Education

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• Ph.D., Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley (1996). Doctoral dissertation, entitled Lives of Resistance, Communities of Support, focused on factors that contribute to political activists' long-term engagement with high-risk and high-cost activism.
• JD, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley (1992)
• BA, Summa Cum Laude, Political Science, Carleton College, Northfield, MN (1981): (academic advisor: Paul D. Wellstone). Departmental distinction. Senior research at Carleton dealt with the topic of the influence of the feminist movement on the development of the New Left.

Relevant Work Experience:

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• Political Science Instructor, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA (1989- present) - full time instructor in the political science department where Nicky teaches introductory classes in U.S. Politics and Government, Grassroots Organizing, Race, Gender, and Liberation and Political Theory. He views his primary job as training students for political empowerment through critical thinking and exposure to a critical assessment of the U.S. political system. Nicky also provides many opportunities for students to engage in grassroots political action. For almost all of his students, most of whom are working while in school (many full-time), his class is their only exposure to a critical view of U.S. politics. For more details go to Nicky's De Anza College teaching website.
• Congressional Fellow, Office of Senator Paul Wellstone (D- MN), Washington, DC (2001) - In the spring of 2001 while on sabbatical from De Anza College Nicky was a Congressional Fellow in United States Senator Paul Wellstone's Washington, DC Office. Nicky worked chiefly with the education staffers in mitigating the damage of what subsequently became the mis-named "No Child Left Behind Act." He was also active advocating for increased financial aid for college students from poor and working class families.

Other relevant work experience also includes:

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• Fair Housing Center of Marin County (fair housing counselor-1987-1988)
• The Asian Law Caucus (summer clerk-1986)
• National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), San Francisco, CA (Editor and Administrative Assistant, 1982-1985)
• The Youth Project (field representative-1981-1982)
• The People's Law Office, Chicago, IL (legal assistant-1980-1981)

30+ years of Community Leadership and Advocacy:

In addition to his paid work, for over 30 years Nicky has contributed to the communities in which he has lived. He has worked on a range of projects: from campus anti-apartheid work as a young adult, to the peace movement, to civil rights advocacy, to student and faculty leadership development, voter registration and mobilization, & environmental justice.

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• Oakland Apollo Alliance (2005 to the present)
• Asian Pacific American Democratic Caucus of Alameda County (2005 to Present)
• Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club (Coordinating Committee, 2003 to present)
• East Bay Votes! (Planning Committee, 2004)
• Get Out the Student Vote (Executive Director, Berkeley/Oakland, 2004)
• City of Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission (2003)
• De Anza College Diversity Leadership Training Project (founding director and lead trainer, 1991 to present)
• De Anza College Students for Justice Club (faculty advisor, 2003-2004)
• De Anza College Community and Action for Gender Liberation Club (faculty advisor, 2004)
• De Anza College Asian Pacific American Staff Association (Executive Committee, 2001 to present)
• De Anza College Diversity Council (member, 1993-1997)
• De Anza College Staff Development Committee (member, 1993-1997)
• De Anza College Visiting Speakers Series (member, 1993-2003)
• Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, UC Berkeley, (Chair and Board member, 1986-1990)
• Boalt Hall Coalition for a Diversified Faculty (two term chair, co-founder and board member, 1985-1990)
• Democratic Socialists of America- San Francisco Chapter (Steering Committee, Anti-militarism Committee, 1981-1985)
• Livermore Action Group (Spokes Council, 1984-1985)
• San Francisco Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign- (Steering Committee, 1982-1984)
• JP Stevens worker boycott support (Carleton College, 1979-1981)
• Anti-Apartheid campus organizing (Carleton College, 1977-1981)
• APA Labor Alliance

Publications:

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• “Good for Students, Good for California,” (op ed piece published in the Berkeley Daily Planet, January 29, 2008)
• “YES on Prop. 92: would insure investment in success and a skilled workforce,” (op ed piece published in the San Jose Mercury News, January 31, 2008)
• "Don't drop budget ax on college students: Community Colleges Face Cost-Cutting Nightmare," (op ed piece published in the San Jose Mercury News, April 12, 2004)
• "Access to Higher Education Benefits Everyone," (op ed piece published in the Berkeley Daily Planet, March 30, 2004)
• The Politics of Liberation: An American Studies Reader, 4th Edition, Nicky González Yuen, editor (Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003)
• "Oppression and Democracy" in The Politics of Liberation, 3rd ed., Nicky González Yuen, ed. (Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 2000)
• "Divided We Fall: A Primer on Classism in the United States" (with Dale Weaver), Socialist Review, Vol. 27, Nos. 3 & 4, (1999)
• Lives of Resistance, Communities of Support: Microstructural Processes in the Recruitment and Retention of High Cost Political Activists in the War Tax Resistance Movement. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, 1996)
• "Alienation or Empowerment: Law and Strategies for Social Change," Law and Social Inquiry, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Summer 1989)

Other Memberships:

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• Faculty Association of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District
• Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges
• Sierra Club
• CA Part-Time Faculty Association-founding member