College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences > About > Initiatives > Social Transformation Research Collaborative > Summer Institute for New Students > Lead Faculty

Summer Institute Lead Faculty

​The Social Transformation Research Collaborative, along with a team of lead faculty, will host newly admitted undergraduate students to a Summer Institute on Influencers for Racial and Social Justice.

Lead Faculty for Summer Institute 2022

Juan Mora-Torres

Juan Mora-Torres
Associate Professor

Dr. Juan Mora-Torres is an Associate Professor of Latin American History at DePaul University. A former Teamster, he has worked in the agricultural fields, canneries, and as an adult education instructor. Dr. Mora-Torres has a long history of working with community organizations and cultural groups. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He teaches courses on Latin American, Mexican, Latina/o and Chicana/o history, including Discover Chicago. His research and writings focus on the history of the U.S.-Mexican borderlands, Mexican migration, popular culture, social movements, working class formations, and Mexicans in Chicago. The author of The Making of the Mexican Border, he is currently working on two book projects Mexicans in Babylon: Barrio Making in Chicago’s West Side, 1917-1983 and “Me voy pa’l norte (I’ m Going North)”: The First Great Mexican Migration, 1880-1940.”

Monica Reyes

Monica Reyes
Assistant Professor

Dr. Monica Reyes is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Writing & Discourse Studies at DePaul University. She is a proud HSI graduate of The University of Texas-Brownsville where she received her B.A. and M.A. degree in English. After teaching for several years at a community college as well as The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, she obtained a PhD in English Studies (Cultural Rhetorics) from Old Dominion University. Prior to her time at DePaul, Dr. Reyes’ teaching was recognized in 2019-20 with the highly selective University of Texas System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award. Dr. Reyes’ scholarship is inspired by her ongoing volunteer work with people seeking asylum in the U.S. Her research aims to understand the rhetorical practices that support immigrants’ efforts to tell required stories about asylum experience. Her scholarship has led to an ongoing initiative to partner writing teachers with people seeking asylum who require help with the written portion of their asylum claim. Her research has been featured most recently in Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing & Culture (2020); Postcolonial Text (2019); as well as the news outlet Latino Rebels. In addition, Dr. Reyes received the Short-Term Research Publication Grant from the American Association of University Women for her book project, Shelter Rhetorics: Storytelling within the U.S. Asylum Process.


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