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Mexican American Studies Academic Program School of Interdisciplinary Programs and Community Engagement

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  • MAS Affiliates

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Dr. Marla Perez-Lugo

Graduate Coordinator
Email: marla.perezlugo@utrgv.edu

Mexican American Studies Program (MAS)

ELABN 229
Email: mas@utrgv.edu
Phone: 956-665-3381

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MAS Affiliates

Mariana Alessandri, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: 956-665-3024
Email: mariana.alessandri@utrgv.edu
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Mariana Alessandri, PhD

Mariana Alessandri reads, studies and loves to teach Existentialist and Latin American philosophy and Mexican-American Studies.
Associate Professor
Philosophy
Email: mariana.alessandri@utrgv.edu
ELABS 302
Phone: 956-665-3024

Isela Almaguer, EdD

Professor
Phone: (956) 665-3630
Email: isela.almaguer@utrgv.edu
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Isela Almaguer, EdD

Dr. Isela Almaguer is a Full Professor and Endowed Chair in Education at UTRGV in the Department of Bilingual and Literacy Studies. Her research interests and expertise center on literacy and biliteracy development of English Language Learners and language issues impacting Latino students and the community.  
Professor
Bilingual and Literacy Studies
Email: isela.almaguer@utrgv.edu
EEDUC 2632
Phone: (956) 665-3630

Andres Roberto Amado, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: 956-665-2944
Email: andres.amado@utrgv.edu
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Andres Roberto Amado, PhD

I study relationships between music, race, ethnicity, religion, and politics and teach courses in music history and ethnomusicology.
Associate Professor
Music
Email: andres.amado@utrgv.edu
EPACB 1.117
Phone: 956-665-2944

Carla Angulo-Pasel, PhD

Assistant Professor
Email: carla.angulopasel@utrgv.edu
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Carla Angulo-Pasel, PhD

Dr. Angulo-Pasel critically examines the intersections of border security, human rights, and gender. Specifically, she focuses on how borders, in their many manifestations, impact the journeys of women who try to migrate to the United States through Mexico, and critically assesses how the national security discourse surrounding irregular migration is used to justify human rights abuses of migrants.
Assistant Professor
Political Science
Email: carla.angulopasel@utrgv.edu
ELABN 208

David Bowles, EdD

Associate Professor
Phone: 956-665-3436
Email: david.bowles01@utrgv.edu
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David Bowles, EdD

A Mexican-American author from the RGV, David Bowles is an assistant professor in the Literatures and Cultural Studies department.
Associate Professor
Literatures and Cultural Studies
Email: david.bowles01@utrgv.edu
EEDUC 1510
Phone: 956-665-3436

Katherine Christoffersen, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: (956) 665-3428
Email: katherine.christoffersen@ut...
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Katherine Christoffersen, PhD

Dr. Christoffersen's studies and teaches various aspects of sociolinguistics and bilingualism, especially having to do with the contact between languages (such as Spanish and English) including practices like code-switching. She especially loves involving students in her research. In 'Intro to Border Languages,' students learn about ideologies, attitudes, and patterns related to language the US/Mexico border and collect sociolinguistic interviews to add to the Corpus Bilingue del Valle (CoBiVa), a project in collaboration with Dr. Bessett: https://www.utrgv.edu/cobiva/
Associate Professor
Writing and Language Studies
Email: katherine.christoffersen@utrgv.edu
ELABS 266
Phone: (956) 665-3428

Thomas De La Cruz, MFA

Lecturer III
Phone: (956) 665-8781
Email: thomas.delacruz@utrgv.edu
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Thomas De La Cruz, MFA

Thomas De La Cruz is a Chicano fiction writer who works in the Language and Writing studies department as a Lecturer.
Lecturer III
Writing & Language Studies
Email: thomas.delacruz@utrgv.edu
ELABS 266
Phone: (956) 665-8781

George T. Diaz, PhD

Associate Professor
Email: george.diaz@utrgv.edu
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George T. Diaz, PhD

George T. Díaz is an assistant professor of History at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Associate Professor
History
Email: george.diaz@utrgv.edu
ELABS 342

Lucas Enrique Espinoza, PhD

Associate Professor
Email: lucas.espinoza01@utrgv.edu
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Lucas Enrique Espinoza, PhD

Dr. Espinoza is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from Texas Woman’s University. His research areas are culture and identity; Latina/o disparities and social justice rights/issues. He teaches courses on criminal justice research methods/statistics; criminology; environmental crime; and gender.
Associate Professor
Criminal Justice
Email: lucas.espinoza01@utrgv.edu
ELABN 332

Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: (956) 882-7423
Email: miryam.espinosadulanto@utrg...
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Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, PhD

