Faculty Profile for Dr. Luz Alba Murillo Benjumea

profile photo for Dr. Luz Alba Murillo Benjumea
Dr. Luz Alba Murillo Benjumea
Associate Professor — Curriculum And Instruction
ED 3076
phone: (512) 245-8196
Scholarly/Creative Work
Awards
Grants
Service

Biography Section

Biography and Education

 Luz A. Murillo (Ph.D., University of Arizona) is an Associate Professor of Bilingual Education at Texas State University. She has previously held positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia; the University of Texas Pan American; and la Universidad de las Américas in Cholula, Puebla-Mexico.

Teaching Interests

 Dr. Murillo teaches courses in literacy, language, and culture for researchers and teachers working with multilingual/emergent bilingual learners.

Research Interests

 Dr. Murillo is an educational anthropologist who studies the literacies of linguistically and culturally diverse children, families, and communities. Her research projects include studies of indigenous bilingual schooling and community in Colombia and Guatemala; the social construction of literacy in households and primary schools in central Mexico; bilingual family literacies in Mexican-American households on the U.S.-Mexico border, and language ideologies among bilingual and literacy pre-service teachers. Dr. Murillo's work appears in Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Language Arts, Qualitative Studies in Education, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Lectura y Vida, the Yearbook of the Literacy Research Association, and the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Murillo Benjumea, L. A. (2023). “Aman tanto a mi hija que hasta vienen a verla a mi casa” Teaching and learning from home visits with emergent bilingual families. The Bilingual Review, 35(2). Retrieved from https://bilingualreviewjournal.org/index.php/br/announcement/view/8
  • Smith, P. H., & Murillo Benjumea, L. A. (2021). Funds of linguistic knowledge en prácticas transnacionales to promote biliteracy development. In Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: Conceptos Fundamentales (pp. 51–61). NY, USA: Peter Lang.
  • Murillo Benjumea, L. A. (2022). Rethinking multiliteracies: Toward a radical vision for multilingualism. In 4th edition of the International Encyclopedia of Education (pp. 138–147). Elsevier & Risk Business Analytics Alderman Drive Alpharetta, GA 30005, USA, United Sates: Elsevier. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818630-5.07123-2
  • Murillo Benjumea, L. A. (2021). “Your Children Are Having Too Much Fun”: Teaching Literacy With Radical Hope. In Childhoods in More Just Worlds. An International Handbook (pp. 155–174). Gorham, Maine, United States: Myers Education Press.
  • Murillo Benjumea, L. A. (2021). Late capitalism and new challenges: Indigenous communities taking risks  in defense of vulnerable languages and territories in Guatemala and Colombia. In Vulnerabilities, Challenges and Risks in Applied Linguistics. (pp. 31–47). Bristol * Blue Ridge Summit, United Kindom: Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21832/CUNNIN8236

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: Diversity Scholar Award, National Council of Teachers of English Research Assembly, Tuscaloosa, AL. February 2012
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Outstanding Research Award, College of Education, The University of Texas Pan American. December 10, 2010
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Early Scholar of Color Award, Ethnicity, Race and Multilingualism Committee, National Reading Conference, Albuquerque, NM. December 4, 2009
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Provost’s Award for International Studies, University of Texas Pan American. November 18, 2009
  • Award / Honor Recipient: ASPIRE Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Texas at Brownsville. May 17, 2007

Selected Grants

  • Murillo Benjumea, Luz Alba (Principal). Documenting diversity in local schools: Transforming field experience into professional knowledge, Faculty Mini-grant, Center for Civic Engagement, University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, $650. (Funded: 2006). Grant.
  • Murillo Benjumea, Luz Alba. Understanding cultural and linguistic practices in the schooling of indigenous immigrants from Guatemala, International Research Travel Grant, Institutional (Higher Ed), $2000. (Submitted: November 2016, Funded: May 2017 - June 2017). Grant.
  • Murillo Benjumea, Luz Alba. Understanding cultural and linguistic practices in the schooling of indigenous immigrants from Guatemala, Illinois International Programs IIP International Research Travel Grant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, $2000. (Funded: 2016 - 2017). Grant.
  • Murillo Benjumea, Luz Alba (Co-Principal). The Chancellor’s Public Engagement Student Fellow Grant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Institutional (Higher Ed), $1500. (Submitted: August 2016). Grant.
  • Murillo Benjumea, Luz Alba (Principal). Faculty Research Travel Award, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies, Institutional (Higher Ed), $1800. (Submitted: January 22, 2016, Funded: February 17, 2016 - January 10, 2017). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Reviewer / Referee
University of Colorado Denver
May 5, 2020-August 17, 2020
Chair
Texas State University Scholarships BOSS
November 30, 2021-Present
Member
Academic Governance Committee
September 1, 2021-Present
Chair
Chair of the Department Scholarship Committee,
January 7, 2021-Present
Reviewer / Referee
World Education Research Association
January 7, 2019-Present