Dr. Karla Lomelí joined Santa Clara University, School of Education and Counseling Psychology as Assistant Professor of Education in 2020. She earned her Ph.D. in Race, Inequality, and Language in Education and M.A. in Sociology from Stanford University. Before pursuing her Ph.D. at Stanford University, she was a High School English Language Arts teacher for ten years in East Side Salinas (2 yrs.), Gilroy (1 yr.), and in the community that nurtured her as a child and adolescent, East Side San José (7 yrs.) Joining the School of Education and Counseling Psychology is a ‘coming home’ of sorts for Dr. Lomelí. She has a long connection to Jesuit education tracing back to her parent’s commitment to social justice and their work with Archbishop Monseñor Romero in El Salvador and her own personal teaching experience at Latino College Preparatory Academy, one of SCU’s East San Jose partner high schools. During her tenure as a High School English Teacher, she was a language and literacy coach and led a highly successful reading and writing initiative in which the bilingualism and biliteracy of her Latinx students was fostered across content and grade levels. Dr. Lomelí teaches courses in Adolescent Literacy as well as courses in Spanish in the Bilingual Education program. Currently, she also serves as the department’s bilingual coordinator and enjoys working with in-service and pre-service bilingual teacher candidates. Dr. Lomelí’s teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in a generative model that encourages dialogue and reflection centering the student’s lived experiences and funds of knowledge at the core of the learning experience.
Dr. Lomelí’s research interest lies at the intersection of race, class, equity, language & literacy with a theoretical focus on critical race theory, liberatory literacy, and critical care pedagogies. Her current research explores the practices and perspectives of highly effective teachers serving immigrant-origin Latinx students. In this work she presents an equity framework, The Moral Ethic of Cariño, grounded in the critical literacy practices employed by secondary teachers. Such work highlights how teachers employ critical literacy and culturally competent teaching to support diverse adolescent students. Her scholarship has been presented in international and national conferences including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), La Cosecha Dual Language Conference, Dual Language Education of New Mexico (DLNM), American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAL), Literacy Research Association (LRA), National Council of Teachers in English (NCTE), Stanford's Race, Inequality and Language in Education Conference (RILE) and the International Conference on Education & Justice.
Dr. Lomelí lives in San José with her loving husband Raúl. She is a proud mother-scholar and has two beautiful bilingual children, Kiara and Mateo who guide her sense of fun and joy daily. Together, they enjoy basketball, soccer and outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and skiing.
Recent Publications
Lomelí, K., Pérez, G., Taube, J., & Lomelí, R.S. (2024). 'But You Are Changing Everything I know’ Teachers’ Views of Pedagogical Change: A Case Study of a Literacy Intervention with Immigrant-origin Latinx Students. Journal of Latinos and Education. (IN-PRESS)
Lomelí, K., Sedlacek & Q. C. (2024). Towards authentic purposes for student science writing using culturally relevant pedagogy. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1-22.
Lomelí, K, Pérez, G., Mejia, A., & Peña, C. (2024). Interlude: Abriendo Puertas: Lessons from la Gran Maestra. Equity in Multilingual Schools and Communities: Celebrating the Contributions of Guadalupe Valdés. Channel View Publications.
Lomelí, K. (2023). The Moral Ethic of Cariño for Justice & Equity: Amplifying the Voices of Immigrant-origin youth through Critical Literacy. Literacy Research: Theory Method and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1177/23813377231191452
Lomelí, K. (2023), The work of growing young people con Cariño: a reconstructive lens on one white teacher’s anti-racist approach to teaching immigrant-origin Latinx students, English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 22(1), 45-60. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-03-2022-0040
Trepper, K., Levine, S., Lomelí, K., & Garcia, A. (2023). One text, two worlds, third space: Design principles for bridging the two-worlds divide in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 129, 104144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104144
Lomelí, K & Gutierrez, K. (2022). Examining the intersections of Culturally-Sustaining Pedagogies and Youth Literature in theatre performing arts and its implications for a more inclusive learning experience for BIPOC students. Journal of Education and Cultural Studies. Vol. 6. (Iss.#4), pp. 91-106. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22158/jecs.v6n4p91.
Lomelí, K. (2020). Cultural Competence in Teaching Immigrant-Origin Youth: The Ethic of Cariño. Stanford University.