By Victoria Brito Morales

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – Various UTRGV departments, along with the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, are hosting the 2023 Tejas Foco Conference on the Brownsville Campus.

The three-day event is a collaboration between NACCS and the UTRGV Department of Criminal Justice, the College of Education and P-16 Integration, the Center for Mexican American Studies and the Office of the Provost.

The theme of this year’s event is “Confronting/Resisting the Colonizer Within: A History of Violence, Discrimination/Oppression and Shame.”

The NACCS Tejas Foco is a regional conference that focuses on community and academic interests around issues that affect Chicanx in the state of Texas. As an interdisciplinary event, it brings together community leaders, K-12 teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, and college faculty and staff.

Conference organizers are UTRGV faculty members Dr. Rosalva Resendiz, associate professor of Criminal Justice, and Dr. Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, associate professor of Bilingual and Literacy Studies.

There will be a total of 22 speakers during the conference, including four UTRGV faculty members:

• David Bowles, associate professor of Literature and Cultural Studies.
• George Diaz, associate professor of History.
• Emmy Perez, professor of Creative Writing.
• Fernando Muñoz, lecturer II of Criminal Justice.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit naccstejasfoco.wixsite.com/tejas.