Angélica Amezcua
Angélica Amezcua is an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Director of the Spanish Heritage Language Program at the University of Washington. Her research examines how university Spanish heritage language courses can play an important role in counteracting the devaluation of minoritized languages and contributing to narrowing the Latinx/e students’ achievement gap. She advocates for designing and implementing Spanish Heritage Language curricula that not only reclaim and promote the use of Spanish in a society with low ethnolinguistic vitality but also recognize and strengthen the diverse types of capital that heritage language learners bring to the SHL courses.
Flavia Belpoliti
Flavia Belpoliti is Associate Professor of Spanish and Director of the Spanish MA in Spanish Language Teaching at the Department of Literature and Languages at East Texas A&M University. Her research interests include Spanish as second and heritage language, Project-based and Multiliteracies for language learning, and Open Pedagogies for language teaching and learning. Her latest publications focused on multiliteracies projects in Spanish heritage classrooms and Open Educational Resources and Open Pedagogies in language learning. She also currently serves as co-director for the Texas Coalition for Heritage Spanish (TeCHS), to promote Open Pedagogies and Open Educational Resources implementations in the teaching and learning of Heritage Spanish.
Anel Brandl
Anel Brandl is a Teaching Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Florida State University. Her work centers on Spanish heritage bilingualism, second language development, and pedagogical approaches that promote heritage language maintenance. She founded FSU’s Spanish Heritage Program, where she designs courses that honor the linguistic strengths, identities, and needs of heritage speakers. She is also the founder of Voces Unidas: the Multilingual Initiative for Farmworker & Immigrant Advocacy, which provides community-focused interpretation and translation services for low-income farmworker and immigrant populations. Her teaching and advocacy advance inclusive language education that values the resources heritage speakers bring to the classroom.
Stephanie Gonzalez
Stephanie Gonzalez is an assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her teaching and research center on Spanish as a Heritage Language, with particular attention to sociolinguistics, identity, and asset-based approaches to language education. At UTSA, she has played a key role in revitalizing the Spanish Heritage Language Program and co-developing the OER textbook Somos San Anto: Abrazando nuestros lenguajes, herencia cultural y comunidad, which centers students’ lived experiences and linguistic strengths.
Jocelly G. Meiners
Jocelly G. Meiners is Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin. She specializes in teaching and developing courses for Spanish heritage learners, Spanish for healthcare professionals, and courses implementing open pedagogy and experiential learning. She has created several OERs for the Heritage Spanish program at UT Austin, and currently serves as co-director for the Texas Coalition for Heritage Spanish (TeCHS), where she collaborates with other Texas universities and works on promoting Open Pedagogies and the use of Open Educational Resources to advance the field of heritage Spanish instruction.
