Education
In addition to history, he has studied anthropology and Latin American literature.
In addition to history, he has studied anthropology and Latin American literature.
Schmidt received all three of his academic degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the TAMU faculty in 1972 and conducts both lecture and seminar classes. He has spent three years in Mexico and a year in Brazil in extended study.
In 1978, Schmidt published through the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University Press the book The Roots of Lo Mexicano.
His many articles include "Antecedents to Samuel Ramos: Mexicanist Thought in the 1920s," in the Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs. Samuel Ramos was a Mexican philosopher and author
In 1978, he published "The American Intellectual Discovery of Mexico in the 1920s" in The South Atlantic Quarterly. Still another Schmidt article is "History, Society, and the Popular Lyric in Mexico: A Study in Cultural Continuity" in Mexican Studies.
A specialist in border issues and fluent in Spanish, Schmidt has presented papers and appeared on panels throughout Mexico and Texas, including such institutions as Utah, National Autonomous University of Mexico, El Colegio de México, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical International University in Laredo, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University - Kingsville, Texas Southmost College, and the University of Texas at Brownsville.
Schmidt has been writing a book on the relationship between south Texas and northeastern Mexico.