Thomas Jesús Garza
Director, Texas Language Center, College of Liberal Arts
Associate Professor, Center for Mexican American Studies, College of Liberal Arts
Phone: +1 512 232 9126, +1 512 471 3607
Email: tjgarza@austin.utexas.edu
Spanish Speaker
Thomas Jesús Garza is University Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies and Founding Director of the Texas Language Center. He is also Affiliated Faculty in the Program in Comparative Literature, the Center for Mexican-American Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies.
He teaches Russian language and literature at all levels, foreign language pedagogy, and courses in contemporary Russian culture. He has been traveling to and researching in Russia since 1979 and has lived in Moscow for over five years. During his more than thirty-year tenure at the University, he has received numerous prizes for undergraduate and graduate teaching, including the Texas Excellence Award, the President's Associates Award, the Harry Ransom Award, was inducted into the University Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 2003, selected for a Regents Outstanding Teaching Award in 2009, and named one of the Texas Ten in 2018.
His current research is on cultural portraits of machismo in contemporary Russian and Latino cultures and critical pedagogy and social justice in language and culture instruction.