Raina León

Raina León is a faculty member in the Department of Teacher Education at Saint Mary's College of California's Kalmanovitz School of Education. Her academic work centers on education justice, poetry, and critical literacy. She holds a PhD in Education with specializations in cultural studies and poetry.

Her research examines:

• Critical literacy frameworks and transformative education
• Poetry as resistance and cultural preservation
• Institutional racism in academic settings
• Cultural humility in teacher development
• Afro-Latinx literary traditions

León's publications reveal consistent focus on social justice themes, with poetry collections exploring identity, historical trauma, and cultural resistance. Her educational research emphasizes equity pedagogy and critical consciousness development.

Major recognitions include:

• Honorable Mention, Academy of American Poets Prize
• CantoMundo Fellowship for Latino poets

She directs community poetry initiatives and has established literary platforms like The Acentos Review to amplify marginalized voices. Her future work focuses on decolonial pedagogies in teacher education.