titled “Women’s Fertility and Social Transformation in Modern Mexico, 1968–1988,” which has earned recognition at research competitions and conferences.  

In talking with Lewis, Hernandez wanted to explore portions of Mexican history that haven’t been extensively studied. Her research examined the impacts of contraceptives becoming more widely available in Mexico in the 1970s, which she discovered cut the birth rate almost in half and led to transformational changes in the ways women perceived themselves and participated in the economy and political life. 

As a historian, she plans to write Mexican women back into Mexican history. 

“In my own family, one Mexican grandmother had seven children and the other had 10. Thinking about how that affected their lives and future generations of my family really connected me with the research. I became very invested in what I was studying,” said Hernandez. “I’m still working on it, but my goal is to describe the lived experiences of Mexican women—upper, middle, and lower class as well as urban and rural women. We’ve omitted half the population from Mexican history and that needs to change.” 

Hernandez also finds time to be heavily involved on campus. She is the president of the national history honors society Phi Alpha Theta and the History Club, director of external affairs for MEChA de Chico State, and an editor for The Chico Historian. She gives back to her hometown community in Hollister as vice president of the League of United Latin American Citizens Young Adult council, where she helps organize community service events for marginalized and underserved populations.  

“Very few freshmen enter the doors of my classroom with such passion for their field of study as Vivian did. I remember during the first week of class how her face lit up when she told me she was a history major,” said Sarah Anderson, Latin American studies and Spanish professor. “It didn’t take long for me to realize that she was a young woman who was going to make her mark on this world.”  

Hernandez and other CSU Trustees Scholars will be acknowledged for their talent, determination, and drive during a ceremony at the CSU Board of Trustees virtual meeting on Tuesday, September 14. 

More than 400 students have been honored with the Trustees’ Award since the scholarship program was established in 1984 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. In 1999, the Hearst Foundation partnered with the CSU Board of Trustees to supplement the endowment with contributions from CSU Trustees, CSU Foundation board members, and private donors.