TAMIU Fall 2021 Commencement Program

COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER Norma Elia Cantú, Ph.D. Norma Elia Cantú currently serves as the President of the American Folklore Society and Murchison Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University in San Antonio, where she teaches Latinx and Chicanx Studies. A daughter of the borderlands, she focuses on the US-México border for her research and scholarly work as well as her poetry, fiction, and personal essays. She has coedited over 10 books on many subjects including art ( Moctezuma’s Table: Rolando Briseños Chicano Tablescapes and Ofrenda: Liliana Wilson’s Art of Dissidence and Dreams ), in STEM ( Paths to Discovery: Autobiographies of Chicanas with Careers in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering) , Texas Studies ( Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art ), and in Folklore ( Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change and Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos ). She has received awards for her work from the Modern Languages Association, the American Folklore Society, the Tejas Foco of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, and The University of California, Santa Barbara as well as numerous community organizations. She co-founded CantoMundo and is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. She currently serves on the board of the latter and of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Her research and creative writing have earned her an international reputation, and she is a frequent keynote and plenary invited speaker. She has read her work in Europe, Asia, and throughout the US and México. The award-winning Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera, is taught in numerous universities in the US and in Europe. She translated Gloria Anzaldóa’s Borderlands/la Frontera into Spanish. Her most recent publications include the novel, Cabañuelas; Meditación Fronteriza: Poems of Love, Life, and Labor and the co-edited anthologies E ntre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art; meXicana Fashions: Politics, Self-Adornment, and Identity Construction ; and Teaching Gloria Anzaldúa: Pedagogies for our Classrooms and Communities , and the Critical Edition of Borderlands/la Frontera: The New Mestiza. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the former Texas A&I University at Laredo and Kingsville, respectively, and her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. At Laredo State University, now Texas A&M International University, she taught and served as Chair and InterimDean.