Parra-Cardona, Ruben

Introduction

The thrust of Dr. J. Ruben Parra-Cardona’s education, research, teaching, and life is greater social justice. His experiences in his family and education in a Mexican Jesuit college moved him to work with street children in Juarez until political upheavals encouraged him to seek a master’s in couple and family therapy at Syracuse University. In the years since completing his master’s and later his doctorate at Texas Tech University (TTU), he has focused on (a) cultural adaptation, (b) substance abuse, and (c) domestic violence, especially research and services for Latino/a communities in the USA and Latin America.

Although his prior life experiences and education had prepared him, his formal focus on cultural adaptation began in his doctoral program at TTU with the challenge of providing in-home services for low-income minority families of juvenile probationers, largely Latino/a. Later, he was an in-home therapist serving Latino/a families in the Parent Empowerment...