CSSW News and Events

Dr. John Mckiernan-Gonzalez On Sabbatical For Fall 2025 

CSSW Director, Dr. John Mckiernan-Gonzalez, will be on research sabbatical, beginning the first day of class at Texas State University and ending January 2026. His project will focus on the many roles Latina and Latino physicians played in the making of medical authority and social justice in the 20th century United States. The first version of this project can be found on the National Park Services website. 

Dr. Lori Gallegos de Castillo, of the Department of Philosophy, has graciously accepted the responsibilities of being the interim director of the Center for the Study of the Southwest, the same year Routledge debuted their Latinx Philosophy Reader.  They research, reflect and write on topics related to emotions and society, Latinx philosophy, and the ethics and politics of immigration.  There will be a symposium linked to some of these questions in the fall.

Dr. Sarah Blue will continue being the Jones Professor for the Center for the Study of the Southwest. Their faculty-based series on immigration will start in September and continue through the course of their professorship.  Registration is now open for the first program, Immigration at the US-Mexico Border: Changes under Trump and Biden.

Tammy Gonzales will continue to coordinate programs that promote broad humanistic inquiry with communities across San Marcos, Texas State and beyond. You can stay updated on all our programs on the CSSW website.

Our flagship journals – Southwestern American Literature and Texas Books in Review – will continue under Will Jensen’s guidance and oversight. If you are interested in the production process for established literary journals with a Southwest focus, consider registering for ENG 3345, ENG 3346 and ENG 4325.

The award-winning geographer, Dr. Adam Clark, will tie all these efforts together, carefully building our social media and digital infrastructure to accomplish our mission:  “promote broad humanistic inquiry into the physical and cultural ecology of the diverse peoples of the Southwest.”

Remembering Dr. Mark Busby

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Greetings and salutations.

Dr. Mark Busby, a Distinguished Professor at Texas State University recently passed. He was a prolific author, literary biographer and literary critic, passionate about the Southwest and visionary regarding the possibilities for the study of the Southwest. The Center for the Study of the Southwest still seeks to carry out the mission he established in early 90s: "to promote the broad humanistic inquiry into the physical and cultural ecology of the diverse peoples of the Southwest." His literary advocacy, cultural understanding, administrative wisdom and human presence shapes our work in San Marcos.

Linda and Mark Busby’s son, Dr. Joshua Busby, a faculty member at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, shared his obituary which can be read on Dr. Busby's memorial page.

Immigration and Asylum Seeking at the US-Mexico Border  
Drs. Jennifer Devine and Sarah Blue | Texas State University  
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 6:30 - 7:30 pm | Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos  
and  
Friday, September 12, 2025 | 1:00 - 2:30 pm | Brazos Hall

Immigration at the US-Mexico border has undergone major changes in the past decade with varying responses from different presidential administrations. Drs. Blue and Devine will give an overview of changes in US policies and immigrant arrivals at the border, discussing policy consequences for migrant arrivals and for organized crime. They will draw on a recent research project that included over 150 interviews with migrant families and local experts conducted in 2023-2024.