CTN Peer Mentor, Dr. Norma Cantu, was inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame at the Induction Gala on March 4^th in the category of Higher Education. Included in the mission of the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame is to present, recognize and honor outstanding women in the community for their service and contributions.
Dr. Norma E. Cantú, the Norine R. and T. Frank Murchison Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University, has had an illustrious career in Higher Education. A first-generation college student, Dr. Cantú began her academic career at Texas A&I at Laredo, earning a master’s degree in English from what is now Texas A&M University, Kingsville. After earning a PhD in English from the University of Nebraska, she joined the faculty at what is now Texas A&M International University (1980-2000) where she served as Professor and Chair as well as Interim Dean of Education and Arts & Sciences. At the University of Texas at San Antonio (2000-2012) she was instrumental in establishing the PhD Program in English. In 1998-99, she was Visiting Professor and Director of the Chicano Studies Research Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. While working at the National Endowment for the Arts she taught at Georgetown University. After her retirement from UTSA, she helped establish the Latina/o Studies Program at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (2012-2016). A Founding Board member of Excelencia in Education, she has advocated for Latinx student success for over forty years. A novelist, poet, and scholar she has published widely. Her most recent publications include the anthologies Teaching Gloria E. Anzaldúa: Pedagogies and Practices for our Classrooms and our Communities, Mexicana Fashions: Politics, Self-Adornment, and Identity Construction; Cabañuelas, a novel, and Meditación Fronteriza: Poems of Love, Life, and Labor. (https://sawomenshalloffame.org)