cv.
I am a language educator and researcher whose work bridges teaching, cultural inquiry, and digital innovation. My approach blends full-language immersion with scaffolded support, project-based learning, and rich cultural context. I design materials that foster global competence, meaningful communication, and critical thinking, always centering student voice and agency. Alongside my classroom work, I have developed and led international programs for high school and college students, grounding learning in experiential, cross-cultural encounters.
As a scholar, my research explores digital thick mapping and the intersections of literature, photography, art, and film with questions of space, urban transformation, and cultural expression. Through this interdisciplinary lens, I investigate how stories, spaces, and visual media produce alternative narratives that challenge conventional ways of seeing and representing the world.
education
2025
University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D., Hispanic Languages and Literatures
Dissertation Title: “Mapping HaiTijuana: Spatial Narratives of Urban
Transformation (2017-2025)” Defended May 19, 2025
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
2025
The University of Chicago
Advanced Generative AI for Language Teaching: Evaluation and Customization
Graduate Certificate
U Chicago Language Center
2025
Harvard University
Digital Humanities in Practice: From Research to Results Graduate Certificate
Office of Vice Provost for Advances in Learning
2020
University of California, Los Angeles
Urban Humanities Initiative Graduate Certificate
School of Architecture and Urban Planning
2019
University of California, Davis
M.A. in Spanish and Portuguese
2016
University of California, Davis
B.A. Spanish (Highest Honors)
Honor Thesis: Vulnerabilidad y Humanización en las Migraciones Circulares
Centroamericanas
Thesis Advisor: Robert M. Irwin
B.A. International Relations (Honors)
teaching experience
2025 - present
Santa Clara University
Spanish Quarterly Lecturer
Teaching Assignments:
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Spanish 2
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Spanish 3
2023 - present
Khan Lab School
Spanish Specialist & World Language Coordinator
Teaching Assignments:
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Spanish 1 and 2 Intensive (Beginner)
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Spanish 3 (Beginner)
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Spanish 4 (Intermediate)
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Spanish 5: Hispanic Film (advanced)
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AT Spanish: Spanish Civil War (college level)
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AC Spanish: Women Writers (college level)
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AC Spanish: Mystery, Drama, and Magical Realism in the Iberian & Latin American Short Story (college level)
2020-2023
University of California, Los Angeles
Teaching Fellow/Associate of Spanish
Teaching Assignments:
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Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3 (in-person and online instruction)
2017-2019
University of California, Davis
Associate Instructor of Spanish
Teaching Assignments:
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Spanish 1, Spanish 2, Spanish 3
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Spanish for Heritage Speakers 31, 32, 33
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Spanish 150N: Obras Maestras de la Literatura Hispanoamericana
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Spanish 151: Obras Maestras de la Literatura Hispanoamericana II
selected publications
2025
“La figura de García Lorca: memoria y resistencia queer en Bones of
Contention”. Mester, 53: 72-84.
2023
Identity and Borders: Migrations, Language, Belonging and Borders in the 21st
Century.
Editor-in-Chief, Mester, Volume 52.
2023
2021
“Percepción y narrativa: Inmigración, adopción del dolor y agentes circulantes en Biutiful (2010) y La Promesse (1996)”. Mester, 52: 80-89.
“Mujer Migrante Memorial” Story Map and e-Codex Digital Archive in
collaboration with Maite Zubiaurre/Filomena Cruz, Xiuwen Qi, Miranda Hirujo-Rincón, Eliza Franklin, and Maha Benhachmi
2020
“Reading the Writing on the Wall: A Palimpsestic Reading of Urban Cultural Representation” e-Codex Digital Archives in collaboration with Clayton McKee and Artin Sahakian.
2020
La casa para un futuro incierto, e-Codex translation and analysis of Tijuana and Los Angeles in collaboration with Clayton Mckee and Artin Sahakian.
selected presentations, panels and invited talks
2025
Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.
Panel: Digital Approaches to Reimagining Modern Spain.
Chair: Patricia Schechter
Presented: “Mapping Lavapiés: Tracing the Interplay of Space, Identity, and Immigration in Lavapiés” University of Maryland
2024
UCLA Language and Technologies. Future of Language Teaching: Embracing Multiple Literacies.
Presented: “Empowering Language Learners through Project-Based Learning: A Case Study of Khanversation Circles at KLS”, University of California, Los Angeles
2020
Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism & the Humanities.
