My teaching

On one wall of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, where I gained my first experience as a classroom teacher years ago, and where I now volunteer on the Board of Directors, a student-painted mural illustrated the school’s motto: “La educación rompe las cadenas,” “education breaks chains.” My philosophy of education has always been indebted to my time at Albizu Campos, and that motto has remained a touchstone. I love teaching because it creates an opening for new possibilities. Students in my classes take center stage as active leaders in a learning process that aims to enhance the critical thinking skills necessary for long-term transformative engagement with the multiple communities these students inhabit.

Courses I have taught at the undergraduate level include:

African American History

Epidemic Disease in United States History

How Races Are Made in US History

Introduction to Latino Cultural Studies

Latin American History

Latino Studies Capstone Seminar on Community-Based Research

Latinos and Latinas in the United States

My Academic Experience

North American History to 1865

Oral History Techniques

Puerto Rico and the United States

Race and Ethnicity in US History

Recent United States History

Senior Thesis

Slavery and Emancipation

United States History for Elementary Educators

United States History since 1865

US Latinx History

US Thought and Culture, 20th Century:  Social Movements & Popular Music

Women and Gender in United States History