The Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program is delighted to welcome three new affiliate faculty members for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Among our new colleagues is Sara McKinnon, an Associate Professor in the Communication Arts Department. Prof. McKinnon has an extensive publication record and is an expert on transnational rhetoric, gender studies, and legal rhetoric. Her 2016 book Gendered Asylum engages with the legal reasoning and political interests surrounding asylum claims by cisgendered Central American women and Mexican transgender women, among other groups. Among her current projects is a study of the rhetoric of U.S. public discourse about violence in Mexico.
Also joining the Program is Diego X Román, a new Assistant Professor in Curriculum and Instruction who specializes in Bilingual/Bicultural Education. His research focuses on issues of bilingual and science education, especially the ideologies embedded in discourses around bilingualism and the ways science is taught to heritage language speakers of Spanish and other multilingual students. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics from Stanford University and comes to the University from Southern Methodist in Dallas, Texas, where he was an Assistant Professor. His work has appeared in such journals as Science Scope and the Bilingual Research Journal.
Our final new affiliate for the fall is Edna Ledesma, a new Assistant Professor of Planning and Landscape Architecture. Dr. Ledesma studies Latinx life in urban spaces with a focus on understanding the development of smart, green, and just 21st century cities. Her work explores Latinx engagement with spaces like farmer’s markets and flea markets in Texas. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Science from Texas A&M University and comes to us from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was a Carlos Castañeda Postdoctoral Fellow with the Center for Mexican American Studies. Her research has appeared in such journals as Progressive Planning and Contexts.
Our new CLS colleagues will greatly enrich the Program’s course offerings and research profile.