作为一个年轻的女孩在索诺拉，墨西哥，丽塔E. Urquijo-Ruiz did not care much for playing dolls. 而不是, 她担当起了教师的角色, turning discarded magazines and newspapers into “notebooks” for the other neighborhood kids to write in. Before class, she even broke pencils into smaller pieces for everyone. Seeing this, her father would remark, “Vas a ser maestra,” or, “You’re going to be a teacher.”
今天, Urquijo-Ruiz is the first Latina at 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 to begin at the University as an assistant professor and move through the ranks of promotion to become a full professor.
“我很荣幸能在澳门金沙线上赌博官网创造历史,乌尔基约-鲁伊斯说, who started in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures in 2004.
For Urquijo-Ruiz, the milestone is significant for a number of reasons. Once the only Latina faculty member in her department, she is now one of several. 虽然这一成就是“历史性的”,” it also underscores the importance of recruiting and promoting faculty of color at the University, 她说.
Helping 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 become a more diverse learning environment is a top focus for Urquijo-Ruiz, who mentors colleagues working to attain tenure and to become full professors. In addition to reading curriculum vitae and self-evaluations, she also draws from her experience on 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s promotion and tenure commission to help colleagues improve their dossiers, 尤其是有色人种女性. 事实上, she and Norma Cantú co-created the Women 教师 of Color Group to facilitate this mentorship.
A wide range of backgrounds—both at the head of the classroom and within it—makes for an optimal learning experience, Urquijo-Ruiz说.
“What does it mean for my students to have me as their professor? It means I am going to bring in someone who is of Mexican descent, LGBTQ社区的一员, 来自工人阶级的家庭, someone who is first-generation-everything—first-generation college student, 硕士学生, Ph.D., author, full professor,乌尔基约-鲁伊斯说. “There is power in learning from underrepresented people. There is power in learning from and about those other stories, 文化s, economies, 和政治.”
Preparing students to understand a diverse set of worldviews is at the heart of a new major, 全球拉丁研究, 它将于今年秋天推出. Urquijo-Ruiz will serve as its inaugural director.
The major takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying Mexico, 美洲, and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). 探索拉丁体验, 学生们将选修文学课程, 宗教, 语言, 人类学, 经济学, 和历史, 在其他科目中. The major is geared toward students who are interested in the MAS (Mexico, 美洲, and Spain) world and could use that knowledge to jumpstart a career within it.
Urquijo-Ruiz, who served as the interim director of the MAS Program last year, says 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 is ideally situated geographically for this major. “How wonderful would it be for our students to incorporate themselves into the 圣安东尼奥 社区, 同时也融入了国际社会?乌尔基约-鲁伊斯问道.
她提到了“发明墨西哥”课程, 一年级经历之一, that introduces first-year 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 students to the diverse people of Mexican descent in the United States and in Mexico, as well as the two countries relationships through history, 文化, 地理位置, 和政治. Urquijo-Ruiz, 谁组队教《澳门金沙赌城线上游戏》, is a member of a faculty cohort currently planning a long weekend trip to Mexico City this fall as part of the course.
Although this pilot will not be available to every student, the idea leverages 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s proximity to Mexico to immerse students in the 文化. This adds to existing study abroad opportunities in the MAS world, from semester and summer-long internships in Madrid to special topics courses that takes students to Cuba or Nicaragua.
5月, 澳门金沙线上赌博官网 recognized Urquijo-Ruiz for her distinguished University, 社区, 专业的服务. 除了她在MAS项目上的工作, she has also mentored students in the McNair Scholars and Mellon programs and helped create 澳门金沙线上赌博官网’s first Latinx Leadership Institute and Class, where students attend classes and workshops about leadership development in the Latinx 社区.
望向秋天, Urquijo-Ruiz is excited as ever to get back to the classroom, where her upper-division classes regularly take the form of a circle.
“The circle is a symbol of 社区 building, 参与和包容, 这就是我的课堂所提供的,乌尔基约-鲁伊斯说. “It becomes a symbiotic relationship of sharing knowledge, 所以对我来说, I consider myself extremely lucky to have the chance to be in front of the classroom or in that circle.”
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