CUSLAI Faculty Associate Team
CUSLAI FACULTY LEADERSHIP TEAM
Toni Viva Muñoz
CUSLAI DIRECTOR
Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of CUSLAI (Center for US-Latin America Initiatives) at The University of Texas at Dallas, Muñoz completed her PhD in Literature in 2021 where her dissertation became a hybrid work focused on a distinct population within the Latinx community that endured a process she termed “double hybridization.” Utilizing this concept and autoethnography research methodology resulted in her children’s book, El Bowie Bakery. Slated for publication by TCU Press in 2024. Other works have been featured in publications like Borders in Globalization Review and Columbia Journal. In 2020, she won the Blue Mesa Review Nonfiction Prize for “Border Sisters,” and has presented articles at institutions from The University Culture Centre in Bialystok, Poland to Université Greno- ble-Alpes, in Grenbole, France.
Nils Roemer
DEAN, BASS SCHOOL OF ARTS, HUMANITIES, AND TECHNOLOGY
Dr. Nils Roemer serves as inaugural dean for the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas. He holds the Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished Chair, the Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professorship, and is the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies Director.
A scholar, educator, author, and co-editor of several publications, Roemer’s research lies in the fields of modern and Jewish history, with a specific emphasis on German-Jewish history. He also has a particular interest in cultural and intellectual history. Roemer earned an MA from the University of Hamburg and a PhD from Columbia University.
Holly Hull Miori
PHD ’21, CFRE, SENIOR DIRECTOR
DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS, BASS SCHOOL OF ARTS, HUMANITIES, AND TECHNOLOGY
Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations at The University of Texas at Dallas
for the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies and the Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, Miori earned a BA in Religion and Communication Arts from Austin College, an MA in Theological Studies from Brite Divinity School at TCU, and an MA in Public Affairs from UTD, and completed her PhD in Public Affairs in 2021, with a concentration in Millennial Philanthropy. She is a board member for Paper for Water, AFP Dallas, and The Dallas Foundation. In 2020, she was awarded fellowships with ARNOVA and Lake Institute at Lilly School of Philanthropy.
Monica Rankin
OUTGOING DIRECTOR, SPECIAL ADVISOR TO CUSLAI
Associate Professor of History at The University of Texas at Dallas and specializes in the history of Mexico, Latin America, and the U.S.-Latin American relations. After earning her PhD in Latin American History from the University of Arizona in 2004, Rankin has gone on to publish various articles examin- ing Mexican foreign policy and the following books: ¡México, la patria! Propaganda and Production during World War II (University of Nebraska Press, 2009); The History of Costa Rica (Greenwood Press, 2012); and Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture: The Search for National Identi- ty, 1820s-1900 (Facts on File, 2010). In addition, she received a faculty research grant from the Fulbright Commission.
CUSLAI FACULTY ASSOCIATE TEAM
Monica Brussolo
Associate Professor of Instruction, Operations Management Director, BS Supply Chain Management at the Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas and conducts research on the implications of socioeconomic inequality on domestic policy in Mexico.
Lorena Camacho-Guardado
Professor of Instruction and Director of the Languages at The University of Texas at Dallas. Her work examines the difficulties in the treatment of certain linguistic mechanisms in Spanish for both teachers and learners as well as the search for more effective approaches and strategies that facilitate the learning process, and improve learners’ communicative competence.
Katherine Davies
Associate Professor of Philosophy and the History of Ideas in the Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas and is facilitating several research projects involving Latin American and Latinx Philosophy, including a philosophical analysis of the social and political consequences of a private city in Guatemala, the philosophy of home which draws heavily from Latina Feminist Philosophers Mariana Ortega and Gloria Anzaldúa.
Monica Evans
Associate Professor in the Bass School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) at The University of Texas at Dallas. She specializes in gaming studies and has led projects to create learning games based on the Cuban Revolution and “la Malinche” in early Mexican history.
Juan González
Francis S. Johnson Chair for Graduate Education, Vice Provost for Global Engagement, Dean of Graduate Education, and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and at The University of Texas at Dallas. His current research focuses on the molecular genetics of plant- microbe interactions.
Charles Hatfield
Associate Professor of Literature and Latin American Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas. He specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American Literature, intellectual history, and literary and cultural theory. His work has explored major concepts such as identity and culture, history and memory, universality and particularity, and aesthetics and interpretation.
