We are happy to introduce the people who help think the direction of LSLP: Our founder and chair at the helm and a team of faculty and students who advise and support him every step of the way!

(Links to their Academia profiles in their pictures, when available)

LSLP FOUNDER AND CHAIR

RAÚL ALBERTO MORA, Ph.D. (Doctor Berry, the Kung-Fro Master)

Raúl is at present an Associate Professor of English Education and Literacy Studies at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín. He finished his Ph.D. in Language and Literacy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he had the chance to work with worldwide literacy experts such as Reading Hall of Fame members Professors Arlette Willis and Georgia García, New London Group members Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, and other literacy experts. He also holds an M.A. in Teacher Education from Illinois, is a former Fulbright Graduate Scholar, and was inducted to the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi in 2009. He has been a teacher for 27 years, including almost 10 years of teaching English in language institutes, as well as elementary and secondary schools. He also taught Spanish as a graduate student, and has worked with pre- and in-service teachers since 2006, both in the U.S. and Colombia.

At UPB, he chairs LSLP and is an affiliated researcher at the Pedagogy and Didactics of Knowledge (PDS) research group, leading the research line "Second Language Studies". He was the coordinator for the M.A. in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages between 2013 and 2016 and is now part of the program committee in charge of chartering the Doctorate in Education at UPB-Medellín. He is the member of several review boards, including Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Reading Research Quarterly, and International Multilingual Research Journal, to name a few. He holds the top rank of Senior Researcher, according to the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, since 2019.

He holds two Visiting Professorships at the doctoral program in education at Universidad Distrital (Bogotá) and the MA in English Language Teaching at Universidad del Norte (Barranquilla), where he also teaches courses related to literacy. He has been guest faculty and visiting scholar at Universidad de Nebrija (Spain), Universidad de Málaga (Spain), Universidad de Córdoba (Montería), Universidad Surcolombiana (Neiva), Florida State University (USA), Marie Curie Sklodowska University (Poland), and Urals Federal University (Russian Federation) in addition to invited webinars at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), the University of West Bohemia (Czech Republic), and Vanderbilt University (USA). He also has the honor of being the only literacy researcher from Latin America featured at the Global Conversations in Literacy Research webinars from Georgia State University. He has also become more involved in different professional associations such as LRA (as a member of the Technology Committee) and NCTE (as part of the SLAM Assembly), as well as ASOCOPI, where he currently leads the Literacies in ELT (#LitsELT) SIG.

Besides the research agendas from the project, his work on literacy is also following the current debates and evolution of the notion of literacy in other languages, in particular about how the notion of literacidad (Cassany, 2005; Mora, 2011, 2012, 2016) in Spanish should become the alternative that best encompasses the current evolution of literacy research worldwide. He is also exploring the role of transmedia discourse to explain social theory (with Dr. Polina Golovátina-Mora). His research has also studied the multiple roles and discourses of comedy. Due to his research efforts in literacies research and his work chairing LSLP, Raúl was recognized as one of the 2019 Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st Century Literacies Research Honorees. He is one of the founding members of the Transnational Critical Literacies Network (TCLN) and co-editor of the fortcoming Handbook of Critical Literacies (with Jessica Zacher Pandya, Jennifer Alford, Noah Asher Golden, and Roberto Santiago de Roock, edited by Routledge, 2021)

One thing you should know about Doctor Berry: Just like Superman has the cape, Batman the belt, or Green Lantern the ring, Dr. Berry's weapon of choice is his Sennheiser headphones (which kind of makes him the Starlord of Academia if you think about it!). When he plugs in those to his smartphone, his Kung-Fu (or, judging from the picture, his Kung-Fro!) elevates and magic usually follows!

ASSOCIATE CHAIRs

CLAUDIA CAÑAS, M.A.

Claudia holds an MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages from UPB-Medellín and other degrees on Language Teaching. At present, she is an English teacher at UPB School and a Adjunct Professor at the School of Education and Pedagogy. She teaches courses at the BA in English-Spanish Education and the Graduate Specialization in ELT. As of 2018, Claudia is the instructor-of-record for the graduate seminar "Literacies in Second Languages" at the MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages (after assisting as a TA for 4 semesters) and she is also a thesis director in the ML2 program.

Claudia's current research aims to explore and characterize children's personal literacies in and out of school, using multimodality and multiliteracies as conceptual underpinnings. Claudia (along with Angela, Mónica, and Ana Karina) was the co-investigator on the research project "21st Century Literacies in the P-16 School Context," which featured a robust component on children's literacies.

