Refugio I. Rochin (born May 31, 1941) is an American professor emeritus in agricultural and resource economics and Chicana/o studies at the University of California, Davis, director emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and instructor at Pennsylvania State University World Campus. He is an expert on rural Latinas/os and Latina/o Studies. Early life and education Refugio I. Rochin was born in Colton, California, on May 31, 1941, and raised in Carlsbad, California. His father immigrated from Sinaloa, Mexico, and his parents, Juanita Rodriguez-Ramirez and Refugio Rochin-Diazsalcedo, owned wholesale food companies and restaurants in Coachella, California, and Carlsbad. Rochin attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a bachelor's degree in economics in 1966; the University of Arizona, where he received a master of science in agricultural economics and anthropology in 1967; and Michigan State University, where he received a master's degree in communication in 1968 and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics in 1971. He received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Northeastern University in 2000 for his work as founding director of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives. While an undergraduate, he spent two years in the Peace Corps, serving in Colombia. As a graduate student, Rochin worked for the Ford Foundation, where he was a member of the Green Revolution team of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Career Rochin is professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, where he was professor of agricultural economics; principal investigator and economist, Giannini Foundation (U.C. Berkeley); professor, program director, and chair, Chicana/o Studies; associate dean for outreach, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and council member of the Academic Senate. Throughout his career, Rochin has been an international agricultural economist with the United States Agency for International Development, the Ford Foundation, and other organizations. As professor emeritus, Rochin's focus has been to build recognition of the participation and accomplishments of Chicanas/os in the development and the social institutions of the United States. From 1994 to 1998, Rochin was director of the Julian Samora Research Institute and professor of sociology and agricultural economics at Michigan State University, where he was principal investigator and administrator for the Midwest Consortium for Latino Research. In 1998 Rochin became founding director of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives, where he oversaw exhibitions, programs, collections, and studies. In 2003-2005, Rochin was director for the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Latinos and Native