Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith

Founding Director, Binational Migration Institute

A native of Douglas, Arizona, Rubio-Goldsmith studied law and philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico, DF. As founding faculty in History at Pima Community College in 1969, she taught there until 1999 when she retired. 

Rubio-Goldsmith has focused her historical research on the history of the Mexicana/Chicana on the US-Mexico border. Working in and with community partners has resulted in 45 years of volunteer work in immigrant rights. As a member of Manzo Area Council and later Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, she has developed numerous community-based research projects targeting the effects of U.S. immigration and border enforcement on Mexicano and Latino communities.

Joining other faculty, she has helped establish the Binational Migration Institute at the Department of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona. Through the institute, Rubio-Goldsmith conducts collaborative research with faculty, students, and the community that continues to result in numerous reports on migrant deaths on the border.