New Mexico State University Provost Carol Parker has appointed Associate Professor Judith Flores Carmona as interim director of Chicano Programs effective July 1.

Flores Carmona started her tenure-track position in 2012 in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, with a joint appointment in the Honors College. In 2019, she was appointed as Faculty Fellow in the Honors College.

Flores Carmona came to NMSU after completing a two-year Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. She holds a bachelor’s degree in human communication with a focus in American studies and a master’s degree in multicultural education from California State University, Monterey Bay. She earned a doctorate from the University of Utah in sociology of education, with cognate courses in educational leadership and policy.

In 2017, she earned a second master’s degree in Educational Administration from NMSU to further understand how theories, policies and praxis merge in higher education to better serve diverse student populations and communities.

“This commitment is clearly reflected in her work and publications with undergraduate and graduate students and she constantly strives to enhance and strengthen their approach to education in critical ways with an aim to achieving social justice,” Parker said.

Flores Carmona draws from her areas of specialization to teach from an interdisciplinary, intersectional approach by merging critical pedagogy, Chicana/Latina feminist theory, critical race feminist theories and testimonio methodology and pedagogy.

“I am enthusiastic about this position because it allows me to continue my life’s commitment and responsibility of strong teaching-learning, research and service that promotes access and success for historically underserved and underrepresented and borderlands students in higher education,” Flores Carmona said.

She has been recognized at NMSU and nationally as a critical qualitative researcher whose scholarship and teaching purposefully addresses and examines inequities and social justice issues in schools, communities and in society.

Flores Carmona succeeds Laura Gutiérrez-Spencer who served as director of Chicano Programs since 1996.