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Marc Molina ’19 takes a casual selfie pre-COVID while hiking South Franklin Mountain in Franklin Mountains State Park, El Paso.
MARC MOLINA ’19
with questions about past and present and about place,” Molina said. He is currently in his second year as a doctoral student in the Borderlands History program at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he received a fully funded, five-year fellowship. He credits the help and encouragement of his professors at A&M-San Antonio to apply to graduate school and to consider environmental history as a focus. A Summer 2019 graduate of A&M-San Antonio, Molina received his bachelor’s degree in History with a minor in Mexican American/Latinx/ Southwest Borderlands Studies and a research internship at the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum.
Molina’s dissertation exploring the history of an environmental region between the Chihuahuan Desert and lower Rio Grande Valley of the U.S.Mexico border known as the Tamaulipan Mezquital – from its first indigenous inhabitants through the construction of two bi-national dams and a water reservoir in the mid-20th century – attempts to understand environmental change over time and the reciprocal relationship diverse human communities form with each other and with the land, explained Molina. “The ecosystem doesn’t stop at the border,” Molina said. “Comparing how national politics and environmental ethics have been translated on both sides of the border and have shaped different outlooks about what is
sustainable and equitable is fascinating.” Applying a transnational lens over several centuries also allows asking questions about the impacts of different approaches taken over the years that we can learn from to apply to current practices, according to Molina. “It can open up the imagination for how to reorient ourselves to the land.” Molina is keeping his eyes on a variety of career options ahead, including teaching, public service, a government role in the National Parks Service or Department of the Interior or working with a museum or nonprofit agency. “My undergraduate experience at A&M-San Antonio was a process of making sense of my surroundings and following my curiosity to find out what would bring me contentment,” Molina said. “Something Continued next page
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-San Antonio
