Doctoral students聽Astrid Sambolin Morales听补苍诲 Francisco Luis Torres were recently married! Francisco's field of study is Literacy and聽Astrid is聽a聽Graduate Research Assistant in her program, Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity.聽Their聽mutual love of education is聽the knot that binds them.
Briefly describe how you met and your story leading to the School of Ed.
We met while we were both completing our Master鈥檚 degrees in English Education at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. After about a year of dating, we both applied to PhD programs and accepted an offer from Ohio State University where we鈥檇 be housed in the same department but pursuing different areas of study. Toward the end of our first year, we learned that Professor Mileidis Gort, (Astrid's advisor)聽was heading to CU聽Boulder鈥檚 School of Education听补苍诲 she offered us the opportunity to join her to continue our studies here. As a great match for both of our research interests, we decided to head west ourselves. We couldn鈥檛 be happier with our decision!
What is it you both聽love about education?
We love that we get to work with students and learn from them as we strive toward providing more opportunities for equitable education to members of minoritized groups. We鈥檙e also very thankful that we get the opportunity to work with talented educators and mentors who share our passion and are making so many valuable contributions to the field, especially now, when such contributions are needed more than ever!
How does your work in education impact your relationship?
Having a partner that shares the same values and goals strengthens our relationship. While our shared passion for social justice and Latinx communities plays a significant role in the conversations we have and the plans we make as a couple, our different research interests (including translanguaging and multicultural literature) have also allowed us to learn from one another and grow both individually and as scholars.
What are your dinner table conversations like?
Our dinner conversations usually involve (dis)agreeing on points we came across in our readings, trying to reach a consensus on what we鈥檒l watch on Netflix, and/or planning outings with our fur baby, Yoshi Sambolin Torres!
