Thomas Ray Garcia

Thomas Ray Garcia is a Latino author, professor, and entrepreneur from McAllen, Texas. He resides in the Rio Grande Valley along the U.S.-Mexico border, the region of focus throughout his writing. His literary debut, The River Runs: Stories (2023), was awarded the Bronze Award by the International Latino Book Awards for Best Collection of Short Stories - English. The book was followed by a co-authored work, El Curso de la Raza: The Education of Aurelio Manuel Montemayor, about the South Texas Chicano Movement.
In 2013, Garcia founded the College Scholarship Leadership Access Program, a youth-led college access program that he developed into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. He is currently an English professor at South Texas College.
==Early Life and Education==
Garcia was born on September 9, 1993 in McAllen, Texas. He grew up in a single-parent household in Pharr, Texas. Garcia graduated from PSJA North Early College High School as class valedictorian. According to Garcia, Princeton University's financial aid program motivated him to apply and matriculate to the Ivy League University.
He pursued an English degree and participated in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program. While at Princeton, Garcia wrote blogs for prospective students through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. He also co-founded the Princeton Hidden Minority Council, a student organization that advocated for first-generation and low-income minority students.
After graduating from Princeton, Garcia taught high school students at PSJA ISD before pursuing a doctoral degree in English at UCLA. He left the doctoral program with a terminal master's degree in 2022. He later pursued a second master's degree in Higher Education Administration at UTRGV in 2023.
==Career==
Garcia founded the College Scholarship Leadership Access Program at age 19. From 2013 to 2017, the college access program consisted of youth-led workshops, courses on college admissions, and near-peer mentorship initiatives.
The program evolved into Garcia's high school course at PSJA ISD. In 2019, Garcia incorporated the College Scholarship Leadership Access Program as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. He served as executive director from 2019 to 2023 before transitioning to chairing the board of directors.
At UCLA, Garcia began teaching English at the collegiate level. As a graduate student, he taught undergraduate courses on critical reading and writing, creative writing, and American Literature.
In 2024, he joined the English faculty at South Texas College, where he currently teaches courses on rhetoric, composition, and literary genre. 
Garcia is the co-founder of Beyond Borders Books, an independent press based in Pharr, Texas.
==Politics and Activism==
In 2017, Garcia submitted an application to the Texas State Historical Commission to erect a historical marker commemorating the 1971 Pharr Riot. The historical marker was erected in Pharr in 2021.
In 2022, Garcia ran for the Texas State Board of Education as a Democrat. His platform focused on expanding mental health resources; updating the state's learning standards on digital literacy, computer science, and ethnic studies; and advocating against statewide book bans. He placed 3rd in a 5-person primary election.
Garcia has written opinion pieces on school vouchers, school-to-industry partnerships, near-peer mentorship in college admissions, and the Texas State Board of Education.
==Bibliography==
Garcia has published two books, The River Runs: Stories and El Curso de la Raza: The Education of Aurelio Manuel Montemayor, in 2023. He has also self-published a children's picture book, Speechless, with communication strategist Matt Eventoff.
===Fiction===
* The River Runs: Stories. Sante Fe, New Mexico: Prickly Pear Publishing, 2023. .
===Non-Fiction===
* El Curso de la Raza: The Education of Aurelio Manuel Montemayor. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2023. 
===Children's Books===
* Speechless (with illustrations by Nai N'yan Saechao). Self-Published, 2020.
Category:American writers
Category:American writers of Mexican descent
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:UCLA alumni
Category:University of Texas Rio Grande Valley alumni
Category:People from Pharr, Texas
Category:American professors
Category:Living people