Shantel Martinez serves as the Access, Culture, and Opportunity Specialist in UCAR's Office of Access, Culture, and Opportunity. She holds a PhD in Communications and Media with an emphasis on Latine Communication and Gender Studies from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Shantel is an innovative DEI practitioner-scholar holding immense experience with building strong communities of belonging as well as having a demonstrated history of human-centered and inclusive strategic planning. With her background in communications, she is a refined storyteller who easily translates complex theory and data to multiple audiences. She is the co-editor of Monsters and Saints: LatIndigenous Landscapes and Spectral Storytelling (University Press of Mississippi). Additionally, Shantel has been published in MALCS: The Journal of Chicana Studies; Qualitative Inquiry; Cultural Studies ⇔ Critical Methodologies; Border-Lines; This Bridge We Call Communication: Anzaldúan Approaches to Theory, Method, and Praxis; Latinx/a/o Communication Studies: Theories, Methods, and Practice; Becoming a Diversity Leader on Campus: Navigating Identity and Situational Pressures, and others. Shantel is a seasoned educator skilled in curriculum design, facilitation, project management, and organizational best practices.
Previous to her tenure at UCAR, she had a long standing career in higher education. She was previously a director at two different cultural centers, was a faculty member, and led a summer research program in El Paso, TX. Through her extensive background in serving as a thought-leader for executive leadership, she is a community builder that is well versed in collaborative system change management. One of her biggest assets is employing emotional intelligence, empathy, and trauma-informed pedagogies to cultivate belongingness and instilling equity.
Outside of work, Shantel is an avid traveler and is always looking for ways to explore. She enjoys gardening, attending concerts, getting lost in books, and spending time with her dogs and family. Shantel also sits on the Boards for the Westminster Public Schools Foundation and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Latina/o Alumni Association.