María Leija, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching
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Bio
Dr. María G. Leija is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood and Elementary Education in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Leija holds a doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Bilingual/Bicultural Education. As a former middle school and elementary bilingual teacher, she has experience teaching K-8th grade in mainstream, 80/20, and 50/50 dual language contexts. She has worked in the field of Bilingual/ESOL education for more than 20 years, as a bilingual middle and elementary school teacher, supervisor of teacher candidates, and university instructor in the preparation of pre-service teachers in Texas, Idaho, and Oregon. Her research interests include literacy practices in bilingual classrooms, family and community literacy, and teacher education. She has published work on how teachers create bidirectional spaces between home and school and has presented at local and national conferences focusing on bilingual education, biliteracy development, and early childhood education. She has published in professional journals such as Reading Research Quarterly (RRQ), Theory into Practice (TIP), Bilingual Research Journal (BRJ), The Reading Teacher (RT), and Social Studies and the Young Learner (SSYL).
Honors and Awards
- 2025 Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award, UTSA Graduate School
- 2025 Teaching Excellence Award Nominee
- 2022 Bilingual Research Journal 2021 Early Career Reviewer Award
- 2021-2023 Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
- 2018-2020 Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color (CNV) Fellow, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE
