Carla Medina Jaquez

Affiliation

The University of Texas at El Paso

Biography

Carla Medina-Jáquez, Ph.D., earned her doctorate in Teaching, Learning, and Culture with a focus on Literacy and Biliteracy from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Her research examines the transitions and transformations of former bilingual female teachers on the U.S.–Mexico border, centering their professional trajectories and successful post-teaching pathways. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design that integrates quantitative analysis with qualitative pláticas, her work highlights educators’ resilience, agency, and adaptive expertise while also examining the institutional, linguistic, and sociopolitical contexts shaping these transitions. She holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction (Bilingual Education), a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in EC–6 Bilingual Generalist Education, and associate degrees in Child Development Administration and Child Development–Teaching. She currently serves as the Project LEAP UP Senior Coordinator at UTEP on a U.S. Department of Education–funded grant, leading recruitment, data management, reporting, and professional development for in-service teachers pursuing state certification in bilingual and ESL education. Through this work, she contributes to teacher retention, certification completion, and program sustainability in borderland contexts. A scholar-practitioner, Carla brings more than six years of experience as a dual-language kindergarten and Spanish-component teacher. She also serves as a Teaching Assistant in the Bilingual Education Program and as a Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test (BTLPT) workshop facilitator, contributing to curriculum development, assessment preparation, and graduate-level instruction. She holds Texas certifications in EC–6 Generalist and Bilingual Education.