Profiles

Abygail Gutierrez is currently an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico and a McNair scholar. Her work and research revolve around the migrant experience, specifically that of Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander descent. Her current research project is entitled “Being ‘American’: How Filipinos Constructed and Were Constructed by America.” She is an advocate for migrants, myths, and culture.

Michelle Hall Kells is a professor of Rhetoric and Writing in the Department of English at the University of New Mexico where she teaches courses in civil rights rhetoric, environmental justice, and language equality education. Her most recent books include Vicente Ximenes, LBJ’s Great Society, and Mexican American Civil Rights Rhetoric and a co-edited volume with Laura Gonzales, Latina Leadership: Language and Literacy Education Across Communities. Kells is currently working on several book projects including Women and the Mining of “Salt of the Earth”: Public Rhetoric, Cultural Resistance, and Cold War Politic as well as a memoir, Ginny: An Archeology of Women, Writing, and Wilderness and an eco-poetry collection, The San Joaquin River Club.

Levi Romero is the New Mexico State Poet Laureate and Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies where he directs the Certificate in New Mexican Cultural Landscapes at the University of New Mexico He is the author of A Poetry of Remembrance: New and Rejected Works, Sagrado: A Photopoetics Across the Chicano Homeland and In the Gathering of Silence. He is co-editor of a recently published collection of essays, Querencia: Reflections on the New Mexico Homeland, as well as Metamorfosis: New Mexico Women Writers, Bilingual Anthology (published by the Nacional Hispanic Cultural Center). Romero is from the Embudo Valley of northern New Mexico.

Keith Sanchez is originally from Belen, New Mexico, but due to his Father’s work with the University of New Mexico’s LAPE (Latin American Programs in Education), he spent the latter part of his youth in the midst of armed rebellion and civil war in El Salvador, Centro America. Witnessing stark injustice, political violence, and unfathomable economic disparity, Keith was naturally propelled towards a life in education and the arts with a mission to, as Paulo Friere stated, “teach students to think democratically and to continually question and make meaning from, and critically view, everything they learn.” He is presently a Chicana/o Studies, English/Language Arts, and Music Instructor at RFK Charter High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Jonathan Sisneros is a Graduate Student in Rhetoric and Writing at the University of New Mexico. He studies composition, digital literacy, and environmental literacy. He also teaches Freshman Composition courses at the University of New Mexico. He currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in his free time loves spending time with his family, girlfriend, and their three Yorkies: Tucker, Misa, and Arya.

Isabel Strawn is an undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico. Scheduled to graduate with a B.S in Biochemistry with math minor and B.A in English studies with a concentration in professional writing.

She was introduced to Environmental Rhetorical writing after participation in Dr. Michelle Kells food and culture advanced expository writing course. As a result, she completed a writing fellowship with the Black Ranger Environmental Writing group which inspired her to develop as a writer and environmental ambassador.

Her budding experience includes chartering an ASUNM club that focuses on biocentric fundamentals, designing a website for wildlife conservancy and formatting a program that blends all academic backgrounds to agricultural derivatives. She looks forward to continuing this trajectory to help build a better tomorrow.