x
  
  
Posted: 9/23/19

Famed Author, Alum Norma E. Cantú Guest Speaker for TAMIU’s Faculty-Authored Books Reception

 

Dr. Norma E. Cantú
Dr. Norma E. Cantú  

An alumnus, former faculty member and revered author served as guest speaker at the Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) Faculty Authored  Book (FAB) Collection reception, Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 5:30 p.m. in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library Colonnade.

Dr. Norma E. Cantú, (’73), is the Norine R. and T. Frank Murchison Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas-San Antonio. Her latest novel is Cabañuelas (University of New Mexico Press).

Her recent works include Transcendental Train Yard: A Collaborative Suite of SerigraphsCanícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera, Updated Edition (UNM Press), and the co-edited anthology Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art.

Her presentation shared her journey from college student to college professor and noted the powerful and lasting  change that the University here, her alma mater, had made possible.  She closed with a reading of  "My Mother's Hands" from her latest book of poetry, Meditación Fronteriza: Poems of Love, Life and Labor  (University of Arizona Press). 

Killam Library director Doug Ferrier said the FAB reception noted some milestones this year.

“The FAB reception is part of TAMIU’s 50th Anniversary Celebration and also serves to note the Killam Library’s 25th Anniversary and the 20th Anniversary of its Special Collections. It serves as a tribute to 50 years of faculty authorship on our campus, with a welcome to the most recent three years of faculty publication, which will be exhibited,” Ferrier explained. 

Jeanette Hatcher, the Special Collections librarian, said the FAB Collection was launched in 2009.

“We launched the FAB Collection to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the University and recognize the book-published scholarship of its faculty. The Collection was a retrospective of faculty publications from 2009 back to the University’s founding University in 1970.  It will continue to grow as new books are produced by TAMIU faculty. Books are included in the FAB Collection when a faculty member is sole author, co-author, main editor, co-editor, or translator of a work,” Hatcher said.

Cantú 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 the former Laredo State University, later TAMIU, she taught and served as chair and interim dean. She has also been a senior arts administrator with the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. and acting chair of the Chicano Studies Research Center, University of California-Santa Barbara.

Her teaching interests include Cultural Studies, Contemporary Literary Theory, Border Studies, Chicano/a and Latina/o Literature & Film, Folklore and Women’s Studies.

Her award-winning Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera chronicles her childhood experiences on the border. She edits the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Culture and Traditions book series at The Texas A&M University Press, is a Board member of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, and founder and director of the Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa.

To learn more about the FAB Collection, visit: https://www.tamiu.edu/library/fab-facultyauthoredbooks.shtml

Throughout 2019-2020, TAMIU is celebrating its 50th anniversary and its 25th  anniversary at its north Laredo campus.  A dedicated website shares the University’s transformation from a hybrid upper-level university to a full doctoral degree-granting University. The website traces the University’s history, shares its impact in personal stories, and includes a calendar of Anniversary events and more at tamiu.edu/50.

For additional information, contact the TAMIU Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180, email prmis@tamiu.edu, click on tamiu.edu or visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

FAB Collection