[2] Garcia was the first native New Mexican Hispanic to serve as a college dean, academic vice-president and president at the University of New Mexico.

His tenth grandfather, Francisco Montez Vigil was a member of the Diego de Vargas group that re-entered Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1692.

Garcia first attended St. Francis Catholic Xavier School on south Broadway, close to his maternal grandmother's home where he spent the first seven years of his life.

[6] As Garcia proceeded through college, his interest in human behavior channeled him toward the social sciences, and he majored in Government and Citizenship, earning a BA in 1961.

Later, he transferred to the newly instituted doctoral program in political science at the University of California at Davis (UCD) where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1972.

[1][7] On September 2, 1967, Garcia married Sandra Dorine Galloway, also an Albuquerque native and a graduate of Valley High school and the University of New Mexico.

[5][8] Since Garcia had obtained a faculty position in the Political Science department at the University of New Mexicoin the fall of 1970, he and his wife moved back to Albuquerque in the summer of 1970.

[3] Garcia began his academic career while completing his doctoral dissertation on the development of political orientations of Mexican American children in California.

His recognition as a scholar in this area as well as in campaigns, elections and New Mexico politics led to his being sought out for commentary and analysis by local, national and international media.

[7][11] He retired from full-time teaching in 2007, but continued with his scholarly writings and taught a course in US Political Cultures on a part-time basis until 2011.

Zia Research enjoyed remarkable success as it accurately analyzed and projected the results of campaigns and elections in the state of New Mexico for the next twenty-five years.

The multi-year project (1987-1993) received over $2 million of grant support and involved door-to-door, in-person interviews of over 2,817 Latinos and 598 non-Latinos nationwide.