Mexican American professionals have entered the workforce in growing numbers in the past several years. To be considered “professionals,” individuals of this group must attain a

professional degree A professional degree, formerly known in the US as a first professional degree, is a degree that prepares someone to work in a particular profession, practice, or industry sector often meeting the academic requirements for licensure or accreditatio ...

and operate under a license. According to the US Census Bureau, a Mexican American is defined as an individual who can self-identify as Hispanic or Latino as part of their heritage, nationality group, lineage, country of birth, or ancestors’ country of birth. The

US Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

states that any individual of any

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

may identify themselves as of

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

, or

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

origin. Thus, many individuals of Mexican American status live in each of the fifty states.

Stereotypes

Current

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

portray Mexican Americans as professionals only in the fields of wrestling, boxing, and other sports-related careers. Studies have indicated that more Mexican Americans are attaining

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...

degrees in the fields of

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

, health care,

educational services For-profit education (also known as the education services industry or proprietary education) refers to educational institutions operated by private, profit-seeking businesses. For-profit education is common in many parts of the world, making up m ...

, and

social assistance Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. Between 2008 and 2009, Mexican Americans made up an .8% increase in educational, health care, and social assistance professional degrees acquired.

Careers

Mexican Americans are increasing in numbers in college enrollment and degree completion rates. Between 2010 and 2012, college enrollment increased by .5% for the total population and by 1.4% by Mexican Americans. Mexican Americans are most often obtaining associate degrees (21.9%), bachelor’s degrees (7.0%), and graduate or professional degrees (2.9%). These numbers, from 2012, have also risen since 2010. Mexican Americans make up 16.6% of

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

, business,

, and

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

occupations, and 10.2% of professional, scientific, management and administrative, and

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...

services occupations, compared to 36.1% and 10.9% of the general population, respectively. This shows promise for this population of individuals, as their numbers in the professional workforce continue to rise. Mexican American professionals are growing in numbers in careers including

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

, healthcare,

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

, dentistry, and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, among many others. In March 2015, Mexican-born engineer Luis Velasco, who works at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

, designs and engineers

robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

for the company. He obtained a scholarship at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

in Provo, Utah and studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

Future efforts

Groups and coalitions such as the Mexican American Latino Faculty Association at Texas A&M University and the Mexican American Business & Professional Association are united in efforts to continue the improvement and involvement of Mexican American professionals in educational settings and in the workforce. These organizations are focused on a “climate of excellence” and focusing Mexican American professionals’ involvement in areas including business, education, community leadership, and legislative domain. Other groups, including the Association of Mexican American Educators and the Mexican American Hispanic Physicians Association encourage Mexican Americans to pursue professional careers and higher education, and to provide support to this population

References

{{reflist Mexican American

Stereotypes

Careers

Further reading

Future efforts

References