Dr. Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto (Lic. Universidad Católica del Perú; M.A. & Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Bilingual & Literacy Studies, University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley. Miryam is an active scholar with a distinguished record of teaching, service, and professional activity. Her teaching and research draw on decolonial indigenous feminist research methodologies. It is recognized by being transnational in scope yet intimately collaborative using poetry, testimonios, ethnography and art-based qualitative methodologies. Miryam’s scholarly and artistic publications appear both in leading academic journals, handbooks, peer reviewed books, and regional/local publications that evidence the broad interdisciplinary, community based, and intellectual curiosity of her engagement.
Associate Professor
Bilingual & Literacy Studies
Email: miryam.espinosadulanto@utrgv.edu
BMAIN 2.314
Phone: (956) 882-7423

Joy Esquierdo, PhD

OBI Vice Provost
Phone: 956-665-3605
Email: joy.esquierdo@utrgv.edu
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Joy Esquierdo, PhD

OBI Vice Provost
Office for Bilingual Integration
Email: joy.esquierdo@utrgv.edu
ESSBL 4.101
Phone: 956-665-3605

Kim L Nguyen Finn, PhD

Assistant Professor
Phone: (956) 665-7041
Email: kim.finn01@utrgv.edu
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Kim L Nguyen Finn, PhD

Kim Nguyen-Finn, PhD, LPC-S, has been a mental health counselor since 1998 and is a Texas Licensed Professional Counselor Board-approved Supervisor. Aside from serving as a lecturer in the School of Rehabilitation Counseling and Services, she provides individual, family, and couples counseling for a wide range of issues, including anxiety disorders, OCD, depression, trauma resolution, and gender identity, in private practice. Currently, Ms. Finn also serves as consulting counselor for UTRGV’s Office for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention, and is an expert witness for domestic violence and sexual assault cases. Ms. Finn was raised in a military household and earned her doctorate from UTRGV’s Rehabilitation Counseling program and Masters of Arts in Educational Psychology from UTSA.

Assistant Professor
Rehab Srvs & Counseling
Email: kim.finn01@utrgv.edu
EHABW 1.102A
Phone: (956) 665-7041

Maria Elida Herrera, MA

Senior Lecturer
Phone: (956) 665-8771
Email: maria.herrera@utrgv.edu
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Maria Elida Herrera, MA

Miriam is a Lecturer II with the Writing and Languages Studies. She teaches MASC 2301, Intro to Mexican American Studies, as well as Composition and Rhetoric and Creative Writing. She is a poet who graduated from the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois, Chicago.  Her first collection of poetry, Kaddish for Columbus, was a finalist in the New Women's Voices Chapbook competition and was published in 2009 by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have also been published in Southwestern American Literature, New Millennium Writings, Earth's Daughters, Albatross, ArtLife, Blue Mesa Review, Nimrod: International Journal of Prose and Poetry, and other journals.
Senior Lecturer
Writing and Language Studies
Email: maria.herrera@utrgv.edu
ELABS 205A
Phone: (956) 665-8771

Arlett Sophia Lomeli, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: (956) 665-3318
Email: arelett.lomeli@utrgv.edu
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Arlett Sophia Lomeli, PhD

Dr. Lomelí is first generation immigrant and college student. She enjoyed growing up on both sides of the U.S.- Mexico Border. Dr. Lomelí is a sociologist and focuses on border studies that intersect with race, criminology, and environmental issues.
Associate Professor
Sociology
Email: arelett.lomeli@utrgv.edu
ELABN 350
Phone: (956) 665-3318

Alfonso Mercado, PhD

Professor
Phone: 956-665-3320
Email: alfonso.mercado@utrgv.edu
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Alfonso Mercado, PhD

Originally from Los Angeles, Dr. Mercado is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley as well as a Licensed Psychologist.
Professor
Psychological Science
Email: alfonso.mercado@utrgv.edu
ELABN 355
Phone: 956-665-3320

Robert P. Moreira, PhD

Senior Lecturer
Phone: (956) 665-8771
Email: robert.moreira@utrgv.edu
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Robert P. Moreira, PhD

Robert Paul Moreira teaches fiction & playwriting at UTRGV and serves as Managing Editor for riverSedge. He received the 2016 NACCS Tejas FOCO Fiction Award for his story collection, Scores. As a dramatist, Robert's plays include Roses from Castile, Proxima b, Dick Tea. and Malinalli, a musical-in-progress.
Senior Lecturer
Creative Writing
Email: robert.moreira@utrgv.edu
ELABS 205
Phone: (956) 665-8771

Carolina Monsivais, PhD

Assistant Professor
Phone: (956) 655-XXXX
Email: carolina.monsivais@utrgv.edu
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Carolina Monsivais, PhD

Assistant Professor
History
Email: carolina.monsivais@utrgv.edu
BMSLC 3.226
Phone: (956) 655-XXXX

Ana Peña-Oliva, MA

Senior Lecturer
Phone: (956) 882-8884
Email: ana.pena@utrgv.edu
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Ana Peña-Oliva, MA