Presented: “Reading the Writing on the Wall: A Palimpsestic Reading of Urban Cultural Representation” (October 27, virtual), Princeton University
2020
Urban Humanities Mellon Research Summer Conference.
Presented: “Mapping Lavapiés” (July 10, virtual), University of California, Los Angeles
2019
School of Architecture and Urban Planning Annual Conference.
Presented: “A Fractured Core: The Downtown(s) of Los Angeles and the Opportunity for Commoning” (October 17), University of California, Los Angeles
2018
XXVIII Congreso de la Asociación de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades.
Presented “Madres, identidades y dicotomías” (September 2018), University of Illinois at Chicago
2018
14th Annual Samuel Armistead Colloquium: Grassroots Approaches to Interdisciplinary Scholarship.
Presented “La desmitificación de la maternidad a través de la visión del Club de Malasmadres” (October 2018), University of California, Davis
fellowships, grants & awards
2023
“Collegiality Award” for “being a team player and demonstrating collegiality and generosity” by the Spanish and Portuguese graduate student body. University of California, Los Angeles
2023
“Award to Excellence” for “T.A. of the Year 2022-2023” by the Spanish and Portuguese Faculty. University of California, Los Angeles
2022-2023
Nominee for the Undergraduate Affairs Distinguished Teaching Award. University of California, Los Angeles
2022
Ben and Rue Pine Research Travel Fellowship. University of California, Los Angeles
2022
Center for European and Russian Studies (CERS) Dissertation Research Fellowship. University of California, Los Angeles
2021
Urban Humanities Mellon Research Summer Travel Grant by the Luskin School of Public Affairs, the School of the Arts and Architecture, and the Division of Humanities. University of California, Los Angeles
2020
Urban Humanities Mellon Research Summer Grant by the Luskin School of Public Affairs, the School of the Arts and Architecture, and the Division of Humanities. University of California, Los Angeles
research assistantships
2020-2023
Graduate Student Researcher, under the direction of Professor Maite Zubiaurre
University of California, Los Angeles
Projects:
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Mujer Migrante Memorial Virtual and Physical Installation (2022)
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Mujer Migrante Memoria Documentary (2023 - in progress)
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El muro que da (ArcGIS Story Map) (2021- in progress)
2022
Graduate Student Researcher, Urban Humanities Initiative
University of California, Los Angeles
Project:
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Borderlands: Forensic Empathy, Ethics, and Art (Graduate Course)
pedagogical trainings
2025 - present
Silicon Schools’ AI Exploration Community of Practice Program (7 sessions in person), completing the “Teacher Community: AI Exploration” track, where I build foundational AI knowledge and pilot AI to support teaching and learning
2024
ISTE Certificate for Artificial Intelligence Explorations for Educators (5 sessions;18 hours) hybrid course with a final Capstone Project presentation
2023
Cultivating Gender-Inclusive Environments in K-12 Schools Through Implementation of Communication and Support Plans, hybrid format (3 sessions; 6 hours)
AI, Assessment, and the Question of Rigor, virtual (2 hours)
Equitable and Inclusive Teaching Series: Creating Inclusive Classrooms and Interrupting Bias to Cultivate Inclusivity, hybrid format (4 hours)
ACTFL-Based Training on Best Practices for Speaking and Writing Assessments, delivered by Dr. Juliet Falce-Robinson, Spanish and Portuguese Director, UCLA (2.5 hours)
2022
ACTFL Training and Workshop provided by Vista Higher Learning and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, UCLA (3.5 hours)
Mellon-Epic Fellowship Seminar in Teaching Excellence: Inclusive Classrooms II, UCLA (46 hours)
Central California World Language Project: Equity and Transparency Practices in the 21st Century Classroom, virtual, UCLA (18 hours)
2021
Equitable and Inclusive Teaching Series including: Creating Inclusive Classrooms, Interrupting Bias to Cultivate Inclusivity, and Teaching Hot Topics, hybrid format (6 hours)
2020
Ask Me Anything on Remote Language Instruction with Gyanam Mahajan, UCLA EPIC, virtual (1 hour)
Graduate Seminar Teaching Spanish at the College Level trained and delivered by Dr. Armando Guerrero Jr., UCLA (30 hours)
2017
Graduate Seminar Teaching Spanish 1-3 and 31-33 at the College Level trained and delivered by Dr. Claudia Sánchez-Gutiérrez and Dr. Agustina Carando, UC Davis (33 hours)
