User:Santinho57

Biographical Sketch
My name is Jim Tranquada. Currently I am director of communications at Occidental College in Los Angeles, where I was born and grew up. After graduating from Stanford with a history degree, I worked as a newspaper reporter for 15 years at a series of Southern California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Daily News, the Riverside Press-Enterprise, the Orange County Register, and the Pasadena Star-News. I served as the founding public information officer at what is now the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs for five years before moving to Occidental in 2000.

My scholarly interests focus on the history of the 'ukulele, Hawaiian music and the Portuguese diaspora. With the late John King, I wrote The 'Ukulele: A History (University of Hawai'i Press, 2012), as well as two peer-reviewed journal articles. I am new to Wikipedia as of January 2014.

Conflict of Interest Statement
I am employed by Occidental College and am responsible for public relations. As a great-great grandson of Augusto Dias, one of the first 'ukulele makers in Hawai'i, I have a personal interest in the history of the instrument.