Project Abstract

This research is part of Conmemorando a la Comunidad: Latinx Experiences at Trinity, an interdisciplinary Digital Humanities project started in collaboration with the MAS Program and the University Archives. My specific research centers on the history and development of Bilingual Education at Trinity University, particularly in relation to the greater San Antonio community and national bilingual education policy. It seeks to illuminate the strengths and shortcomings of Trinity’s undergraduate and graduate education programs, including the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), and the network of professors and community partners who helped shape them. The primary research methods for this project include archival research, oral histories, and collections processing.

This summer, I have focused on analyzing faculty and institutional archival materials. Through this process, I identified four community collaborations that played a role in Trinity’s bilingual education efforts: The Good Samaritan Center, Learning about Learning, Sunshine Cottage, and the Teacher Corps model with Edgewood ISD and San Antonio ISD. Together, these partnerships highlight how local relationships were instrumental in adapting the national education policy into community-driven programs. Alongside archival work, I’ve conducted oral history interviews with former and current faculty and alumni to better understand the institutional dynamics and philosophies that formed Trinity’s current bilingual teaching approach.

This work is significant because it documents how bilingual education at Trinity has evolved through the intersections of policy, pedagogy, and community engagement. It offers nuanced insight into the program’s strengths and limitations, highlighting how community partnerships sustained its development, even as structural and funding constraints often challenged its continuity and long-term growth.

Keywords: 
Bilingual education, Latinx community, educational policy, archival research, oral history, San Antonio

Faculty Mentors:
Dr. Dania Abreu-Torres, Abra Schnur

Funded by:
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Murchison Fellowship, Trinity University