Maria José Palacios Figueroa

Maria José is a native Spanish speaker from northern México who spends most of her time thinking about the many roles that language plays in our lives. As a facilitator for Western's Employee Language Program and a tutor for the Modern and Classical Languages Department, she met many language learners and supported them as they expanded their language proficiency and multicultural awareness. She was part of the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, Sigma Delta Pi, and worked with Senior Instructors at Western to recreate the curriculum for intermediate Spanish Classes to focus on common pronunciation issues. Maria José also played a large part in the creation of the speaker series Escuchando Entendemos/Community Voices here at Western that builds community for those who speak or are learning Spanish at Western. As a WWU IDEA Institute Changemaker Fellow, she explored “the politics of language and identity, focusing on cultural attitudes toward Heritage Speakers in the U.S.” In the fall of 2018, she presented at the 116th Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) conference, and moved to Brazil for her Fulbright shortly after. She taught English there at the University level, running English and Spanish conversation groups, hosting workshops, and translating.