University at Buffalo

Tim Monreal (he/him/his)

Tim Monreal

Assistant Professor

LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION


Specialty/Research Focus

Latinx/Chicanx K-12 Education and Teacher Preparation; Latinx Education and Immigration in the U.S. South; Teacher Identity and Subjectivity; Social Studies Education; Critical Geography; (post)Qualitative Methods


Professional Summary:

Tim is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction at The University at Buffalo. Tim earned his PhD in Foundations of Education at the University of South Carolina in 2020. Tim embraces an interdisciplinary approach to research and teaching. His research broadly asks how (self) knowledge about Latinx is created and reproduced (in schools). More specifically, he is interested in the intersection of space/place on Latinx teacher identity and subjectivity, and the teaching of Latinx history and content in social studies education. Tim increasingly uses (and develops) post-structural, post-humanist, and (relational) spatial theories and method(ologies) to understand and nuance these concepts.

His work has appeared in journals such as Race, Ethnicity, and Education; Theory and Research in Urban Education; Educational Studies; Latino Studies; Educational Policy; Urban Review; Journal of Latinos and Education; Current Issues in Comparative Education; and The Middle Grades Review. He is the recipient of the AERA's Latino/a/x Research Issues SIG Best Dissertation award, a Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, a Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Fellowship, and the 2018 Doctoral Student of the Year in Educational Studies at the University of South Carolina. He is a research fellow with the Latinx Research Center at Santa Clara University and the Communication Director for the American Education Studies Association.

He was previously a middle school (mostly social studies) teacher for 11 years. He was proudly born and raised in the Central Valley of California, is the eldest of 9 brothers and sisters, and now dad to three girls. He enjoys spending free time with his family.

Education and Training:
  • Doctorate of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, Social Foundations of Education (2020)
  • Master of Arts, Loyola Marymount University, Secondary Education (2010)
  • Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Santa Barbara, Political Science (2008)
Awards and Honors:
  • 2024-2025 Spencer/National Academy of Education Post-Doctoral Fellowship; National Academy of Education; 2024-05-01;
  • 2023-2024: National Academy of Education/Spencer PostDoctoral Fellowship (Semi-Finalist); National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation; 2023-05-01;
  • 2023-2024 EDJI Fellow; UB Graduate School of Education; 2023-05-01;
  • Outstanding Dissertation Award; American Educational Research Association, Latinx/a/o Research SIG; 2021-04-10;
  • 2019-2020 Spencer/National Academy of Education Dissertation Fellow; National Academy of Education; 2019-05-13;
Recent Publications:
Edited Book:
  • Varga, B., Monreal, T., & Christ, R. (2023, May). Be(com)ing Strange(r): Towards a Posthuman Social Studies. Teachers College Press.
Journal Article:
  • Monreal, T. (2024). “No me dejaran ir porque they needed me here”: Spatializing corrective representatives by critiquing. Race Ethnicity and Education.
  • Monreal, T., Patiño-Longoria, F., & Herrera, M. (2023). Intergenerational Pla´ticas as Ethnic Studies Freedom Dreaming in Kern County. Ethnic Studies Pedagogies Journal, 1(1), 48-61.
Book Chapter:
  • Monreal, T. (2022). “I feel like I am in-between. I am not from here or there. I don’t belong”: Using ecomaps to investigate the relational spaces of Latinx im/migrant teachers in South Carolina. In C. Magno, J. Lew, & S. Rodriguez (Eds.), (Re)Mapping migration and education: Methods, theory, and practice (pp. 13-37). Brill.
Recent Presentations:
Invited Lectures:
  • Monreal, T. (2024, April). (Story)Mapping El Sur Latinx. Invited Lecture presented at University of South Carolina - Upstate, Spartanburg, SC.;
  • Monreal, T. (2024, March). Nahua Philosophy, Posthumanism, and Relational Research. Keynote Lecture at the University at Buffalo, Graduate School of Education Student Research Symposium, Buffalo, NY.;
Conferences:
  • Monreal, T., & Gamez, R. (2024, April). Spatializing Unruly Latinidades: Advancing the Heuristic of the Palimpsest With the "New" Latinx South. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.;
  • Monreal, T., Tirado, J., & Barrera, S. (2024, April). De Los Abajos: Rasquache Movidas Toward Critical, Culturally, and Linguistically Relevant Social Studies. Poster presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.;
  • Patron-Vargas, J. & Monreal, T. (2023, November). Haciendo Rendir: Using a Rasquache Lens to (Re)shape, (Re)mix, and Resist Academia Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Studies Association, Louisville, KY.;
Recent Grants:
Grant:
  • 2023-2028 Clinically Rich Intensive Teacher Institute in Bilingual Education and English to Speakers of Other Languages; State; New York State Department of Education; Awarded; (07/01/2023-01/01/2028)
Recent Activities:
Editorial and Review:
  • Editorial Board, Educational Studies
    01/01/2023-01/01/2026
Professional Service:
  • Proposal Reviewer, American Educational Studies Association (AESA) annual meeting Proposal Reviewer, American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting Proposal Reviewer, National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) annual meeting Proposal Reviewer, College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) annual meeting
    07/01/2022-05/26/2023
  • American Educational Studies Association, Executive Board - Communications Chair
    11/01/2021-11/01/2025