Keynote Speakers
Dr. Ellen Riojas Clark
Professor Emerita
October 18, 2025
Ellen Riojas Clark, Ph. D. is Professor Emerita in the Department of Bicultural Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She received her BA in Elementary Education from Trinity University, an MA in Bicultural Bilingual Studies from UTSA, and a Ph. D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas at Austin. UTSA has honored her by the establishing the Ellen Riojas Clark, Ph.D. Endowed Chair, this is the only chair named for a Latina scholar in the United States.
A highly respected scholar, Dr. Ellen Riojas Clark is recognized for her expertise in bicultural-bilingual studies and Latino education, as well as her advocacy for equity and social justice. Over her 35-year tenure at the university, Dr. Clark mentored countless students, colleagues, and faculty. She guided young leaders as faculty advisor for many student organizations, such as BESO and MECHA.
Her work as Research Coordinator with the Academy for Teacher Excellence has been in the development of teacher training programs and restructuring schools for language minority students. She served as Co-PI for the Rockefeller Foundation Project: Knowledge, Culture, and Construction of Identity in a Transnational Community: San Antonio, TX and as educational content director for the groundbreaking animated PBS children’s series Maya & Miguel. She received three National Endowment for the Humanities grants focused on Mexican American and Latino literature and culture, and developed curriculum for an AT&T film project entitled Developing Multicultural Understanding through Education.
Dr. Clark's academic publications include five textbooks, four cultural studies books and over 200 journal publications, on the relationship between the constructs of self-concept, ethnic identity, gifted language minority students, self-efficacy and professional efficacy of teachers. Popular publications include: Tamales, Comadres and the Meaning of Civilization (2010, 201, 2025), Don Moisés Espino Castillo y sus Calaveras (2016); Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico: Portraits of Soldaderas, Saints, and Subversives (2022), and Our Daily Pan Dulce – The Cultural Poetics of Mexican Pastries (2025) both by Trinity University Press. In addition, Dr. Clark is the executive producer for the Latino Artist Speaks: Exploring Who I am series, with a forthcoming episode on Jesse Trevino, a Chicano artist as well as for other short cultural studies documentaries.
Her cultural and civic life contributions have been recognized with many local, state, and national awards. Dr. Clark writes book reviews and travel articles for newspapers, magazines, and journals as a way of developing community literacy. She is recognized as an authority in the cultural culinary arts, visual, and textile arts concentrating on the rebozos and huiplies of Mexico. Ellen has been featured in several documentaries, Taco Chronicles Cross the Border, La Mera Mera Tamalera, Food for thought: Cooking lengua and learning about its role in Hispanic cuisine, Texas Traditions: Tamales, Huipiles: Fabric of Identity, Latino Leaders, In Search of Racial Justice, Hollydays, Nachos, Tequila and more.
A highly respected scholar, Dr. Ellen Riojas Clark is recognized for her expertise in bicultural-bilingual studies and Latino education, as well as her advocacy for equity and social justice. Over her 35-year tenure at the university, Dr. Clark mentored countless students, colleagues, and faculty. She guided young leaders as faculty advisor for many student organizations, such as BESO and MECHA.
Her work as Research Coordinator with the Academy for Teacher Excellence has been in the development of teacher training programs and restructuring schools for language minority students. She served as Co-PI for the Rockefeller Foundation Project: Knowledge, Culture, and Construction of Identity in a Transnational Community: San Antonio, TX and as educational content director for the groundbreaking animated PBS children’s series Maya & Miguel. She received three National Endowment for the Humanities grants focused on Mexican American and Latino literature and culture, and developed curriculum for an AT&T film project entitled Developing Multicultural Understanding through Education.
Dr. Clark's academic publications include five textbooks, four cultural studies books and over 200 journal publications, on the relationship between the constructs of self-concept, ethnic identity, gifted language minority students, self-efficacy and professional efficacy of teachers. Popular publications include: Tamales, Comadres and the Meaning of Civilization (2010, 201, 2025), Don Moisés Espino Castillo y sus Calaveras (2016); Revolutionary Women of Texas and Mexico: Portraits of Soldaderas, Saints, and Subversives (2022), and Our Daily Pan Dulce – The Cultural Poetics of Mexican Pastries (2025) both by Trinity University Press. In addition, Dr. Clark is the executive producer for the Latino Artist Speaks: Exploring Who I am series, with a forthcoming episode on Jesse Trevino, a Chicano artist as well as for other short cultural studies documentaries.
Her cultural and civic life contributions have been recognized with many local, state, and national awards. Dr. Clark writes book reviews and travel articles for newspapers, magazines, and journals as a way of developing community literacy. She is recognized as an authority in the cultural culinary arts, visual, and textile arts concentrating on the rebozos and huiplies of Mexico. Ellen has been featured in several documentaries, Taco Chronicles Cross the Border, La Mera Mera Tamalera, Food for thought: Cooking lengua and learning about its role in Hispanic cuisine, Texas Traditions: Tamales, Huipiles: Fabric of Identity, Latino Leaders, In Search of Racial Justice, Hollydays, Nachos, Tequila and more.
Dr. Isabel Martinez
Associate Professor
October 18, 2025
