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Born in Crystal City, Texas to migrant workers Florencio and Josefa Rivera
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He graduated at Crystal City High School in Crystal City, Texas in 1954
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He was majoring in English at Southwest Texas Jr. College.
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Rivera worked as a field laborer with his parents until 1956
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Taught English and Spanish in Texas at a middle school.
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At Southwest Texas State University, he majored in English with minors in Spanish, History and Education in 1958
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Tomas and Concepcion Rivera became married
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He received a master's degree in educational administration in 1964 from Southwest Texas State
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He earned a master's degree at Southwest Texas State University
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Tomas earned a doctorate in Romance Literatures at University of Oklahoma
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His book "And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" was released in 1971
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In 1971, he became president of the Alamo Valley chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
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Director of the Division of foreign languages, Literature, and Linguistics at University of Texas at San Antonio in 1971
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He taught as an associate professor at Sam Houston State University.
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He became associate dean at University of Texas at San Antonio
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He became a vice-president at University of Texas at San Antonio.
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He became the executive vice president of the University of Texas at El Paso.
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Tomas became the first chicano to be named a chancellor at the University of California
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He became UC Riverside's Chief Executive
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He passed away from a heart attack at age 48 in Fontana, California.
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A movie called "And the Earth Did Not Swallow Him" came out after his story in 1995
