Zulema Reynoso, Ph.D., is an artist, staff developer, educational consultant, adjunct professor, and researcher working with k-12 institutions and educational technology companies across the U.S. to meet the needs of multilingual learners and critically reimagine English Language Development (ELD) pedagogy and instruction. With nearly three decades of serving multilingual learners and students with diverse learning modalities, Zulema leveraged her undergraduate and graduate training in art and art history, a teaching credential in Social Science (CSULB), and a Master of Arts and credential in Educational Administration (CSUN) to serve Los Angeles, San Diego (South Bay, East County), and New York City (South Bronx, Brooklyn, Upper East Side) public schools, with a focus on multimodal literacies, elevating youth voices, expanding access for all learners, and unmasking marginalizing practices in standardized assessments. Having earned a Ph.D. in Education for Social Justice from the University of San Diego, Zulema's award-winning dissertation highlights her comics and arts-based youth participatory action research (YPARt) with multilingual learners to disrupt systemic inequities. Her arts-based and critical-translanguaging approaches in classrooms and with educators have translated into actionable practice and demonstrated growth in student achievement, including the high reclassification rate of middle school multilingual/long-term English learners. Having earned a certificate from the University of San Diego Law School's Special Education Law and Advocacy Series (SELAS), Zulema's advocacy work also extends to special education and disability rights. Using the arts and multimodal literacies as entry points, her presentations titled "The Art of Access" and "Access as Art" offer institutions meaningful and critical engagements with various issues surrounding disability. 

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Zulema also served as a staff developer for the NYC Department of Education and Southern California schools and has presented at conferences, including American Educational Research Association, NYC Social Studies Conference, Association of Teacher Educators, California Council on Teacher Education, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She showcased her recently published comic, Somos Aire, at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, which she has attended since the 1990s. 

 

A proud daughter of the Tijuana-San Diego Borderlands, Zulema enjoys making art with her daughter and bidding in comic book auctions with her husband.

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Learn more about Zulema's multidisciplinary work by visiting the Projects page.