Juan A. Chavira

Dr. Juan Antonio Chavira, has a strong educational and social service background. In 1966 he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Literature from the University of Houston. After graduation he entered in the Peace Corps serving his country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries for two years. After the Peace Corps he served one year with the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) a volunteer program that places individuals with community-based agencies to help find long-term solutions to the problems caused by urban and rural poverty. Continuing to enhance his education in 1972, Dr. Chavira enrolled in Graduate School at the University of Texas at Austin where he obtained his Master’s Degree and PHD both in Medical Sociology.

Dr. Chavira has written numerous research articles and a book entitled, Curanderismo: Mexican American Folk Healing, published in 1981 by the University of George Press. He has eleven years’ experience as a professor teaching at such institutions as Colorado College, The University of Texas-Pan American, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. In 1983 Dr. Chavira was awarded his Juris Doctorate Law Degree by the University of Texas, School of Law. After graduation he worked as an Assistant Criminal District Attorney from April 1983 until January 1990. He has a brief three month interruption as a private attorney, but returned to the District Attorney’s Office, to serve as Chief of both the Family Violence and the Career Criminal Units. Dr. Chavira was also appointed to serve as an Assistant District Attorney for the 81st Judicial District, prosecuting primarily in Frio and La Salle Counties. While practicing law he continued to serve as a part-time professor at the University of Texas in San Antonio, Southwest State University and Trinity University.

In May 1993, Dr. Chavira was appointed Court Master for Child Support for the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region. During this appointment he sat in six South Texas counties to include Bexar, Dimmit, Frio, La Salle, Maverick, and Zavala. He retired from the bench in December 2006.

Dr. Chavira, as he is warmly addressed, is frequently called upon by the legal, education and social service communities to lecture on his legal and sociological experiences. He was born and raised on the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, he is fluent in reading, writing and speaks Spanish.

Dr. Chavira has served on the board of CentroMed since May 2006.