Bilingual/Bicultural Program Faculty
Dr. Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove
Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove completed a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education at The University of Texas in Austin. She is an associate professor of Bilingual and Bicultural Education at Texas State University. Her research centers on better understanding the curricular and pedagogical preferences of Latino immigrant parents and the relationship between home and school particularly in the early grades. Using video-cued ethnography, she studies how parents’ ideas, beliefs, and experiences compare across multiple schools, communities, and contexts. Her research privileges the voices and ideas of Latino immigrant parents and demonstrate ways in which administrators and policymakers can learn from them and have more reciprocal relationships. Her areas of expertise include early childhood education, immigrant parent engagement, project-based learning, and bilingual education. She has conducted research projects in the United States, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia.
Dr. Luz Maldonado Rodríguez
Luz A. Maldonado Rodríguez is an associate professor of Bilingual Mathematics Education at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. She earned her PhD in Mathematics Education with a doctoral portfolio in Mexican American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She has taught elementary mathematics methods courses at central Texas universities for over 10 years and conducts professional development sessions on Cognitively Guided Instruction with elementary teachers from Texas, Arkansas and Florida. Dr. Maldonado Rodríguez’s primary research interests follow the mathematical learning experiences of the bilingual learner, from elementary student to pre-service teachers, in particular documenting empowering teaching and learning practices.
Dr. Luz Alba Murillo Benjumea
Dr. Luz Murillo is an educational anthropologist who studies the biliteracy development of indigenous, immigrant, and Latinx children, families, and teachers. A native of Colombia, she earned her doctoral degree in Language, Reading & Culture at the University of Arizona. Professor Murillo has taught courses in reading/writing/literacy, language and culture, border literacies, and ethnography for bilingual educators at universities in the United States, Mexico, and Colombia. Her research has been published in English, Spanish, and TexMex in journals like Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Language Arts, and Lectura y Vida. Currently, she runs Project BASTA (Biliteracy for Academic Success Touches All: Enhancing the Biliteracy Lives of Teachers, Children, and Families). In this multi-generational mentoring program, Bilingual/Biliteracy Education faculty members mentor Texas State graduates in Lockhart ISD, practicing bilingual teachers mentor pre-service bilingual teachers, and future teachers gain hands-on experience in Spanish and English literacy development by tutoring emergent bilingual children. You can learn more about Professor Murillo's research at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7LvUc0VU6U.
Dr. Patrick Smith
Dr. Patrick H. Smith is an applied linguist and biliteracy researcher with degrees in History, TESOL, and Language, Reading & Culture. A dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, he has been a teacher in public schools in Massachusetts, Mexico, and Kenya. Before joining Texas State in 2017, he taught for many years at la Universidad de las Américas, Puebla in Cholula, México, as well as universities in Texas and Illinois. Professor Smith’s teaching and research focus on how people in multilingual communities leverage biliteracy to access and generate forms of human capital. He is co-author of Mapping Applied Linguistics: A Guide for Students and Practitioners and Key Decisions in U.S. History: A Participatory Approach. His current projects explore the role of school libraries in supporting biliteracy development. You can read more about Professor Smith’s work at https://txstate.academia.edu/PatrickSmith.
Dr. Mitch Ingram
Dr. Mitch Ingram is an assistant professor of Bilingual/Biliteracy Education at Texas State University. He earned his doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin in Bilingual/Bicultural Education with a graduate portfolio in the Department of Mexican American & Latin@ Studies. As an ESL/Bilingual/Dual Language teacher in Austin Independent School District for 14 years and educator in the bilingual/bicultural teacher preparation program at UT Austin since 2015, he has gained insight into the cultivation of student-centered education and, more particularly, finds interest in highlighting the oft-unseen knowledge and skills that minoritized Latin@ students possess. His current research focuses on the agency, strategies, and community cultural wealth of Spanish-speaking minoritized students as they actuate humor to maneuver within a schooling culture of linguistic and cultural asymmetry. Mitch's work in Spanish and English has been published in the Bilingual Research Journal, Soleado Quarterly, and TESOL Journal and has received awards from the International Society for Humor Studies and the American Educational Research Association's Bilingual Education Research and Second Language Research special interest groups.
Dr. José Martínez Hinestroza
Dr. José Martínez Hinestroza is an assistant professor of elementary mathematics education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He earned his PhD in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education from Michigan State University, as well as a masters in interdisciplinary studies for international students (SUNY Buffalo) and an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia). Dr. Martínez Hinestroza's research explores mathematics teaching and learning in bilingual elementary classrooms in the U.S. and Colombia. He uses sociocultural and post-structuralist theories and participatory and ethnographic research methods to study how students, teachers, and researchers come together to develop classroom cultures that are inclusive of children's multiple ways of participating. His work has been published in journals such as International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, the Elementary School Journal, Teaching for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics, Teaching and Teacher Education, and Mathematics Teacher: Leaning and Teaching PK-12. You can learn more about Dr. Martínez Hinestroza's research at https://faculty.txst.edu/profile/2154110.
Dr. Charise Pimentel
Dr. Charise Pimentel is the Program Coordinator and Graduate Advisor for the Bilingual/Biliteracy Elementary Education program. She is an award-winning Professor at Texas State University, where she was most recently recognized with the Everette Swinney Faculty Senate Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Pimentel’s research focuses on race and language as she identifies and examines the ideological functions of schools, media, and the larger society in producing and normalizing white supremacy. In her ethnographic research with teachers, Dr. Pimentel examines how elementary and secondary teachers advocate for their bilingual students by challenging specific race and language ideologies within the contexts of their schools. As a teacher educator, Dr. Pimentel teaches about the sociopolitical contexts of schooling and promotes transformative teaching, whereby teachers learn how to actively challenge Eurocentric and language elitist ideologies while enacting culturally and linguistically responsive educational practices.