Mónica is a native of Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. Her research focuses on cultural rhetorics and critical refugee studies, with particular attention to the intersections of rhetoric, storytelling, and migration. She is the author of Rhetoric and Storytelling within the U.S. Asylum Process (2024). Her work has appeared in Grassroots Activisms: Public Rhetorics in Localized Contexts (2024), Enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing & Culture (2020), and Postcolonial Text (2019). As Faculty Director, Mónica assists faculty integrate community engagement into their curriculum.