Dagoberto Eli Ramirez, Ed.D.

Dagoberto Eli Ramirez is from Roma, Starr County, Texas, about an hour west from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley campus in Edinburg, Texas and a couple of hours from the UTRGV Brownsville, Texas campus. Presently, Ramirez is a UTRGV UNIV 1301 Learning Framework lecturer housed in University College, where he teaches UNIV 1301, a first-year experience course that focuses on helping young emerging scholars be the very best scholars they can be as they transition from high school to college, as they uncover the psychology of learning as well as the concepts of self-regulation, goal-setting, and major and career exploration. Ramirez initially joined the UNIV 1301 faculty here in Fall 2014, during the final year of The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA). As the University became UTRGV starting in the Fall 2015 semester, Ramirez stayed on and expanded his course offerings, being allowed to teach MASC 2301 Introduction to Mexican American Studies and EDBE 3323 Development of Bilingualism in summer semesters. Prior to joining UTPA in 2014, Ramirez lived 30 years in public education in the Rio Grande Valley: teaching Math, English, Geography, Leadership, and History classes at the middle school level for 16 years at three middle schools; being a social studies specialist at the Region One ESC for 2 years; and, coordinating the La Joya ISD Social Studies efforts as the Social Studies coordinator for 12 years. His current research agenda includes documenting and studying the classroom implications of safe-space translanguaging efforts in his classroom, as well as examining the literacy practices that stem from the everyday experiences of living on the border of Texas with Mexico in a housing program in a local U.S. Housing and Urban Development housing authority. Su esposa Graciela Arjona-Ramirez, y sus hijos Bianca Kristina, Eliana Herlinda, y Arnoldo Caleb son la razón de su existir, and he and his family feel blessed to be stewards of a piece of Mother Gaea in the Palmhurst area, as men and women of the earth who love her.