Dr. Sergio González, assistant professor of history in the Klinger College of Arts and Sciences, was named a 2024-25 public fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, under its Religion and Renewing Democracy Initiative.
Selected via a nationwide open call for mid-career scholars, the diverse cohort of 15 scholars will work alongside PRRI researchers and staff to generate impactful commentary and analysis at the intersection of religion, culture, and politics.
González’s scholarship focuses on the development of Latino communities and social movements in the U.S. Midwest. He is the author of “Mexicans in Wisconsin” (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017) and “Strangers No Longer: Latino Belonging and Faith in Twentieth-Century Wisconsin” (University of Illinois Press, 2024), and the co-editor of “Faith and Power: Latino Religious Politics Since 1945” (NYU Press, 2022) with Felipe Hinojosa and Maggie Elmore.
González is a co-founder and former organizer for the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and is currently completing a podcast and co-edited volume on the movement with Lloyd Barba titled “Sacred Refuge: New Histories of the U.S. Sanctuary Movement” (under contract with NYU Press).
González contributes to multiple public humanities initiatives, including serving as co-host for the PBS Wisconsin series “The Look Back” and as a public historian for the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The PRRI Public Fellows program is made possible through generous grants from the Mellon Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation. The 2024-25 cohort is composed of scholars from both quantitative and qualitative fields, including history, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, literature and religious studies.
