Received his Ph.D. in 2008 in History from the University of Houston.  His area of expertise is on the history of Chicano / Latino education in the United States and is currently working on a manuscript entitled Race Schools: Latino, Asian, and Black Educational Autonomy and Activism in Texas, 1920-1980 that offers a comparative analysis of Latino, Asian, and African American-owned schools in Texas since the end of World War I through the post-civil rights era.

Dr Esparza gave two lectures as a Scholar-in-Residence 2016.

A School of Their Own: Booker T. Washington High School and Educational Self Determination

Wards Apart: Community Preservation in Houston's Fourth Ward