Brenci Patiño

BA, University of Texas; MA and PhD, University of Illinois
Department Chair, World Languages and Cultures
Associate Professor of Spanish, Latin American, and Latinx Studies

Brenci Patiño completed her BA at the University of Texas at Brownsville, and her MA and PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include cultural and literary representations of working-class women, U.S. Latina/o literature and cultural production, and contemporary Mexican narrative fiction. Her work is, more specifically, concerned with looking at ways in which working-class women and their upper-class counterparts negotiate power.

Dr. Patiño has taught Spanish language courses and Latin American literature and culture at the University of Illinois, Texas Lutheran University, San Antonio College, and the University of Texas at San Antonio. At Mary Baldwin University, she teaches intermediate- and advanced-level Spanish, U.S. Latina/o literature and culture, 20th century Latin American literature, and Latin American and Spanish culture. Additionally, she has an active role in the Latino Culture Gateway and serves as department head for the department of Latin American and Francophone Studies.

A native of Brownsville, Texas, Professor Patiño grew up in the bicultural environment of the Mexico-U.S. border. She loves both norteño and Tejano music, traditional Latin American music, son jarocho, Spanish hip-hop, nueva trova, and Latin pop. She enjoys traveling, and spending time with her nieces and nephews in South Texas and northern Mexico.