TATIANA CHIQUITO, M.A. Hons. (Taty Smalls)
Tatiana is at present an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, after six years as a language teacher for the SILECS Program from the Language Center at UPB. Previous job experiences include working as a Travel Agent Assistant constantly using languages and teaching at different schools in Medellín.

Tatiana holds a B.A in English-Spanish Education and an M.A. (Hons.) in Literature, both from  UPB-Medellín. She also finished her studies in Modern Languages in Italy at “Instituto Tecnico Statale per il Turismo - Liceo Linguistico con orientazione umanistica Artemisia Gentileschi” in 2007. She joined LSLP in 2014, when she was part of Phase 2 of our urban literacies study. At present, Tatiana continues to explore the use of culturally relevant pedagogy and critical literacy as part of her instructional practices, while helping write different articles and research proposals in our project.

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affiliated faculty

POLINA GOLOVÁTINA-MORA, Ph.D.

Polina is an Associate Professor in Art and Media Education at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), after spending several years teaching in Colombia. Dr. Golovátina-Mora has been a visiting professor at the University of West Bohemia (Czech Republic), Marie Curie Sklodowska University (Poland), and Urals Federal University (Russian Federation). She is an active member of the Memory Conference from the University of Gdansk, helping organize of the Postmemory and the Contemporary World conference in Medellín, Colombia in 2017.

Polina holds a Ph.D. in History from Urals Federal University in Russia and an M.A. in Russian and Eastern European Studies (as a Fulbright Graduate Scholar) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2010, she finished a Post-Doctoral Fellowship (as an Erasmus Mundus Fellow) at the Pultusk Academy of Humanities in Poland. Her contributions to the project lie in her work on narrative studies, critical analysis of popular culture, and discussions of language, culture, and power. Her current research is exploring the use of monstrous theory and the aesthetics of fear in Medellín, as well as issues of post-humanism and new materialisms.

One thing you should know about Polina: Besides her academic accolades, she has a very powerful artistic side! She's an accomplished photographer, having presented her work in exhibitions in Medellín and Prague and has even ventured into writing stories (both in print and video formats).

advisory board

GLORIA GUTIÉRREZ-ARISMENDY, M.A. (Glory Dory) - #Team21inP20 Liaison, Private Schools

Gloria holds an MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages from UPB-Medellín, in addition to degrees in English Teaching and Acting. Her current research (which expands on her thesis) continues to explore the aesthetic dimensions of critical literacy through the use of TheatreSport as an alternative for language learning. She is at present the Research Coordinator at The New School here in Medellín.

In addition to her current interests, Gloria is now teaching (along with Mónica) the research courses at the MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages and is actively involved in thesis direction. Besides her teaching and research duties, Gloria is also an accomplished actress, performing regularly on stage in different plays in Medellín.

MÓNICA LÓPEZ-LADINO, M.A. (The Organizator) - #Team21inP20 Liaison, Public Schools

Mónica holds an MA in Learning and Teaching Processes in Second Languages from UPB-Medellín and is currently teaching middle school English at López de Mesa School in Medellín.

After this change, Mónica will continue expanding the initial framework for the use of multimodal storytelling in the preschool context as a conduit to engage students in critical literacies, possibly into secondary school. She will also participate in an upcoming study on makerspaces.

She has also taken her first steps in higher education, where she is engaged in thesis direction and teaching the research courses (along with Gloria) at the ML2 program.

CARLOS ANDRÉS SÁNCHEZ, B.A. Candidate (Kylo) - #TeamLaV Liaison and Discord Tech Support Adviser

Carlos is pursuing his B.A in English-Spanish Education at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. He joined LSLP in 2018, as part of #TeamLaV. He is a member of #TeamLaV with experiences as a semi-professional competitive gamer. That makes him a very valuable asset for our current research. Kylo is at present helping #TeamLaV with all elements of data collection and analysis, with a special interest in how to view gamification from the perspective of an advanced gamer.

In addition to his gaming background, Kylo is a cosplay enthusiast, something that might come in handy eventually as we expand our research on community and digital literacies.

CATALINA VÁSQUEZ-SALDAÑA (Cata) - #TeamCaL Liaison and Community Manager

Catalina is one of our newest members, joining LSLP in March 2020. She's pursing her B.A. in English-Spanish Education at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellín. She will be part of the new team of researchers for Phase Four of our #TeamCaL research. This semester, Catalina and her teammates will be studying some elements of literacies theory in second languages as part of an ongoing project they are part of.