The 2022 Conference on Engaged Learning features keynote presentations by:

• Laura Gonzales, Assistant Professor of Digital Writing and Cultural Rhetorics and Associate Director of TRACE Innovation Initiative, University of Florida (Sunday Keynote)
• Isis Artze-Vega, College Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Valencia College (Monday Keynote)
• Oscar Miranda Tapia, Assistant Director for First-Generation Student Support Services, Elon University (Monday Keynote)

Laura Gonzales

Assistant Professor of Digital Writing and Cultural Rhetorics in the Department of English, University of Florida

Dr. Laura Gonzales is an Assistant Professor of Digital Writing and Cultural Rhetorics in the Department of English at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on the intersections of language diversity, community engagement, and technology design. Dr. Gonzales is the author of Sites of Translation: What Multilinguals Can Teach Us About Digital Writing and Rhetoric (University of Michigan Press, 2018), which won the 2020 CCCC Advancement of Knowledge Award and the 2016 Digital Rhetoric Collaborative Book Prize. Her second monograph, Designing Multilingual Experiences in Technical Communication, is forthcoming by Utah State University Press. Dr. Gonzales is also the co-editor of Latina Leadership: Language and Literacy Education Across Communities (Syracuse University Press, 2022) and the co-author of Indigenous Language Interpreters and Translators: Toward the Full Enactment of All Language Rights (Enculturation Intermezzo, 2022). Dr. Gonzales is the Vice President of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW), Chair of the Diversity Committee for the Council of Programs on Technical and Scientific Communication, and the editor of Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric. She is the winner of the 2020 7Cs Technology Innovator Award and the 2020 Michelle Kendrick Outstanding Digital Production Scholarship Award.

Isis Artze-Vega

College Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Valencia College

Isis Artze-Vega, Ed.D. serves as college provost and vice president for academic affairs at Valencia College in Central Florida, a Hispanic-Serving Institution that serves about 70,000 students annually and has long been regarded one of the nation’s best community colleges. She provides strategic leadership for the areas of curriculum, assessment, faculty development, distance learning, career and workforce education, and partnerships for educational equity. Prior to joining Valencia, Isis served as assistant vice president for teaching and learning at Florida International University (FIU), leading such efforts as a gateway course project, a hybrid course initiative, and the comprehensive redesign of teaching evaluation. Prior to joining FIU, she taught English composition and enrollment management at the University of Miami. Most importantly, she is the proud wife of visual artist Sinuhe Vega; the proud mami of Kamilah, 16, and Delilah, 14; and forever indebted to extraordinary parents, Mayra and Elias. Her work is fueled by a commitment to equity and justice, implemented through love and service. 

Oscar Miranda Tapia

Assistant Director for First-Generation Student Support Services at Elon University

Oscar Miranda Tapia currently serves as the Assistant Director for First-Generation Student Support Services at Elon University. In this position, Oscar is responsible for creating and developing Elon University’s new first-generation initiative. Since the initiative’s establishment, Oscar has developed multiple campus partnerships and programming to advance first-generation college student success. His efforts focused on cultivating a culture where the first-generation identity is recognized, supported, and celebrated have led to Elon University being nationally recognized as a First-Gen Forward institution. Additionally, Oscar serves on the Advisory Group for the Center for First-Generation Student Success. Prior to working at Elon, Oscar worked in Residence Life at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. He also served as a Community Impact Fellow working with Alamance Achieves. In this role, he worked with collaborative action networks aimed at creating systematic change in education for Alamance County, North Carolina. Oscar’s research interests are focused on college access and success, college affordability, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and students with DACA, undocumented, first-generation, and Latinx identities. Oscar is currently co-authoring a book focused on the importance of meaningful relationships between students and faculty/staff. Oscar received a B.A. in Psychology from Elon University, where he was a first-generation college student as well as a Golden Door and Odyssey Scholar. Oscar also holds a Master’s degree in Education with a concentration in Higher Education from Harvard University. Oscar is originally from Guerrero, Mexico, and grew up in North Carolina. He is a DACA recipient and in his free time, he enjoys traveling, cooking, and trying new things.