Jennifer Holmes
Dean, School of Economics, Political and Policy Sciences, Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Political Economy at The University of Texas at Dallas. Holmes’s major area of research is political violence, terrorism, and political development with an emphasis on Latin America and Southern Europe.
Enric Madriguera
Director of Guitar Studies and Professor of Aesthetic Studies in Music in the Bass School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas. He is the artistic director for the UTD Guitar Series and the Texas Guitar Competition and Festival Enric travels annually to festivals and performances in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. His recording “Old World/New World” has been well received by the music press at home and abroad.
Manuel Luis Martinez
Professor of Creative Writing and Literature in the Bass School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas. His scholarly work focuses on American counterculture beginning with Beats (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Hunke, Cassidy, Corso) and well into 1970s prose and poetry that sees itself as politically relevant (Hunter Thompson, Thomas Rivera, Oscar Acosta).
Camila Morales
Assistant Professor of Economics in the School of Economic, Politi- cal and Policy Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas. Morales’s research interests lie at the intersection of education economics, immigration policy, and labor economics. Her current work investi- gates the educational outcomes of refugee and immigrant students, language learners, and their peers. Dr. Morales is currently a Visiting Fellow at Northwestern University’s Center for Education Efficacy, Excellence, and Equity.
Humberto José González Núñez
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Latin American Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Texas A&M University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Villanova University. His main areas of research and interest are Latin American/Caribbean/Latinx Philosophy and Literature, Queer Theory (especially Queer of Color Critique), Critical Phenomenology, Philosophy of Race, and Aesthetics. He is currently preparing a book-length manuscript tentatively entitled “From the Ruins of Latin Americanism: Toward a Critical Phenomenology of Latinx Existence.” His essays have appeared in several peer-reviewed journals such as Política común, Res publica: Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas, Pensamiento al margen, and the Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal.
Rene Prieto
Professor in Arts and Humanities and Guggenheim Fellow Arts and Humanities Chair at The University of Texas at Dallas. Prieto is a specialist in nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature and humanities. He is fluent in five languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Chinese.’
Manuel Quevedo-Lopez
Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas and is currently collaborating with Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia with student and faculty exchange. Quevedo also established a dual PhD program in Materi- al Science between Mexico and The University of Texas at Dallas.
Alejandro Rivera
Assistant professor of Finance and Managerial Economics in the Jindal School of Management. He has been with UT Dallas since 2015 and currently teaches Macroeconomics and Financial Markets.
Danieli Rodrigues
Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Principal Investigator in the Orthopdedic Biomaterial Laboratory at The University of Texas at Dallas. Rodrigues’s graduate research focused on orthopedic biomaterials, primarily on the characteriza- tion of corrosion and failure mechanisms of hip implants and development of acrylic two-solution bone cements for treatment of spinal compression fractures.
Fabiano Rodrigues
Associate Professor with the Department of Physics at The Universi- ty of Texas at Dallas. His work focuses on fundamental and applied studies of the Earth’s upper atmosphere and geospace, particularly at low latitudes. As a result, Rodrigues collaborates closely with research groups in South America and Puerto Rico.
Meghna Sabharwal
Professor in the Public and Nonprofit Management Program at The University of Texas at Dallas. Sabharwal’s research expertise lies in public human resource management, specifically related to workplace diversity, equity and inclusion, job satisfaction, performance, comparative human resource management, and high-skilled immigration.
Jeffrey Schulze
Clinical Associate Professor of History at The University of Texas at Dallas, producing scholarly work that covers the U.S.-Mexico border region, especially its indigenous inhabitants, and explores issues related to nationalism, identity, immigration, and the law.
Shilyh Warren
Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Visual and Performing Arts & Film Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas. She is currently writing a book about the history of U.S. women’s documentary filmmaking with a special focus on the 1970s. Her essays on documentary, transnational feminism, and feminist filmmaking have appeared in Camera Obscura, South Atlantic Quarterly, Signs, Jump Cut, and Mediascape.
Alejandro Zentner
Associate Professor of Managerial Economics at the Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas of Dallas. Zentner’s research focuses on the media and entertainment markets. His recent work has involved the use of media nudge to increase tax compliance in the Dominican Republic
