Dr. Stephanie Alvarez
Associate Professor
Mexican American Studies
Email:
stephanie.alvarez@utrgv.edu
Phone: (956) 665-3212
Stephanie Alvarez is an Associate Professor of Mexican American Studies and the Director of the Center for American Studies at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She has been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for Teaching as the U.S. Professor of the Year, the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education with the Outstanding Latino/a Faculty in Higher Ed award, and the University of Texas System Board of Regents with the Outstanding Teaching Award.
As a professor she has been instrumental in the implementation of testimonio as a signature pedagogy in the program, creating services-learning courses for students to engage with the community which has resulted in oral histories, murals in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute in the City of San Juan, Texas and multiple collaborations with Pharr San Juan Alamo ISD including a Dia de los Muertos Altar Competition now in its 4th year. She collaborates in the organization of Mexican American Studies workshops for teachers and administrators. She also is a volunteer coach where she has coached over 20 youth teams.
She is the first ever Director of Mexican American Studies and the Center for Mexican American Studies at UTRGV (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) legacy institution, the University of Texas Pan-American and has assisted over a dozen Latinx students in reaching their goal of gaining entrance to a PhD program. She is the author of multiple essays on the intersection of education, gender, language, identity, and culture. You can find her most rent co-authored essay in the Harvard Educational Review. Her work is motivated by her lived experiences as a Latina student, educator, and mother of three.
