Latin American and Border Studies

Our Faculty

The Latin American Studies program is interdisciplinary, drawing on faculty from across a wide range of academic departments including Anthropology, Art History, History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology.

    • NAME

      Brenda Sendejo

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair

    • Specialty

      Anthropology of religion, Mexican American spiritualities and indigenous heritage, gender and racialization, and Chicana feminisms. Geographic specialization: U.S. - Mexico Borderlands, Central and South Texas.

    • NAME

      Michael Bray

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Philosophy

    • Specialty

      Political Philosophy; Critical Theory

    • NAME

      Carlos De Oro

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Spanish

    • Specialty

      Contemporary Latin American Film, Literatures, and Cultures

    • NAME

      Patrick Hajovsky

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Art History

    • Specialty

      Pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin America

    • NAME

      Jethro Hernandez Berrones

    • TITLE

      Assistant Professor of History

    • Specialty

      Modern Mexico, Latin America, Medicine, Science, Pubic Health, Medical Education, Homeopathy, Global Scientific Networks, Traditional/Popular Healing, Popular Science, Spiritualism/Spiritism

    • NAME

      Joseph E. Hower

    • TITLE

      Visiting Assistant Professor of History

    • Specialty

      U.S. History, Labor and Politics in Modern America, Social Movements, Urban History, Policy History

    • NAME

      Ted Jobe

    • TITLE

      Assistant Director of Language Media Services

    • Specialty

      Specialty Hispanic Linguistics with emphasis on sociolinguistics. Research in learning strategies with authentic-language audiovisual materials

    • NAME

      Melissa Johnson

    • TITLE

      Professor of Anthropology

    • Specialty

      Topical: Nature, the more than human and the human; Race and Racism; Environment; Conservation; Development; Social Theory; Environmental History; Tourism; Gender. Area: Belize; Caribbean; U.S.-Mexico Borderlands; Central Texas

    • NAME

      Suzanne García Mateus

    • TITLE

      Visiting Assistant Professor of Education

    • Specialty

      Bilingual/Bicultural Elementary Education, Language Acquisition, Multicultural Children’s Literature, Social Justice & Equity in Teacher Education, Bi-literacy Development, Mexican-American Studies

    • NAME

      Sandi Nenga

    • TITLE

      Professor of Sociology

    • Specialty

      Children and youth; social class; volunteer work and civic engagement; qualitative methods

    • NAME

      Omar Rivera

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Philosophy

    • Specialty

      Latin American Philosophy, Decolonial Philosophy, Race and Ethnicity, Political Philosophy, Aesthetics, 19th and 20th Century Continental Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy

    • NAME

      María de los Ángeles Rodriguez Cadena

    • TITLE

      Associate Professor of Spanish

    • Specialty

      Contemporary Mexican and Latin American Literature and Culture, Cultural memory, Cultural complexes, Interdisciplinary approaches to historical fiction in literature, film and television, Written and audiovisual composition of narratives, Mexican television and film female directors, Feminist Studies, Race and Ethnicity Studies, Nature and Culture. 

    • NAME

      Eric Selbin

    • TITLE

      Professor of Political Science

    • Specialty

      Comparative Politics (Comparative Revolutions; Contentious Politics; Latin American and Caribbean Politics; Ideologies); International Politics (Peace and Conflict; IR Theory); Political Sociology.

    • NAME

      Laura Senio Blair

    • TITLE

      Professor of Spanish

    • Specialty

      20th and 21st Century Hispano American Narrative and Drama. Chilean Narrative, Drama and Film. Hispanic Film.