Ana Maria Fores Tamayo articles

Ana Maria Fores Tamayo is ABD in Comparative Literature from New York University, though she presently lives in Texas. She never completed her Ph.D. because motherhood got in the way: tenure and parenting do not mix. Thus she switched fields and worked in academic publishing for many years. She missed academia, however, and decided to return, only to find the Ivory Tower inhospitable to most educators. It did not take her long to take up their cause, beginning a petition for adjunct faculty, now with over 10,000 signatures. This grew into a Facebook forum for like-minded individuals to connect and organize. The past few years, Fores Tamayo expanded her work to reach out to those rendered invisible. She is trying to raise awareness of these marginalized peoples in order to erase borders. Her labor naturally grew from her work with students: DREAMers, undocumented students, and eventually asylum seekers from Mexico and Central America. Although this is heart-wrenching work, it is at the same time quite satisfying, being able to help others one to one. Working with diverse populations too, she is trying to make sure the disenfranchised become strong and have their voices heard. Her work can be seen in the Dallas/Fort Worth Refugee Support Network.