A member of the Spanish Undergraduate Program, joined UT-B in 1999. Currently, a Lecturer III of Hispanic Linguistics and an Undergraduate Spanish Program Degree Specialist for the Departments of Writing and Language Studies with over 18 years of experience in curriculum and assessment. 20 years of teaching experience teaching Lower Level Spanish courses, including Spanish for Non-Native Speakers for 17 years, Spanish for Faculty and Staff at UT-Brownsville for 4 years, and 6 years of teaching experience teaching Advanced Spanish Applied Linguistic courses at the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and UTRGV. Faculty Co-Advisor for Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. A PhD in Hispanic Linguistics candidate with the University of Houston, graduation Spring 2019.
Senior Lecturer
Department of Spanish
Email: ana.pena@utrgv.edu
BMAIN 1.518
Phone: (956) 882-8884

Cynthia Paccacerqua, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: (956) 665-3561
Email: cynthia.paccacerqua@utrgv.edu
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Cynthia Paccacerqua, PhD

Associate Professor
Philosophy
Email: cynthia.paccacerqua@utrgv.edu
ELABS 357
Phone: (956) 665-3561

Emmy Pérez, MFA

Professor
Phone: 956-665-3435
Email: emmy.perez@utrgv.edu
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Emmy Pérez, MFA

Emmy Pérez, Texas Poet Laureate 2020, is the author of the poetry collections With the River on Our Face (University of Arizona Press) and Solstice (Swan Scythe Press). A volume of her new and selected poems is forthcoming from TCU Press. She is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowship, CantoMundo fellowship, and the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award, among others. For her teaching, she has received the UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award and an Excellence Award in Student Mentoring. Currently, she is Professor of Creative Writing in the College of Fine Arts and Associate Director of the Center for Mexican American Studies, B3 Institute.
Professor
Creative Writing
Email: emmy.perez@utrgv.edu
ELABS 206
Phone: 956-665-3435

Dagoberto Eli Ramirez, EdD

Lecturer III
Phone: 956-665-3823
Email: dagoberto.ramirez@utrgv.edu
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Dagoberto Eli Ramirez, EdD

Dagoberto Eli Ramirez’s teaching and research agenda focus on culturally relevant pedagogical issues. Ramirez fosters a gracious space in his classes.
Lecturer III
University College
Email: dagoberto.ramirez@utrgv.edu
ESTAC 2.113
Phone: 956-665-3823

Rosalva Resendiz, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: 956-665-3566
Email: rosalva.resendiz@utrgv.edu
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Rosalva Resendiz, PhD

Dr. Resendiz earned her Ph.D. at Texas Woman’s University and specializes in Border Studies, Critical Race Theory and Decoloniality
Associate Professor
Criminal Justice
Email: rosalva.resendiz@utrgv.edu
ELABN 311
Phone: 956-665-3566

Diana Noreen Rivera, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: (956) 882-7600
Email: noreen.rivera@utrgv.edu
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Diana Noreen Rivera, PhD

Díana Noreen Rivera specializes in 19th and 20th century literatures and cultures of the U.S. Southwest and U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Archival research informs the majority of her scholarly projects. Her current projects investigate the socio-poetics of place and community in natural disaster corridos and the Cold War-era writings of Americo Paredes.
Associate Professor
Literatures & Cultural Studies
Email: noreen.rivera@utrgv.edu
BSABH 2.114
Phone: (956) 882-7600

Jamie Starling, PhD

Associate Professor
Phone: 956-665-3561
Email: jamie.starling@utrgv.edu
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Jamie Starling, PhD

Jamie Starling is a historian of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands from the Spanish colonial period through the nineteenth century.
Associate Professor
History
Email: jamie.starling@utrgv.edu
ELABS 306
Phone: 956-665-3561

Alexander V. Stehn, PhD

Professor
Phone: 956-665-7487
Email: alex.stehn@utrgv.edu
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Alexander V. Stehn, PhD

UTRGV hired Dr. Stehn for a position in “American and/or Latin American Philosophy”. He tries to live and learn, research and teach in that slash.

Professor
Philosophy
Email: alex.stehn@utrgv.edu
ELABS 359
Phone: 956-665-7487

Leticia Zavala, MS

Lecturer II
Phone: (956) 665-8723
Email: leticia.zavala01@utrgv.edu
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Leticia Zavala, MS

Leticia Nevárez Zavala is a graduate from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in sociology, with both bachelor's and master's degrees. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in gender diversity studies as well. Leticia is an activist and consultant for gender policy and political equality for the United Nations while advocating for equity amongst marginalized groups. Leticia currently works as a lecturer at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and South Texas Community College.
Lecturer II
Sociology
Email: leticia.zavala01@utrgv.edu
ELABN 350
Phone: (956) 665-8723
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