Mr. Abrica holds a joint appointment in the Spanish and Latino/a Studies Departments. He received his M.A. in Education from Stanford University in the Linguistic and Cultural Pluralism program and a B.A. in Spanish from Occidental College, Los Angeles, where he played on the college soccer team and was selected as the Most Valuable Player. His studies also include graduate work in Linguistics at the University of California, San Diego, and a year at the University of Montpellier, France.
He worked as a Spanish Language Trainer for the Peace Corps and has served as adjunct faculty at the National Hispanic University, San Jose State University , and the University of Notre Dame de Namur. His professional experience includes working in educational research and technical assistance for 12 years, doing high school substitute teaching in Spanish, teaching ESL and adult education, supervising tutor-counselors in Upward Bound and consulting with the California Department of Education.
Mr. Abrica lives in the multilingual, multiethnic community of East Palo Alto and currently serves on the City Council. He has served as Mayor three times and is involved in a variety of civic and community endeavors. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico and grew up in Tijuana, Baja California where he attended night vocational school. He immigrated to California as a teenager, completing junior and high school in Escondido.
He has traveled for work, study, or as a tourist in Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean; Spain, France, Germany, Micronesia, Guam, Republic of Palau, Japan, the Phillipines and China.