Rene saldaña jr biography

René Saldaña Jr. is an.
Dr.
René Saldaña, Jr., is the author of critically acclaimed fiction for young adults, including the novels The Jumping Tree and The Whole Sky Full of Stars.

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So, two years have passed since my last post, but what wonderful two years they've been! For one, I've been promoted to Professor, the pinnacle for an academic. I've documented this experience, which has not been a clean one, in a book chapter I co-authored with former student, now-colleague Dr. Elizabeth Stewart. The title of our chapter is titled "When a Single Song Just Won't Do: The Mixtape as Research Methodology" found in DeHart & Hash's Arts-Based Research Across Visual Methodology: Expanding Visual Epistemology (Routledge, 2023). But I've made it to this level and trying to make the best of it. If folks on the path think it's about publishing or perishing on the way up, it doesn't end with promotion and tenure or promotion to full. The expectation to keep publishing only increases. We become, in a sense, show windows: national visibility and recognition become paramount. So we keep writing and publishing. What changes is that I finally get the opportunity to write what makes me happy. Sure, in a college of education, I'm still a social scientist, or what passes

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Saldaña, René, Jr.

Personal

Born in McAllen, TX; married; wife's name Tina; children: Lukas, Mikah. Education: Bob Jones University, B.A.; Clemson University, M.A.; Georgia State University, Ph.D. (English and creative writing).

Addresses

Home—Lubbock, TX. Office—Texas Tech University, College of Education, Box 41071, Lubbock, TX 79409. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

Career

Author and educator. University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburgh, assistant professor of English; Texas Tech University, Lubbock, assistant professor of language and literacy, 2006—. Also taught middle school and high school in Texas for six years.

Awards, Honors

Humanities Texas grant.

Writings

The Jumping Tree (novel), Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Finding Our Way (stories), Wendy Lamb Books (New York, NY), 2003.

The Whole Sky Full of Stars (novel), Wendy Lamb Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor of stories to anthologies, including Face Relations: Stories from beneath the Skin, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004, Every Man for Himself:

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College of Education

Professor

Curriculum & Instruction

Email: rene.saldana@ttu.edu

Phone: 806-283-6284 (cell)

Office: Education 325

Dr. René Saldaña, Jr., is the author of several books for children and young adults, among them The Jumping Tree, The Whole Sky Full of Stars, A Good Long Way, and the bilingual Mickey Rangel mystery series. He is a professor who teaches in the Language, Diversity, and Literacy Studies. His research looks at the use of culturally relevant literature in the largely underrepresented classrooms as a way to improve children's reading abilities. He and Dr. Ana Torres continue to organize the School-wide, Community-based Read-aloud and Book Giveaway in several local elementary schools.